The Mudsill
The Mudsill is a collectively-written periodical publication featuring non-fiction reporting and commentary, creative works of poetry, prose, photography, and art, and cultural criticism and reviews. We will publish our first number on January 1, 2021, our second number on January 15, 2021, with new issues coming out on the 1st and 15th of each month thereafter.
Also, we pay our writers!
Why Subscribe?
You will read original work from a wide range of contributors, delivered straight to your inbox. We will begin paywalling content on April 15, after which paying subscribers will receive access to content not available in our free newsletter/website posts. And your paid subscriptions will help us in our commitment to pay all contributors for their work.
How to Submit Your Work to The Mudsill
FIRST, identify the category that best fits your piece
We publish work in four categories:
Comment: political, social, or cultural commentary on current events
Context: a researched piece providing important/engaging background information on some topic of interest or controversy
Craft: creative work—fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, photography
Critique: reviews (books, movies, video games), discussions of artistic oeuvres, etc.
SECOND, prepare your draft for submission
We accept poetry/prose submissions in .docx file only. We accept photography and digital art submissions in .jpg file only.
At the top of the first page of your submission, indicate the category for which you are submitting your work. Immediately beneath that, include a title, your byline, and a word count. On the last page of your submission, include a brief (1-3 sentence) biography we can run with your piece.
For poems, you may submit up to three poems for consideration. Submit each poem on a separate page. (Note: due to formatting constraints in Substack, we are not able to publish poetry that features typographic innovations; your verse will be published with a flush-left margin)
For photographs and other visual images, files should be no larger than 4 MB; you may submit up to three images for consideration. Submit a cover-sheet with your images including image titles, medium, your image credit line (byline), and your 1-3 sentence biography.
THIRD, format your email
The email address for submissions is TheMudsill@gmail.com
The subject line of your email should consist of ONE THING and one thing only: the CATEGORY to which you are submitting your work
CONTEXT, COMMENT, CRAFT, or CRITIQUE
In the body of your email, please include a brief description (5 sentences or less) of the work you are submitting.
FOURTH, hit send!
We will get back to you on your submission within a month. We may ask for editing or revision before acceptance, or we may accept your work and then walk with you through the final editing process. We pay our contributors upon publication, via PayPal, paying for first serial rights for 90 days.
