Guidelines for Poetry Submissions
All forms welcome — from sonnets to free verse. Good stuff only.
Clichés are disingenuous softball acquaintances who think only of themselves. So please don’t use them, unless you’re doing it intentionally to somehow comment on the cliché itself.
I’m open to publishing poems on just about any theme, so long as the poem says something interesting in a new way — surprise me! Uninterested in pornography or religious fervor for religious fervor’s sake, but poetry on adult themes will be considered. Any content published with strong adult language or themes may feature an “Adult Content Advisory” popup upon first load on a computer, requiring the user to agree that they are adult and okay with such content.
No suicide notes disguised as poems will be considered.
If you are thinking about doing yourself harm, please contact a local suicide-prevention resource. You can reach the National Suicide Prevention Hotline by simply dialing "988" (in the U.S. and Canada).
Length and Quality
Please limit submissions to 1-3 poems per issue, and limit individual poem length to no more than 50 lines. To avoid unwanted line breaks, no individual line should be longer than 90 characters (including spaces).
Original works only. Exclusive submissions strongly preferred (and acted on first). Simultaneous submissions will be reviewed only after all exclusive submissions have been reviewed. Only works sent in via the online submission form will be considered.
Other Stuff
I will only post material sent from contributors with a working e-mail address or telephone number, so that I can contact you to discuss your submission if necessary.
Copyright
You retain full copyright in your work. By accepting a formal offer of publication, you grant moocat.net First Worldwide Serial Electronic Rights and a perpetual, non-exclusive license to maintain the work in its digital archive. Moocat.net holds exclusive electronic rights for 90 days following publication, after which all rights revert to you and you may republish the work elsewhere, provided moocat.net is credited as the original publisher.
The Submission Process
All submissions are processed on Duotrope, using the Duosuma submission management system, which we subscribe to. Your work will be reviewed only by moocat.net editors.
Simultaneous Submissions
Upon receiving a Conditional Acceptance, authors must notify other editors of the piece’s withdrawal within 48 hours.
Editorial Exclusivity
To protect the time invested in iterative editing, the work remains exclusive to moocat.net during the collaborative phase until either a final grant of rights is signed or the piece is formally withdrawn.
Guidelines for other sections:
Submissions are processed offsite on Duotrope.