Subs are open!

Please read and follow all guidelines before submitting.

If following these guidelines is challenging due to a disability or neurodivergence let us know in your submission email.

Submission Guidelines: We are looking for visual art and creative writing for volume 5. Please review what we’ve recently published (all of which are on sale currently!) before submitting to see if your style fits with our aesthetic.

We accept work from queer, nonbinary, trans, and other LGBTQIA+ artists and writers from around the world.

What we’re looking for: 

Send us your visual art and creative writing that evokes the strange and unusual with a punch of–metaphorical or literal–glitter. We want to see your bold and dreamy creations that force us to bear witness. 

We accept any medium (poetry, photography, fiction, nonfiction, collage, genre-defying, etc.) that can be formatted to fit in a print publication. We also consider music/sound submissions, with or without a visual element. We are open to all styles and forms, but we especially love non-traditional structure and art that isn’t afraid to get weird. 

Send your submissions to ouchcollectivesubmissions@gmail.com with the subject as your type of submission and name (ex: Poetry Dolly Parton). All entries must be the original work of the submitting artist. Simultaneous submissions are ok, just let us know asap if your work is accepted elsewhere. Previously published work is accepted as long as you have the rights to publish again. Absolutely no AI generated work. Previous contributors are encouraged to submit again.

Writing guidelines: Send us up to 3 pieces for consideration that don’t exceed 1,500 words. We prefer surrealism and magical realism short stories, gut-wrenching nonfiction, and poems that can fit on one page.

Visual art guidelines: send us 3-6 pieces of art that tell a cohesive story and/or represent your body of work or artistic voice. Completed projects and ongoing series or collections both accepted. We will consider singular art pieces, but series of works will be prioritized.

Please include a bio, your pronouns, title(s) of work, date created (for visual art), and media. Feel free to also include any other relevant information to your piece(s) (i.e. short description, content notes such as “this art contains violent imagery”, how you would like your work to be shown, etc.).

Free to submit. All contributors will receive a free pdf copy. U.S. based contributors can also receive a free print copy. International contributors can receive a $20 stipend. Due to complications with international shipping, we are no longer able to offer international shipping at this time.

Tip Jar: if you’d like to send a completely optional tip of $1 to $5 as a reading fee donation please send it to our Venmo: @ouchcollective. Please note this won’t guarantee acceptance or a faster response but we very much appreciate it as these books are a complete labor of love, and we are a self-funded, entirely volunteer-run organization.

Deadline for submissions is: September 28th 2025.

Decisions will be sent out in October and November. Publication date planned February/March 2026.

Please remember we are a small, volunteer-run team working full time jobs outside of the collective. Due to an overwhelming volume of submissions, we are unable to send confirmation emails. All entries will receive a response regardless of decision. Any submissions that do not follow the above guidelines or sent outside of the submissions window will not be considered or responded to.

Please email ouchcollectivesubmissions@gmail.com for any questions regarding this call. Thank you! We look forward to reviewing your work.

(featured images by Alex Wu and Jamesy Ochs)