Response times.

For prose expect to wait eight weeks.

For poetry expect to wait four weeks.

Please read carefully. We don't ask for much, but what we do ask for makes our lives much easier.  Unless we request it, do not send attachments. All text submissions should be in the body of the email.

Prole never sleeps, just passes out on occasion. That being the case, we are open to submissions all year round.

Prole promotes accessible literature of high quality. Anything that we publish will be intelligent, engaging and impact the reader in a variety of ways. It’s the reader who comes first. We want to appeal to a wide audience and reconnect a broad readership with excellent examples of poetry and short prose.

All submissions should be your own, original work and you should hold all rights.

We do not accept previously published material, either in paper journals or e-zines. We will consider pieces that have been shared on personal sites or membership writing sites, but ask you to remove them prior to submission.

We do not accept simultaneous submissions. We recognise this can be limiting for writers, but we aim for a minimum four week response time. There are occasions when paid work gets in the way and we can not do this.

We don't ask for bios as we let the work speak for itself. However, do at least introduce yourself in your submission.

Poetry

We are open to all forms of poetry whether it be structured or free, rhymed or blank, light or serious; we consider content and quality over form. Submit up to five poems. If you wish to submit longer poems, please limit yourself to a maximum of three pieces.

All submissions should be contained within the body of an email. You should include your name and contact details.

Please use a plain font.

Send all poetry submissions to: submissionspoetry@prolebooks.co.uk

Please type 'submission' in the subject line.

Prose

Short story and creative non-fiction submissions are welcome. (Creative non-fiction should have a narrative arc.) We are open to most themes, although we do not accept fan fiction. There is an upper word limit of 7500 words.

All submissions should be contained within the body of an email. Please, no attachments unless we request them. You should include your name, contact details and  word count.

Please use a plain font. We prefer single speech marks.

Send all prose submissions to: submissionsprose@prolebooks.co.uk

Please type ‘submission’ in the subject line.

Cover art

We are open to submissions for front cover design. The design should be portrait orientated, measure about 210mm x 148mm and be greyscale/black and white. Please do not apply text – we like to do that ourselves.

Initial submissions should be sent as attached PDFs. On acceptance, we will request jpg format. You should include your name and contact details. 

Send all artwork submissions to: submissionsprose@prolebooks.co.uk

Please type 'artwork' in the subject line.

Payment

On publication, every accepted contributor will receive a PDF version of the hard copy. We aim to give each contributor a monetary payment. Profits will be shared in the following way:

Four months from the publication date, profits made from the sale of the issue your work appears in will be calculated.

50% of any profit will be retained by Prole.

50% of any profit will be shared out between our contributors on a proportional points system.

Every poem published will score 1 point. Every piece of prose published will score 3 points. Cover design will score 2 points.

Payments will be worked out in a proportional nature.

For example: the whole publication contains 30 poems and 10 short stories. The publication has a points value of 60. £500 profit is made. A writer has five poems published and therefore holds five points.

50% of profit is retained by Prole = £250

50% of profit is shared between writers = £250

In the example given, our writer holds 5 points out of 60. His/her payment will be:

(5 ÷ 60) x £250 = £20.83

All payments will be made by PayPal.

Exceptions:

If profit made means any writer will receive less than £1 (UK sterling) no payments will be made to any writer.

Any profit made from sales of the publication that occur after four months will be retained by Prole.

We realise that this method is a little rough and ready. However, it provides us with the opportunity to pay writers without going broke!

Copyright

Copyright remains with all our contributorss. All we ask for is exclusivity for six months from the date of publication.