Submission Guidelines

META4 has an open door submission policy, but the magazine adheres to a traditional editorial process.  By acting as a benevolent filter, the editorial staff hopes to stem the tide of reactionary exclamations, slapdash commentary and amateur artwork that abounds on the internet in order to showcase the very best literary art products and cultural commentary.  The editors of META4 are committed to facilitating serious cultural discussion and harboring quality literary art from wherever they may come.

General Guidelines

META4 accepts only digital submissions. E-mail your submission to the editors in one of the following file formats (.doc, .rtf, .txt).  Submissions formatted any other way will be discarded unread. Include contact information and a brief biography (to appear on the site) in the body of the e-mail with each submission.  All submissions will receive a response from the editors.

E-mail submissions to: editors@meta4magazine.org

Please label your submission according to the category for which you are submitting and with the title of your work.  For example, POETRY: TITLE.   META4 reads submissions year round and published authors retain the copyright to their work after publication and online archiving in the magazine.

Fiction:

META4 will consider any type of fiction manuscript (short short stories, short stories, long short stories, personal narratives, excerpts from longer works, novellas, etc.) between 250 and 4500 words.  Longer works may be serialized over a period of time (Please contact the editors if you're interested in serializing a longer work in the magazine). We accept multiple submissions provided the author notifies the editors if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

Poetry:

Submit 3-5 poems or up to ten pages of poetry.  Groups of poems should demonstrate poet’s range and style.

Essays and Criticism:

META4 is interested in cultural commentary that engages its subject matter and its audience.  Topics for commentary need not be topical or contemporary, and critics should feel free to explore old passions or new interests.  The editors are most interested in studied, intense discussions that examine more than a single art work or performance.

META4 is not interested in reviews, previews or other momentary judgments, preferring instead the well considered, researched and insightful comment covering an idea, a body of work, or a theme. Further, critical discussion need not address only literary art products.  The magazine’s critical interests involve cultural works of all types including, but not limited to: music, film, theatre, art and, of course, poetry.   META4 is also interested in a wide range of essays, personal narratives and other types of nonfiction writing.  Essays and critical pieces should fall between 2000 and 5000 words.