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Wide-Eyed Wanderer Anthology

Submission Guidelines

Wandering Words Media is currently open for submissions to their first literary anthology, Wide-Eyed Wanderer.

The theme of this anthology is wandering, but the meaning of that word is up for interpretation. Pieces can be about wandering physically through the world, wandering through one’s mind, wandering through life, etc. Show us your most wonderful wanderings!

The deadline to submit to this anthology is August 31, 2025.

What to Submit

We are currently accepting short stories, poetry, visual art, and creative nonfiction. Creative nonfiction includes genres like memoir and creative essay.

  • Prose: Writers can submit up to three short stories or short pieces of creative nonfiction. Each submission should be between 250 and 5000 words. Each should be in its own document.
  • Poetry: Poets can submit up to 10 poems, all in the same document. Each poem should be no longer than two pages.
  • Visual Art: Artists can submit up to 5 pieces. JPEG or PDF format preferred.

How to Submit

  • Work should be double spaced and in Times New Roman, 12 point font. Work should be submitted as a PDF or Word document. We are unable to accept submissions in any other form (Pages file, Scrivener file, etc.).
  • We accept submissions via our Google form. The form is at the bottom of this page.
  • There is no fee to submit to this anthology.
  • You may only submit once per submission period.

Other Details

  • Writing must be fully original and your own work.
  • We are unfortunately unable to publish all submissions. If you are not accepted for publication in this anthology, do not take it as a personal rejection of your writing skill—it is likely your piece simply did not fit in this issue for one reason or another. We encourage everyone to try again with our next submission opportunity.
  • We only publish work that has been unpublished elsewhere. This includes publication on your personal website or social media, or self-publication.
  • We strive to get back to all submitters within 4-6 weeks. If you have not heard from us after six weeks, please feel free to shoot us an email at editing@wanderingwordsmedia.com.
  • Payment: we are unable to pay for work accepted to this anthology, though we hope to pay authors and poets in the future. We will send every author a digital copy of the complete anthology.
  • Publication: the Wide-Eyed Wanderer anthology will be published digitally and as a physical book and will be available on Amazon. We aim to publish this anthology in winter, 2025, and will keep all authors of accepted pieces updated on that process.
  • We accept simultaneous submissions, but if your piece is accepted elsewhere, email us ASAP to withdraw that piece from your submission.
  • We cannot accept any work that includes copyrighted song lyrics or uncited quotes.
  • We do not accept work that has been AI-generated. The use of programs like Grammarly are okay to check spelling and grammar, but all work should be original and written by the author, not by a program. If we suspect a piece has been written by ChatGPT or another program, it will not be chosen for publication.
  • We will consider work that is violent, sexual, or political—however, we will not publish work that is discriminatory or pornographic in nature.
  • We accept work internationally, but we can only accept work that has been written primarily in English.

Wandering Words Media requires non-exclusive first publication rights and incidental promotional rights. WWM retains the unrestricted right to publish selected stories in its anthologies, in print and online, and in any relevant promotional material, and will retain copyright and economic rights for the anthology as a whole. All rights for individual stories, poems, and art revert back to their respective author/creator upon publication. The author/creator is free to republish their work, either in part, as a whole, or in an altered form, wherever they like after WWM has published the anthology, but we ask that you list Wandering Words Media as the first publisher if you do so.

Submissions Closed

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