Submission Guidelines

We are currently NOT accepting submissions. This site is (obviously) still in development. We do plan to begin accepting submissions again in the future. Thank you for your patience.


Young Writers
publishes work only by writers who are currently age 13 through 19.

We actively seek four types of submissions from teenagers. Send us your very best work, and read the guidelines thoroughly and completely before sending anything:

  1. Poetry. We definitely prefer poems of fewer than 36 lines, but we’ll always consider excellent exceptions.
  2. Creative/Personal Essays. Creative nonfiction, preferably narrative-driving and reflective; not journalism or opinion.
  3. Fiction. Almost exclusively short-short stories of under 1,200 words, though we will gladly look at longer pieces that promise to blow us away. We mostly want “literary” fiction, but send us your fantasy or sci-fi if it’s really good and not fan fic.
  4. Articles. Reviews of current books, movies, and art, as well as cultural critique, op-ed, and original journalistic reportage, as long as it has a literary/artistic subject or slant. Usually under 1,200 words. If you’re interested in writing this kind of prose for us, send a writing sample or two. Because we like to publish work in this category that is as timely as possible, we work with writers on an assignment basis.

Send submissions as a .doc (Microsoft Word), .rtf, or .txt attachment.

Wait, there’s more…

Please include your name in the subject line of your email submission. In the body of your email, write a letter briefly introducing yourself and the work you are submitting. Be absolutely sure to include your name, date of birth, the country and state/province in which you live, and your email address.

Wait until you hear from us (usually 1–3 months) before sending your work to other publications, as we do not accept simultaneous submissions.

We acquire first serial rights for any work we publish. As such, we do not consider work previously published anywhere—including any website other than message boards/discussion forums—except for small print publications like school literary magazines. We permanently and electronically archive every work we publish.

The editors reserve the right to edit accepted submissions for clarity, quality, or inappropriate content. Only slight changes will be made, and in most cases the writer will be consulted. Works requiring major changes will be rejected. It’s a good idea to read through our writing tips before you send us anything.

Your work will be carefully reviewed by one of our editors, and we make a considerable effort to give a personalized response to each piece, even if we do not accept it for publication.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing your work!