Submit your work to Lucent Dreaming
Novel submissions are reopen.
All submissions will be considered for publication in 2025 and 2026.
Novel submissions are reopen.
All submissions will be considered for publication in 2025 and 2026.
You must be a UK resident for your work to be considered. We are especially looking for novel submissions from writers who are under-represented in UK publishing.
Pay Rate: Advance fee of £500, 10% royalties
Genres: Any, but with a preference for literary, speculative and/or surreal, contemporary, historical, magic realism/low fantasy.
Language: English
We enjoy beautifully written fiction that is readable, especially writing that embraces and explores inner-lives, relationships, identity and society. We like fiction with characters we can root for and care about.
You may submit whatever you want, but certain themes and plot types stand a significantly smaller chance. You may, however, take this as a challenge to write one of them exceedingly well and convince us!
For an easier time, avoid:
Please upload your polished first three chapters (or around 10k) to
https://lucentdreaming.moksha.io/publication/lucent-dreaming
Include your name, cover letter, and word count. Your cover letter should contain any publishing history, and anything about yourself you feel is relevant.
Submissions should be submitted as a .doc/.docx file and in standard manuscript format.
Please wait until you’ve been accepted or rejected before sending us another novel. We aim to get back to you within two months.
We do not accept writing or artworks created (in whole or in part) by artificial intelligence. Our focus is on meaningfully developing and showcasing the work of human authors. We believe in the importance of human expression, our individual voices, creativity and connections. We do not have any interest in stories or art created by AI. If we find that any writing or artwork submitted to us was created by AI, it will be rejected and we will not consider further work from that submitter in the future.
You must be a UK resident for your work to be considered. We are especially looking for poetry pamphlet submissions from writers who are under-represented in UK publishing.
Pay Rate: Advance fee of £150, 10% royalties
Genres: Any
Language: English
Submissions Process:
Please upload your sample of 20 to 25 poems to our Moksha submission form.
Submissions should be submitted as a .doc/.docx file in Arial, Georgia or Times New Roman.
Your sample should include a contents page as appropriate.
In your cover letter, please include information about where individual poems have been previously published if applicable, your general publishing history, and anything about yourself you feel is relevant. Please also give us an insight into the thinking behind this collection. We are keen to know why this pamphlet is meaningful to you as the author.
We do not accept writing or artworks created (in whole or in part) by artificial intelligence. Our focus is on meaningfully developing and showcasing the work of human authors. We believe in the importance of human expression, our individual voices, creativity and connections. We do not have any interest in stories or art created by AI. If we find that any writing or artwork submitted to us was created by AI, it will be rejected and we will not consider further work from that submitter in the future.
**Submissions are now closed. All submissions are now being read and considered for publication.**
We will be open for issue 15 submissions from all writers between 7th July 2024 – 1st September 2024.
Submissions are free, but if you are not subscribed to the magazine we ask that you read a recent issue before submitting work. You can purchase a digital or print issue from as little as £3.
If you do not have access to a copy of Lucent Dreaming via your library, and have no or very low income, please email dreaminglucent@gmail.com to receive a free digital copy. This will help you get a feel for the kind of writing we enjoy and give you the best chance.
Language: English
Short Story Word Limit: 1500-3999 words
Short Story Pay Rate: Fixed £80, digital subscription and a free print contributor copy. (If you are already subscribed to Lucent Dreaming, you will receive the value of the digital subscription.)
Flash Fiction Word Limit: 250-750 words
Flash Fiction Pay Rate: Fixed £30, digital subscription and a free print contributor copy. (If you are already subscribed to Lucent Dreaming, you will receive the value of the digital subscription.)
Poetry Line Limit: Maximum 56 lines including line spacing
Poetry Pay Rate: Fixed £30, digital subscription and a free print contributor copy. (If you are already subscribed to Lucent Dreaming, you will receive the value of the digital subscription.)
Artwork Dimensions: A5 Portrait, 300dpi artwork of any style with 3mm bleed (151x213mm) or A4 Landscape, 300dpi artwork of any style with 3mm bleed. We accept reprints.
Artwork Payment: Fixed £50, digital subscription and a contributor copy of Lucent Dreaming. (If you are already subscribed to Lucent Dreaming, you will receive the value of the digital subscription.)
We enjoy beautifully written fiction, especially writing that embraces and explores inner lives. We are excited by fiction with characters we can root for and care about, and longer fiction where we see character development.
We prefer beautifully written and crafted poems that explore themes of identity, inner-lives and society; prose poetry; surreal poems that tell a story, and poems or make us think and feel.
For an easier time, avoid:
• Zombies, vampires, werewolves, especially sexy ones
• Elves, dwarves, and other fantasy scenarios that come across as LOTR fan fiction
• Fanfiction based on non-public domain texts
• Gratuitous gore/torture and other violence for the sake of violence
• Erotica
Please email submissions to submissions@lucentdreaming.com with ART: NAME OF ARTWORK in the subject line.
Include your name and a cover letter. Your cover letter should contain any relevant history, and anything about yourself you feel is relevant.
Submissions should be submitted as a .jpeg, .jpeg2000 or .png file.
Please allow up to 3 weeks for a response before inquiring about the status of your submission.
Please only submit one piece at a time. Wait until you’ve been accepted or rejected before sending us another.
Please don’t send anything that is currently submitted elsewhere (simultaneous submissions).
Upon acceptance the Lucent Dreaming team will request:
• the right to electronically publish on this website, and
• the right to republish this art in or in connection with Lucent Dreaming, including electronic, audio, video, and hard copy promotional material and printed compilations, provided that authorial credit is given in every instance of reproduction.
Lucent Dreaming licenses its published content (when modified, edited, presented, or formatted by Lucent Dreaming, i.e. our version of your work) as CC-BY-NC. If you have any questions relating to CC licensing, please contact us at dreaminglucent@gmail.com
Please use our Moksha submission forms.
Submissions should be unpublished stories submitted as a .doc/.docx file and in standard manuscript format. Please don’t submit stories that have been previously published in English, including stories you have published yourself, be it on your blog, or anywhere else.
We accept two fiction and two poetry submissions per submission window per author. If we’ve rejected a piece of writing previously, please don’t submit it again, even if it’s been fixed up based on our suggestions.
We accept simultaneous submissions. Please withdraw immediately if accepted elsewhere.
Please allow up to 4 weeks after the submission window ends for a response before inquiring about the status of your submission.
Upon acceptance, the Lucent Dreaming team will send a contract for you to sign asking for the exclusive first rights to publish the story in print, the exclusive first rights to electronically publish the story on this website and the right to republish the story in or in connection with Lucent Dreaming, including electronic, audio, video, and hard copy promotional material and printed compilations, provided that authorial credit is given in every instance of reproduction. We will ask that you do not republish your work within six months of your piece being published by us online. Copyright remains with the author.
Lucent Dreaming licenses its published content (when modified, edited, presented, or formatted by Lucent Dreaming, i.e. our version of your work) as CC-BY-NC. If you have any questions relating to CC licensing, please contact us at dreaminglucent@gmail.com
We do not accept writing or artworks created (in whole or in part) by artificial intelligence. Our focus is on meaningfully developing and showcasing the work of human authors. We believe in the importance of human expression, our individual voices, creativity and connections. We do not have any interest in stories or art created by AI. If we find that any writing or artwork submitted to us was created by AI, it will be rejected and we will not consider further work from that submitter in the future.