Submission Guidelines

General Requirements

Any material that actively promotes or encourages hatred toward any race, religion, and sexual orientation is prohibited. While violence and expletives are permissive, the piece might not be selected if it is deemed excessive.

Plagiarized material will result in immediate disqualification. This also includes previously published material in any form under copyright law. For more information, visit Stanford University or Cornell University’s Fair Use and Copyright.

Submitted material must be thoroughly proofread. If our editors are spending considerable time fixing simple errors, the piece might not be selected.

We are particularly looking for pieces from the Quabbin Region, but we will consider pieces from or featuring the New England region.

Technical Requirements

For Short Stories and Essays: up to two pieces, 500 – 4,000 words each.

For Poems: Up to 2 poems will be allowed. If accepted, note that it may not be all submitted poems, but a selection.

For Photography: Up to two photos will be allowed. Please submit only black and white or grayscale photos. Upload a large dimension, so it can be re-scaled during publication.

All finished pieces must be submitted in Times New Roman, 12 point font, 1.5 spacing.
~One space only, after periods.
~Remove all headers and footers.
~Remove page numbers.

For more information, please view or download our:

Editorial Guide and Sample Submissions for Authors

Other Requirements

Stories from both previously unpublished and published authors will be considered. We will accept works that have been previously published assuming the author holds such rights for us to publish the piece.

You may simultaneously submit your work to other publications. We ask that you let us know as soon as possible if your piece was accepted elsewhere so we can remove it from our submissions list.

Multiple submissions are encouraged provided you bring each of your pieces to the workshops.

Revisions, Optional Writers’ Workshop, and Final Approval

Once the submission portal is closed, pieces will be reviewed by our editorial board. If your piece is accepted, your piece will be returned with suggested notes. Not all revision notes are required, but if a piece is resubmitted without reasonable edits suggested by our editorial board, then it could be rejected in the final approval.

All resubmitted pieces will then be professionally edited. The Quabbin Quills board will make final decisions on whether the piece will be published in the anthology.

We do not keep the rights to your submissions. We take one-time publishing rights solely for the Quabbin Quills Anthologies in perpetuity. All rights revert back to the author after publication.

There is no charge to the writer for submission, acceptance, or workshops. If your work is accepted, you will receive one free copy of the book upon publication as well as the opportunity to read your work at our book launch party held in the spring.

(updated after agreement at general meeting, 11.30.2021)