Welcome to the home for new and emerging writers.
At Chrysalism, our mission is simple: invest time, energy, and resources into new and emerging writers by providing a safe and ethical place for them to submit their work. We define a “new” writer as any individual who is in some way new to the creative writing world, whether they are unpublished after years of effort, young and new to writing in general, or an avid writer who has yet to submit their work anywhere. We define “emerging” as any individual who does not have a full length manuscript published by a nationally recognized press or a self-published author who has used their own resources to produce a manuscript. These target groups are integral to our mission of being a career-launching publisher as we seek to emphasize and celebrate new voices not just in special issues, but in every issue.
We believe that creative writing is, as much as other staples, a catalyst for community outreach. We envision that as we establish our online presence with new and emerging voices, we will influence the new standard for publishing: ethical publishing models that places the creator of the work on the same playing field as the publisher, transparent responses teamed with reasonable response times, tested and trained peer readers valuing strength of craft over prestige, notoriety, and external identifiers (believing that it is the work that will speak volumes, never turning anyone away because of identifiers, but not publishing because of identifiers either).
The pillars upon which we’ve built our journal will always be at the forefront of every decision we make, and at the root, we will always be a journal/press for new and emerging artists; that cannot and will not change!
All writers in this category should be at least 18 years old at the time of submission. Writers younger than 18 may submit if they feel their work is ready; however, if their work is accepted, they will not be published until they provide written consent from a parent or guardian.
- Poetry submissions can be up to 3 pages. If there are multiple poems, each poem should begin on a new page.
- We accept work written by new and emerging writers only. Writers with more than 1 published book through a nationally recognized press should not submit their work to Chrysalism. Self-published manuscripts, chapbooks, or other self-promoting publishings are still encouraged to submit. If you are unsure if you are able to submit, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at Chrysalismyyaj@gmail.com.
- We accept work written in languages other than English provided that you submit the English translation alongside it for our readers. Should the poem be accepted, both iterations of the poem will be published.
- All work must be original, unpublished work that has been written by the submitter.
- We allow simultaneous submissions. If your work is accepted elsewhere, let us know as soon as you find out by withdrawing your submission.
- We have a cap on submissions based on the size of our team of readers and interns (we expect allowing 25-50 submissions per team member per reading period) to ensure our response time of two months. Once we reach our cap, we will encourage you to submit during our next submissions period. We cannot hold spaces for submissions outside of the cap.
- We do not charge for submissions, but we gladly accept donations. Donations will be used to pay our readers and interns and guarantee upcoming issues.