We accept submissions for our seasonal online issues during the months of March, June, September, and December. To submit your work, please visit this page during our open reading windows, or subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive email updates. The Gravity of the Thing accepts defamiliarized works in the following general categories:

Short: Tell us a story in 3,000 words or less; we are interested in fiction, creative nonfiction, self-contained excerpts, and genre-bending forms.

Flash: A fiction, creative nonfiction, or genre-bending piece under 500 words.

Poetry: Share up to three poems, prose poems, or multimedia works for a combined count of 500 words or less.

Six words: A poem or story in six words; you may share up to five stories per submission, but only one will be chosen.

Baring the Device: Essays for our Baring the Device column; click here to learn more.

We publish work on a rolling basis throughout our seasonal reading windows. We only accept previously unpublished work, and although simultaneous submissions are welcome, please notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere. Please also only submit once per reading period, and we recommend you visit our “Baring the Device: About” article before submitting as your writing should reflect the goals of the journal. You can also click here to learn more about our selection process and response times (typically 3-4 months). We do not charge a fee to submit, and although we are unable to offer our online contributors payment at this time, our special releases occasionally include contributor compensation—our Patreon subscribers are always the first to know about these unique publication opportunities.

By submitting to The Gravity of the Thing, you confirm you hold full copyright on all work submitted. If your writing is accepted for publication, you grant The Gravity of the Thing first publication rights, and all rights to the piece(s) revert to the author upon publication. If your work is later republished, we kindly request you credit The Gravity of the Thing as the initial publisher. Note The Gravity of the Thing nominates its published works for possible republication in national anthologies.