Your story is finished. You have read it aloud, cut a paragraph you loved, put it back, and read it again. Now comes the part most writing groups never teach: getting it in front of an editor who has never met you and owes you nothing. Submitting to UK literary journals is a craft in its own right, and it rewards preparation far more than nerve.

Choose the Journal Before You Polish the Piece

It is easier to write towards a journal than to find one afterwards. Before you send anything, read three recent issues — the print copy if you can get it, the online archive if you cannot. Notice the length of the pieces, the register, whether the editors favour formal experiment or clean narrative, and how much white space sits around each poem or paragraph.

Then ask an honest question: where would your work sit in that issue? If the answer is "nowhere, but I like them", keep reading and submit elsewhere. A journal is not a prize to be won; it is a room your writing has to fit into.

Reading Periods: the Calendar That Rules Everything

Many UK journals do not read submissions all year. They open a window — often a few weeks in spring and again in autumn, sometimes just once annually — and close it firmly. Work that arrives outside that window is usually returned unread or quietly deleted. This is not snobbery. Most journals are run by two or three editors with day jobs, and a defined reading period is the only way they can promise to read everything properly.

Keep a simple record of the journals you care about. A spreadsheet is enough. For each one, note:

• the dates the reading window opens and closes
• word limits for prose and line limits for poetry
• whether there is a submission fee, and what it includes
• the stated response time
• whether simultaneous submissions are allowed
• how work should be sent — email, Submittable, or a postal address

How to Read Submission Guidelines (Properly)

Guidelines are meant literally. If a journal asks for a maximum of 3,000 words, a 3,100-word story is not a near miss; it is a reason for rejection before anyone reads the first line. If the guidelines ask for a Word document with the title as the filename, do that, and do not also paste the text into the body of the email "just in case".

Watch for the small, decisive details. Some journals read blind, which means your name must be stripped from the document and often from the filename too. Some ask for a short third-person biography with your submission; others ask for nothing but the work. Some cannot consider work that has appeared anywhere else, including a personal blog. Read the page twice, then check the date at the bottom — guidelines change, and an old blog post about "how to submit to us" may be years out of date.

Simultaneous Submissions: Yes, Mostly

Sending the same piece to several journals at once is normal practice, and most editors accept it. Some do not, and they say so clearly. Where simultaneous submissions are permitted, you take on one obligation: the moment a piece is accepted, you withdraw it from everywhere else. Do that the same day, politely, and do not wait to see whether a better offer arrives. Editors talk to each other, and journals with long memories notice.

Withdrawals are simple. A short email — "Thank you for considering 'The Long Way Round'. It has been accepted elsewhere, so I am withdrawing it from your consideration" — is all that is needed. If you paid a fee, you rarely get it back; that is the trade-off of a faster process.

The Covering Letter Does Less Than You Think

The work decides. The covering letter exists to make an editor's life slightly easier, and it should take about four lines. State the title and word count, the genre, and anything genuinely relevant: previous publications, a prize shortlisting, a connection to the journal's remit. Then stop.

Dear Editors,
I would like to submit "The Long Way Round", a 2,400-word short story, for your autumn reading period.
My work has appeared in [journal names], and I was shortlisted for [award] in [year].
Thank you for your time.
[Your name]

Do not explain what the story means, do not apologise for sending it, and do not describe your novel-in-progress in case they ask about one. If the guidelines request a biography, keep it factual: where you live, what you have published, anything you are working on. A little warmth is fine; a full life history is not.

Rejections, Response Times and Trying Again

Most responses are rejections, and most rejections are a single line. This is not a judgement on you or your writing. Editors reject excellent work constantly because it does not fit the issue they are assembling. Sometimes you will get a note — "please send us something else" — and that is worth more than a standard acceptance elsewhere, so take it at face value and send again.

Wait the stated response time before nudging, and only nudge if the guidelines invite it. In the meantime, the piece should be out at the next journal on your list. A story that lives in one inbox is doing nothing at all.

A First Submission Checklist

Before you press send, work through this:

1. Confirm the reading period is open today, not last month.
2. Check the word or line count against the limit.
3. Format the file exactly as asked, with the requested filename.
4. Remove your name if the journal reads blind.
5. Write the short covering letter, or none if none is wanted.
6. Log the submission: title, journal, date, expected response time.
7. Put the piece back out elsewhere if simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Then leave it alone. Submitting is a long, slow, cumulative business, and the writers who do well at it are rarely the most talented in the room — they are the ones who read the guidelines, keep the spreadsheet, and send the next piece out on the day the last one comes back.

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