What we publish:
Room publishes fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and art by women. Room’s quarterly issues are edited by a rotating team of editors from our collective, and as such many tastes and interests are represented. Of our four issues, two have themes that are chosen in advance by the editors, and for these issues, calls for submissions have specific deadlines. For the other two issues, we seek the best work by emerging writers and artists, and such work can be sent to us at any time throughout the year.
Though we publish work by women, we are not necessarily soliciting pieces with a feminist agenda. And please bear in mind that over the 35 years of publishing Room, we have received countless manuscripts that focus on abortion, daughter/motherhood, menstruation, and menopause to the exclusion of anything else that women may consider important to their lives. We believe the work we publish expresses the complex, nuanced, and truly rich interior and exterior lives of a broad variety of women.
Submissions and response time:
We receive more than 1200 submissions per year and publish approximately 20 pieces in each quarterly issue. We aim to email you regarding our decision within 3 to 4 months, but it can sometimes take much longer. A longer delay may often mean that your piece is being considered by an editor for potential inclusion in an upcoming issue. If you haven’t heard from us after six months, feel free to email contactus@roommagazine.com, and we"ll let you know where your submission is in the reviewing process.
Payment:
We pay $50 per page for the first 2 pages, then $20 per page after that, up to a maximum of $120, and $100 for cover art. Contributors also receive two copies of the issue in which the work appears and a year’s subscription to Room. We purchase First North American Serial Rights only (prior to publication in Room, the work may not have appeared in print in North America or on-line), and copyright always remains with the author. We may also ask you for non-exclusive electronic rights to publish a portion of your work on our website, but these will be negotiated separately.
Simultaneous submissions:
Please be sure to mention in your cover letter whether your submission is exclusive to us or whether you have submitted it to other magazines. And if another magazine accepts for publication work you have submitted to Room, please advise us immediately.