We currently accept submissions year-round.

Please only submit one prose piece (10,000-word limit) or up to three poems at one time. Multiple submissions will not be read. We ask that you wait to hear back from us before submitting more work for our consideration. Once you get a response, feel free to send us more of your work!

We try our best to respond within a month’s time to submissions, but depending on the slush pile, it could be longer. We kindly ask for your patience, as we understand the wait can be hard sometimes. If you don’t hear back from us after 90 days, please don’t hesitate to send us an e-mail inquiring on your submission’s status. We will do our best to respond promptly.

Checkmate accepts simultaneous submissions. We do, however, ask that in the event your piece is accepted elsewhere, please notify us as soon as possible.

We only accept previously unpublished works. This includes publication in previous anthologies, self-published work, and work posted on online blogs.

Please only send submissions to us electronically via Submittable. Any e-mailed submissions will not be read.

We ask that all submissions be double-spaced (prose), size 12 font, and include a header with your name, e-mail address, and title of the piece on all pages. Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier fonts only, please. We also ask that you include page numbers. For poetry submissions: if submitting multiple poems, please be sure that each new poem starts on its own page.

If you have any questions about submitting, check our FAQs to see if we have answered them for you. After that, if you still are unsure about something, feel free to direct an e-mail to Dorian, Editor-in-Chief (editor@checkmatelitmag.com).