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The editors of West Branch welcome submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation. We normally read unsolicited manuscripts between August 1st and April 1st. We print only original, unpublished work. For accepted work, we purchase First North American serial rights.

Payment is awarded for accepted works in the amount of $100 per submission of poetry, and $.10/word for prose with a maximum payment of $200. Additionally, we provide each contributor with two copies of the issue in which his/her work appears and a one-year subscription to West Branch.

• Please review the submission guidelines below before submitting using the online submission manager:

1. All manuscripts should be paginated, with the author's name on each page. Prose should be double-spaced and include a word count.
2. Please send no more than six poems or thirty pages of prose. You may submit up to three pieces of short-form fiction (flash, short-shorts, etc.) so long as the total page count remains under fifteen pages. Poems and multiple short-form pieces should be saved and uploaded as a single file.
3. The submission manager accepts most document types; we prefer to receive files in .DOC or .RTF format.
4. We prefer to receive no more than two submissions from a single contributor in a given reading period. We make periodic checks for contributors who have reached the 2-submission limit, and reject any additional pieces submitted by those contributors. However, you will still be able to log in to view your account, and reaching the 2-submission limit will not affect pieces already under consideration. Please note also that the submission manager will only allow you to have one piece under consideration at any given time.
5. Simultaneous submissions must be clearly marked as such in the comments section. If any of the work is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw your own West Branch submission immediately.
6. Our usual response time is ten weeks or less--often much less--but if we find your material interesting you may wait longer to hear from us. Please DO query if more than four months have passed since your submission, via e-mail at westbranch@bucknell.edu.
7. Book reviews are typically arranged by assignment, and we currently publish only poetry reviews. If you are interested in writing reviews, please query with a sample. Our pay rate for reviews is highly competitive.
8. Please acquaint yourself with the magazine before submitting; sample back issues are available for only $3. Subscriptions are available at $10 for one year and $16 for two years. For subscription information, selected work, and news, see our website.

• Fill in all of your contact information. You should use the "Writer Name" field to specify a pen name, if different from your legal name. Please note that submitting under several different pen names still counts toward the limit of two submissions per reading period per contributor.

• Fill in the title(s) of the work(s) you are submitting. If you are submitting a group of poems, they should be saved and uploaded as one file, rather than individually.

• Please include your name on every page of your file, as you would with a printed manuscript.

• Use the comments section to enter the information you would normally include in your cover letter, then click submit.

• After clicking the submit button, you will have the option to review your information and confirm that it is correct. You can log in at any time to submit more materials, or view your account and previously submitted materials.

• Further queries may be directed to westbranch@bucknell.edu