Submit your work

Blue Earth Review is looking for ambitious and exuberant works of short fiction, essay, memoir, poetry, and visual art that offer insights, complicates existing conversations, and enriches our understanding of what it means to be human in this increasingly diverse world. We gravitate towards small, focused works in which every word matters. We currently publish twice a year in the fall and spring.

We accept all voices, and do not discriminate based on race, ancestry, disability, gender identity, national origin, religion, or sexual orientation. Our mission is to create a collection of artistic works that celebrate the uniqueness of the world told through characters, verse, and artists—compacted into our square magazine.

We read general submissions for all genres year-round. For contest submissions, we read all genres during and up to a month after the contest period. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. We ask that writers notify us immediately if the work is accepted elsewhere.

At this time, we do not accept AI-generated works.

Please submit using our Submittable page at: blueearthreview.submittable.com/submit. We recognize and understand that this excludes individuals who do not have access to the internet, and we’re working on ways to allow these individuals to submit to us in the future. At this time, we do not accept emailed or mailed works.

Please adhere to our submission guidelines, which can be found below and on our Submittable page.

Fiction: Our unique square format fairs best with shorter pieces that reflect our mission of dramatic impact in a small size. We welcome all genres, including literary, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, surrealist, magical realism, and any others, or blend of others.

Please provide a title and artistic statement for your story when submitting. Please only submit one story at a time. Submissions are capped at 4,000 words. Pieces longer than 4,000 words will not be considered.

Creative Nonfiction: Blue Earth Review is most interested in essays that are under 3,000 words. We love nonfiction that works on more than just a narrative level. Surprise us with metaphor and layers of meaning. We are interested in creative nonfiction (memoir and personal essay) with contemporary themes. No literary criticism. We can’t wait to read your work!

Please provide a title and artistic statement for your piece when submitting. Please only submit one piece at a time.

Poetry: We consider poetry in any style. Please limit poetry submissions to no more than five poems or 10 pages at a time and place all poems in a single submission. Please provide a title and artistic statement for your collection when submitting. Please only submit one collection at a time.

Visual Art: We publish full-color reproductions of a wide range of artwork: paintings, photography, woodcuts, ink drawings, sculpture, and more. Generally, we feature one work on the front cover plus an interior layout of several additional works and an artist bio and statement. Our preference is for groupings that display an engaging variety within some overall thematic unity, which highlights originality, the artist’s individuality, mastery of medium, and technical virtuosity. We publish in a small, square, focused format, so we gravitate towards works which transfer well to this size and elicit a strong, immediate reaction. Submissions must include at least nine and up to sixteen related images. You may submit up to twice a year.

Editors reserve the right to select published pieces and disqualify pieces that don’t meet our guidelines, our mission, or our commitment to diversity and equity.

If your work is accepted, Blue Earth Review assumes First North American Serial Rights. The author retains all other rights. If your work is accepted, you will be paid with 2 contributor’s copies.

*Due to the high volume of work we receive, our editors are currently working backlogs of submissions. Our staff is composed entirely of volunteers, so we do acknowledge that the time between submission and decision can be long. Rest assured that we are always working to shorten this gap.