Submissions

Open to Submissions

OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS

Augur Magazine is open to both themed and unthemed fiction and poetry submissions from everyoneeverywhere. 

Tales & Feathers is open to short slice-of-life fantasy fiction submissions from everyone, everywhere.

October 1st-31st:

Both markets open to everyone internationally.

**Extended** November 1st-21st:

Augur Magazine will be open exclusively to Canadian citizens/permanent residents and/or those living on the land colonially known as Canada.

Tales & Feathers will be open internationally.

We especially encourage creators who are BIPOC, trans, and/or disabled to submit—don't self-reject!

The themed call for Augur Magazine is for A NATURAL DESIRE. What does it mean to want and need? In this issue, we're looking for speculative stories and poems that explore:

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Please query if you have not received a response by the end of January 2025.

Want to know if you’re a fit? Snag a digital subscription or a single issue from our store! Want to know what'll happen once you submit? Check out our article!

We do not accept AI-generated submissions. The actual text of your piece must be ideated and written by a human. Any piece found to be AI-written will result in a breach of contract, should your piece be accepted.

WHAT TO SEND AUGUR MAG

(Although we always love surprises)

Our perfect submission defies categorization—pieces that could be “too speculative” for CanLit or literary magazines or “not speculative enough” for speculative magazines. However, we also love a good genre romp, and will publish across many genres, including:

  • Fantasy
  • Science fiction (softer side)
  • Dystopia/utopia
  • Apocalypse/post-apocalypse
  • Slipstream
  • Fairytales
  • Fables
  • Fabulism
  • Magical realism (note: educate yourself before you claim this term) 
  • Dreamy realism

If you think you match our tone, give us a try. We recommend checking out our preview issue, free online, or grabbing an issue, to see what we’ve published before.

We accept multiple submissions and simultaneous submissions. Our goal is to respond to all submissions within eight weeks. 

Our submissions system, Moksha, should send you a verification email within 24 hours. If you do not receive one, resubmit and send us an email letting us know what happened.

Text submissions should be formatted as follows:

  • Standard manuscript format
  • .doc
  • Without your name (for anonymous reading)
  • Preferably, in size 12 Times or Times New Roman font

Finally: If you fit into our guidelines, don’t self-reject! Submit, submit, submit!

WHAT TO SEND TALES & FEATHERS

Cozy short fantasy stories

Tales and Feathers is a home for cozy slice-of-life fantasy short stories

Our ideal submissions look like this:

  • Quiet character-driven storytelling
  • Gentle moments
  • Rich fantastical worldbuilding
  • Everyday moments
  • Stories that take place before or between or after the epic conflicts
  • Stories that offer warmth, comfort, and possibility

We welcome stories written in any fantasy genre or genres, including stories that blur genre lines. We are especially interested in high fantasy, fairy tales, and myth.

We also welcome stories that have been translated into English and stories that engage with non-Western fantasy genre traditions.

If you think you match our tone, give us a try. We recommend checking out our preview issue, free online, or grabbing an issue, to see what Augur has published before (especially 5.1, their joy issue).

We accept multiple submissions and simultaneous submissions. Our goal is to respond to all submissions within eight weeks. 

Our submissions system, Moksha, should send you a verification email within 24 hours. If you do not receive one, resubmit and send us an email letting us know what happened.

Text submissions should be formatted as follows:

  • Standard manuscript format
  • .doc
  • Without your name (for anonymous reading)
  • Preferably, in size 12 Times or Times New Roman font

Finally: If you fit into our guidelines, don’t self-reject! Submit, submit, submit!

PLEASE DON'T SEND...

  • Pandemic stories
  • Gratuitously violent pieces
  • Horror that uses neurodivergence or mental health as the horror element
  • Comedy that punches down
  • Stories that are “speculative” because a non-marginalized group suddenly experiences what it’s like to be a marginalized group (e.g. a man “has to live with sexism”, a white woman is suddenly “treated like a woman of colour”)
  • Anything that minimizes sexual trauma/any trauma as a plot device (eg. A woman is assaulted in order to motivate a man, without dealing with her story or experience)
  • Casual or blatant misogyny/bigotry/racism/etc.
  • Otherwise insensitive pieces
  • Reprints
  • Stories longer than 5,000 words for Augur Magazine, or longer than 2500 words for Tales & Feathers Magazine
  • Pieces you've submitted before (unless they've undergone a significant rewrite)

A NOTE ON INTERSECTIONALITY

If comfortable, we encourage writers to indicate their intersections in their cover letter. This helps us be self-aware as we construct issues. However, we know disclosure may not feel safe, and it is not a requirement to submit.

All information disclosed will be treated as confidential.

