Submit Your Work

We publish fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and visual media online and in print. We offer a contest in poetry and fiction, The River Styx Prize, annually.

Each print edition of River Styx is constructed around a theme. We try to keep descriptions as open-ended as possible, and we are certainly open to unexpected interpretations. That said, the works most likely to be selected are those that in some way attempt to address the prompt.

The online editions are intended for general submission and do not require the work to address a theme.

For our submission guidelines for each genre, payment information, and rights, review our Submissions Guidelines.

Reading periods run until we have accepted the right amount of work to complete the issue. If the portal is open on our Submittable page, then we are still accepting work.

To enter our annual contest, The River Styx Prize, please review the entry guidelines.

The River Styx Contest 2026

The River Styx Contest awards prizes annually to exemplary works of poetry and fiction. River Styx editors carefully read and discuss contest entries and ultimately submit the strongest ten entries to the judges.

Read the contest guidelines here.

We publish two print editions per year. The submissions portal for each issue will close when we reach capacity. Print issue submissions are required to follow a theme, which we will announce when the submissions period opens.

You can submit fiction, poetry, nonfiction, graphic stories & poems, interviews, and visual art to us through Submittable.

Themes for upcoming issues are listed below.

River Styx 111: “Mitsake” [sic]

SPRING 2026

Oops, uh oh, sorry, damn!

Human beings can be defined as bipedal mammals who make mistakes. And learn from them. And make them again. There’ll be no mistaking this edition of River Styx, which is all about our species's errors, blunders, lapses, and slip ups, our blunders, gaffes, and goofs. Watch out, take care, pay attention.

This issue is open to short fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, photography, graphic stories and poems, and interviews.

Submit to River Styx 111: Mitsake by September 1, 2025.

We accept general submissions for the online edition for most of the year. The submissions portal will periodically close when we reach capacity. Online submissions are not required to follow a theme.

You can submit fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and visual media to us through Submittable.

Online submissions are current closed.

Submissions Guidelines

Following the river from mouth to source since 1975…

  • The Basics

    • Please submit your work electronically through the relevant portal via Submittable. We do not accept hard copy or email submissions.

    • Work submitted to River Styx must be previously unpublished in print or online, including social media posts.

    • We will read simultaneous submissions but ask that you inform us of such and notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

    • Translations are welcome if permission has been granted from the copyright owner.

    • All submissions will be considered for our online magazine. Submissions for our print edition should be submitted through the print submission portal. We open the portal twice per year. Follow us on social media for submission period announcements. If your submission is not accepted for the print edition, we will consider it for online publication.

    • Expect up to five months for a decision. Please do not query before five months have passed. We may take longer to consider long-form work.

    Genre Information

    We accept fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

    • All prose pieces should be typed, double-spaced, and page-numbered. 

    • For fiction, we consider microfiction, short fiction, and short stories. Please send no more than one story per submission. Stories of 1500 words or fewer may be sent in groups of up to three. Stories that exceed 1500 words should be sent separately.

    • For nonfiction, we accept work of 5000 or fewer words. Essays of 500 words or fewer may be sent in groups of up to three.

    • For poetry, send up to five poems per submission.

    Important: Our reading periods for the online magazine vary according to volume of submissions and editorial need. Reading periods for the print edition vary by issue.

    We do our best to keep our listings up to date on Poets & Writers, CLMP, and Chill Subs. Duotrope maintains its own listings. Therefore, we advise writers interested in submitting to our magazine to check our website for the most accurate, up-to-date submissions information.

    Find more information about our annual contest in fiction & poetry here.

    • We accept a range of visual art and multimedia, including photos, videos, interactive graphics, multimodal and mixed media work, and more. For submissions that cannot be easily uploaded, you may submit a URL and screengrabs to Submittable or contact us for assistance.

    • For cover art we seek a single, striking color image, 6"W x 9"H, that can be wrapped around the block. Cover images should be horizontal/landscape orientation (or able to be cropped). Be mindful of where the spine will fall, and which portion of the image will be visible on the front cover.

    • If your work is a part of a series of images, please submit up to 12 images. We like having choices.

    • Graphic stories may run as long as they need to tell the story. Page length is limited only by how long they keep our interest. Please submit only one graphic short story at a time.

  • Please note: River Styx ONLY pays contributors via PayPal or Venmo. We do not mail paper checks, do electronic (ACH) transfers, Western Union, use Cash App, or any other means of payment. It is up to the contributor to include payment account details on the Contributor Form you receive in the acceptance email.

    All writers and artists whose work we publish will receive compensation.

    For poetry, we pay $25 per page and a maximum of $100 per writer.

    For prose, we now pay $100 per accepted piece, except for microfiction and very short essays (500 words or fewer), which are $40 per piece.

    For multimedia, we pay $25 per individual piece and a maximum of $100.

    Contributors are paid upon publication of their work via PayPal or paper check. If you reside outside the United States, River Styx is not responsible for paying any fees or duties incurred in a funds transfer.

  • We purchase First North American Serial Rights (FNASR). Once the work has been published in River Styx, the copyright reverts back to the author. If you go on to republish the work in another form (as in a collection of short stories or poems, or as a novel), we ask that you credit River Styx magazine with first publication.