Submission Guidelines
Poetry
Send three to five poems in the body of an email to submissions@halfdrunkmuse.com. Less than three doesn't give us much sense of your writing; more than five causes Sarah to break out in a rash and sends her to the hospital, where she can't respond to your submission. Attachments are deleted unread, unless Sarah's in a good mood. If you have to use an attachment, contact us first and let us know why. Bribes can only help your case.
Don't send a photo with your submission; we like a little mystery. A brief bio note is a good idea—but we read your poems, not your bio, when making selections, so don't stress too much over it. We do not accept work that has appeared online in other journals or on personal sites. We may consider work that has been workshopped online; query us first with the name of the workshop. We do consider previous print publications, but reprints are not eligible for the Penny Jar Prize.
We try to respond to submissions within two months; if your poem makes it to the final round, response time can take three months. We try to inform writers whose work has made it to the final round so that you know it has at least been read and isn't sitting in a drawer collecting dust. Feel free to query at any time. We sometimes comment on submissions. We often don't. If you prefer either way, let us know and we'll see what we can do.
If we should be so callous as to reject your work, you're welcome to resubmit at any time. If we accept your work, please wait three months to resubmit—we don't publish authors in back-to-back issues.
Reviews
We are looking for reviews, interviews, essays, and projects of similar scope. Please see our Review Guidelines page for details.
Payment
The warm fuzzy feeling that comes with seeing your name in print, bragging rights, and automatic consideration in the yearly Penny Jar Prize.
Don't underestimate the warm fuzzy feeling; it's a beautiful thing.
Copyright
Submission to and acceptance by Half-Drunk Muse grants us first electronic and indefinite archive rights. All other rights revert to the author upon publication. Please credit Half-Drunk Muse as the first publisher if you reprint elsewhere; we like seeing our name in print, too.