What does “intersections” mean? Any intersection of identity that you sit at. For example, a POC trans settler, or an allocishet white woman. Everyone sits at intersections of identity and privilege—please do not write that you have "no intersectional identity" in your cover letter.

Some intersections might include:

  • 2SLGBTQIA+
  • Black, Indigenous, and/or POC
  • Marginalized genders
  • Settler
  • Disabled
  • Neurodivergent
  • Citizenship status
  • Religious minority
  • Class

Although this is by no means an exhaustive list.

A NOTE ON CITIZENSHIP DECLARATION FOR INDIGENOUS CREATORS

Canadian granting bodies require us to keep track of who we’re publishing—we need to know that we’re hitting the required Canadian quotas. So, as a result, we ask folks to identify as from Canada/Turtle Island or as International. However, we recognize that this complicates the submissions process for folks who live within Canadian settler borders but who resist/refuse Canadian identity.

We welcome all of our Indigenous authors and creators to self-identify their citizenship however feels most comfortable and accurate. If you prefer, you are welcome to exempt yourself from the CND/TI and INT requirements—we just ask that you also let us know if you are situated within the borders colonially recognized as Canada, so we can the Canadian government will continue to give us money to distribute towards your work.

A NOTE ON CONTENT WARNINGS

We do not require submissions to include content warnings, but we encourage you to include them when you submit to us!

This helps mitigate harm for our all-volunteer reader team and staff.

Please include your content warnings beneath the title of your piece, within the manuscript itself. This ensures the content warning reaches your reader, since cover letters are kept anonymous in the first round of reading.

A NOTE FOR PREVIOUS CONTRIBUTORS

Hello, Augurian friends! We adore you and your work, and we can’t wait to read some more. However, because we have so few spots each year and are probably super predisposed to your work, here’s how we ask that you submit to us:

If we have published you for 2 years in a row in the same market, please take a break from this submission period. Augur and Tales & Feathers are considered separate markets. We'll see you again soon!

See you in the slush, friends!

AUGUR: FICTION SUBMISSIONS

Shorts & Flash

- Submit in standard manuscript format

- Do not include identifying information

- Send as a .doc or .docx file

- Place content warnings under the title of your manuscript

- If you would like to, indicate your intersections (not required)

- Let us know if it's a simultaneous submission

- Don't submit any single story over 5000 words

- Send a maximum of 2 stories per submissions cycle

We pay $0.14 cents (CAD) per word for short fiction (800+ words), and a flat fee of $112.00 per flash fiction piece (800 words and under).

Finally, for grant purposes, please indicate if you have citizenship/residency in Canada/Turtle Island [CND/TI], are international [INT], or have a less clearcut relationship with Canada [OTH]—for example, international students, individuals living here without citizenship, or any other relationship that is not easily defined.

AUGUR: POETRY SUBMISSIONS

For bards & wordsmiths

- Submit in standard manuscript format for poetry

- Submit as a .doc or a .docx file

- Do not include identifying information

- Place content warnings under the title of your manuscript

- If you would like to, indicate your intersections (not required)

- Do not submit more than 5 poems, to a maximum of 10 pages of poetry

We pay $100.00 CAD per poem

Finally, for grant purposes, please indicate if you have citizenship/residency in Canada/Turtle Island [CND/TI], are international [INT], or have a less clearcut relationship with Canada [OTH]—for example, international students, individuals living here without citizenship, or any other relationship that is not easily defined

TALES & FEATHERS SUBMISSIONS

Cozy short fantasy

- Submit in standard manuscript format

- Do not include identifying information

- Place content warnings under the title of your manuscript

- If you would like to, indicate your intersections (not required)

- Submit stories up to 2500 words

- Do not submit more than 2 stories

We pay $0.14 cents (CAD) per word for short fiction (800+ words), and a flat fee of $112.00 per flash fiction piece (800 words and under).

Finally, for grant purposes, please indicate if you have citizenship/residency in Canada/Turtle Island [CND/TI], are international [INT], or have a less clearcut relationship with Canada [OTH]—for example, international students, individuals living here without citizenship, or any other relationship that is not easily defined

TRANSLATIONS

Augur short fiction, poetry, and Tales & Feathers short fiction

- Cover letter includes translator background and literary & cultural context

- PDF Letter from rights holder confirming permission to translate emailed to augurmag@gmail.com or talesfeathers@augurmag.com 

- Include short bio of author in English with original publication history

- Translated poetry includes original poem

- Follow Augur or Tales & Feathers submissions guidelines:

- Submit in standard manuscript format

- Do not include identifying information

- Place content warnings under the title of your manuscript

- If you would like to, indicate your intersections (not required)

We pay according to Augur and Tales & Feathers rates.