What To Know Before Submitting To A Lit Mag

The Checklist We Wish Every Submitter Had

Send me the checklist

Rejections are rarely about talent. They’re usually about a hundred little things that don’t quite land and are TOTALLY preventable. 

That’s why we wanted to give you a lit mag submission cheat sheet.

We read every submission that comes into Helia Lit personally, and there’s a difference between the ones that are ready and the ones that aren't. 

These are the important bits for every writer and poet submitting to ANY lit mag, not just Helia Lit.

Here’s what’s inside:

  • A revision check that goes beyond proofreading (while that’s helpful, you already know how to do that)

  • How to tell whether a magazine is actually a fit before you spend the submission

  • Plain-English translations of first rights, exclusivity windows, and simultaneous vs. multiple submissions

  • The paperwork to build once and reuse forever (or at least six months—because once you start landing more submissions, you’ll need to update it from time to time to showcase your awesomeness!)

  • The mindset part, which is the part that actually keeps writers going when the process gets hard

When you get your checklist, you'll also get our weekly newsletter, Get Lit Weekly, featuring curated work, audio versions of featured stories, interviews, and first access to contests and open calls (including our upcoming print editions where we pay our contributors).