At Defunkt, we’re a biannual magazine, publishing two stunning volumes of work a year. In between our general reading periods, we are launching mini reading periods designed to focus on theme specific work. You can find information on our general and themed books for 2023 below and their entry periods.
General Submissions:
Volume 12: our first issue of the year dedicated to showcasing the best of the best. Payment will be distributed based on profits from Patreon subscriptions and tip jar donations. Volume 12 will be the first issue where some sections are requesting theme-specific work. Keep reading to view special calls for Volume 12. Reading period opens: Feb 1st - March 31st
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Art Call for Volume 12: SPILLED MILK
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"We seek art that embraces the mistakes, the "ugly," the blemishes. Art that celebrates how messy life is, exploring it in a way that points out its nontraditional beauty, to make us appreciate the accidents, the mishaps, the unplanned. Show us your "imperfection" and let us appreciate its imperfectness, to show us there is beauty in the dark and to reject the idea that art has to be perfect. Don't cry over spilled milk, send it to us instead.
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Creative Nonfiction Call for Volume 12: ECLIPSE
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“I find I am constantly being encouraged to pluck out some one aspect of myself and present this as the meaningful whole, eclipsing or denying the other parts of self.” - Audre Lorde, Sister, Outsider.
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People who are biracial, nonbinary, multicultural constantly find themselves not being able to fit into the mold of what our society expects of them. Michelle Zauner in the essay/memoir Crying in H-Mart speculates on her mixed-race identity following her mother’s death. Audre Lorde in the essay “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference,” published in Sister, Outsider, talks about her inability to fit into the “mythical norm”—a knowing at the edge of our consciousness that says ‘that is not me’” when we look at what our society reveres as “normal” (i.e. straight, white, cis-het men). Rachel Charlene Lewis, a mixed-raced queer essayist-poet writes in the essay "Queering Gender, Queering Genre," published in Electric Lit, “There is, for me, validity to be found in space less easily labeled.” All of these great writers, thinkers, and creatives recognize that they do not fit on the binary scale of life and seek to break that scale. While society might reject our outsider status, within our work, all the many parts of ourselves are allowed to live freely and without judgment or definition. We want to read the parts of you that are not easily defined. We want all your facets, all your sides, all of your phases. No longer will we eclipse the parts of ourselves to better fit into a binary, we will become the sun, the stars, and the moon, all wrapped up into one.
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Volume 13: our second issue of the year dedicated to showcasing the best of the best. Payment will be distributed to contributors based on profits from Patreon subsciptions and tip jar donations. Reading period opens: TBA
Mini Reading Series:
TBA
Important Notes:
Starting with Volume 10, we will begin paying contributors through our profits from Patreon subscriptions as well as adding a tip jar option where readers can tip their favorite authors. Since this is our first time implementing this strategy, we don't have any hard numbers yet, but we hope you are as excited as we are!
Please note that Defunkt Magazine requires First Serial Rights on all submissions/all mediums and that all published works may be considered for our annually printed anthology, Pushcart nominations, and Best of the Net.

Submission Guidelines
Fiction & CNF
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4,000-word maximum. No minimum.
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Double-spaced. 12 pt. font size. Times New Roman.
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Please include a 100 word or less bio with your submission.
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Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please withdraw your piece if it is accepted elsewhere.
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Submit a docx. format
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One submission per author per section. Please await a reply prior to resubmitting.
Poetry
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Written or Performance Videos
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Up to 4 poems not exceeding 10 pages
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12pt Times New Roman font
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We are interested in all types of poetry, so please send whatever you feel is your best.
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Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify us immediately when a piece from your submission is accepted elsewhere.
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Please include a third-person biography or artist’s statement that is a maximum of 100 words.
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We do not accept multiple submissions within one section, but you may submit to different sections.
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Please utilize Word.
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No minimum.
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Performance videos should be 10 minutes or less.
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ALL VIDEO SUBMISSIONS MUST BE VIA YOUTUBE LINK EMBEDDED/HYPERLINKED IN A DOCUMENT FORMAT.
Art & Video
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Art, Visual, Performance/Film
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Please utilize JPEG with a minimum resolution of 300 PSI via attachment.
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5 piece maximum per entry.
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Different mediums should be submitted separately: i.e. visual submissions should not be submitted alongside a video submission--but in their own separate submission.
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Non-poetic performance or short film videos should be 10 minutes or less.
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ALL VIDEO SUBMISSIONS MUST BE VIA YOUTUBE LINK HYPERLINKED IN A PDF OR WORD DOCUMENT.
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Please send a max 170-word description/commentary on the inspiration for your video piece!
Music
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Music submissions accepted via Soundcloud, Spotify, or via an attached MP3 or MP4 file. If utilizing a link please submit via a hyperlink in an uploaded PDF or Word document.
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5 piece maximum per entry.
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ALL VIDEO SUBMISSIONS MUST BE VIA YOUTUBE LINK HYPERLINKED IN A PDF OR WORD DOCUMENT.
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Please send a max 100-word description/commentary on the inspiration for your video piece!
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How does your volume launch work?In 2022, we will begin a new volume launch process. Patreon subscribers get access to the online volume TWO WEEKS before we release it to the rest of the world. Patreon is how we pay our contributors and subscribers get so many cool perks for supporting Defunkt. Once those two weeks are up, then viewing is open to the entire public for free!
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Do you accept simultaneous submissions?Yes, we do but please let us know as soon as possible if it is accepted elsewhere!
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Do you pay contributors?We want to pay contributors starting in 2022. In order to do so, we will be encouraging readers to subscribe to our Patreon so we can build a subscription based support system! All profits gained from Patreon will be used to pay our writers. Since this is our first time implementing this strategy, we do not have any hard numbers yet but it will most likely be in the ballpark of $5-$15 to start.
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Are you guys looking for more readers?We could always use more help! Fill out the contact form on our CONTACT page to join our team!
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Do you send contributors a free copy of the printed book?While we would LOVE to be able to send each contributor a copy of the book, we do not have the means to do so, especially since we also publish creatives outside of the US. Shipping fees alone would be too much of a financial burden as we are a small press that often pays out of pocket to cover expenses. Because of this, we are working very hard to raise Patreon subscriptions so that we can pay our writers. If they want to use the funds to purchase a copy of the book, by all means! But, we would rather pay our writers and give them the option to choose how they would like to spend the money since they also get the PDF of the book and are featured in an immersive online showcase. Some may want the printed book, while others may want to use the funds for other means. But, we prefer to leave that choice to the contributors versus make the decision ourselves. We hope this clearly explains our decision!