The Fiddleback

General

We read submissions year-round and accept simultaneous submissions. We do not accept multiple submissions (one genre at a time, please) or previously published work, whether in print or online. This includes personal blogs and social networking sites. Unfortunately, we're not able to pay contributors in any genre for their work at this time. We hope this changes some day.

Literature

All work must be submitted through our online submission system. All literature submissions must be attached in a single MS Word document (.doc or .docx format). Submissions should include a brief cover letter that includes a brief bio.

As an online venue, we have the freedom to publish work of any length and have no word count at this time. You can send us your novella for all we care, but we reserve the right to quit reading once the writing is not very good. We look for writing that pushes the boundaries of language, for writers who would never be clichéd enough to use the phrasing “pushes the boundaries of language.” We believe that strong writers are mindful of the words they hire to represent them and understand that infinitudes can be built or lost within the slippery confines of the sentence. We are tired of stories that don’t play for keeps, of writers who hedge their bets out of a deep fear they’ll screw up and tell the truth. Save that writing for your workshops and social clubs. It has no purchase here. We are more inclined toward the outlandish, toward the unsayable, toward the spectacle.

Poetry: We're open to poems written in any style or form—experimental, accessible, lyric, narrative, etc.—though we favor work that demonstrates intelligence, originality, attention to craft, and a connection to contemporary themes. Translations will be considered as long as all written permissions have been obtained from the author. No more than five poems per submission. Compile and attach poems in a single Word document (.doc or .docx).

Fiction: We primarily publish short stories. Novel excerpts are accepted, but they must be self-contained. Flash fiction is also accepted with the understanding that we believe most flash fiction falls short of the mark. That being said, we do like to be proven wrong. We are masochistic like that. Do not submit more than one fiction piece at a time. Submissions must be double-spaced. See paragraphs above for further details.

Nonfiction: We accept nonfiction in the form of creative nonfiction, essays, journalistic pieces, and excerpts from memoirs. Aesthetically, we're drawn to hybridity and experimentation, work that re-contextualizes both content and form so long as it exhibits purpose and control. We're equally interested in classic structures that are too good to be dismissed, work that vibrates like a divining rod, that settles in the spine. Do not submit more than one nonfiction piece at a time. Submissions must be double-spaced. See paragraphs above for further details.

Book Reviews: We accept book reviews for all genres. Reviews must be written on books published within the last year. Though we are critical in our remarks, we generally publish reviews on books that we think people should read. Overly negative reviews are a waste of everyone's time. Authors: Please contact us if you'd like to send us a review copy. Note we will only publish a review if A) we like your work and B) find a reviewer. Books will not be returned. Reviewers: Please note we are a magazine, not a scholarly journal. Most of reviews we publish are micro or "capsule" reviews in the range of 300-500 words, though we sometimes publish reviews in the 800-900 word range. For reviews longer than 900 words, please contact us before submitting. Note that reviews accepted for publication may appear in issues, on the blog, or both, depending on the quality and timeliness of the work.

Music

We are interested in good, exciting, innovative, or just plain fun music. We'd love to hear your rock, pop, indie, folk, hip hop, country, jazz, soul, electronica, drone, noise, metal, hardcore, grindcore, cookie-monstercore, cutecore, post-hardcore, etc. Here are a few different ways you can get your music into The Fiddleback:

Album Reviews: For your album to be eligible for review send us a link to a downloadable file via our submission form. Please specify that you are sending the album for review. To send us a physical CD or record, contact us directly here. Make sure to specify pertinent information such as release dates and label affiliations. We might review streaming albums if it is something we really like, but more often than not, streams do not provide an ideal listening experience. Also, if you have any electronic press materials, feel free to send those along as well. Depending on the volume of submissions, we will not be able to publish reviews for every album submitted. Also, if you are a PR firm, or your email appears as if it was generated by a PR firm, we will probably ignore it. We want to hear from bands, not get spammed.

Features: In addition to reviewing albums, we will also feature a band or artist in each issue. If you are interested in being featured by The Fiddleback, start with a cover letter (send here) telling us you would like to be featured and give us a link to some online content. If we like what we see and want to feature you, we will be in touch. If you or your band are selected for a feature, be advised, we will need the following:

• Samples of your music—a physical CD/record or downloadable file. This should be at least an EP's worth of material. Should we decide to feature you or your band, we will want permission to sample your music on the site in the form of an .mp3 file. This requires you to clear the sample rights with your label (if you're under contract) as well as send 2-3 mp3 files no later than a month prior to publication.
• Press materials providing a sense of where you're from, what kind of music you perform, how you fit into contemporary music, and what you're currently up to, etc.
• 3-4 high resolution digital photos (we prefer JPEGs) of medium to large sizes so we can crop and trim as necessary. This is not to judge your appearance, but so we can post pictures in the feature.
• Links to video footage—live performances, video clips, YouTube etc….
• A "discography" with key release information (year and label).

Featured Tracks: We will also be including 2-3 featured tracks with each issue of The Fiddleback. There are two ways to end up with a featured track:

• Send us an album for review. Often, we might find something interesting but won’t be able to review the album (maybe we won’t have space for it, or maybe we just won’t have anything to say about it, even though we like it—this sometimes happens). If we like a song but aren’t going to review the album, we might contact you to see if you’d like a track featured.
• Submit a song, or selection of songs, for consideration as a Featured Track. If you are doing this, make sure to provide a link of some sort to the tracks you are submitting, and please specify you are submitting for Featured Tracks consideration.

Writing Guidelines:

Pitch a review: If you would like to write a review or feature for The Fiddleback’s music section, send us a query letter here. In your initial contact, please tell us what you want to review or feature and what you might need from us to make the review or feature possible. Make sure to mention previous, relevant experience and/or publications. Previous experience is not necessary.

Become a Contributor: If you are interested in becoming a regular music writer for The Fiddleback, email us here with the following:

• A cover letter telling us why you want to write for us and listing previous experience.
• 1-3 sample reviews or articles. These can be either attachments or links to online articles.
• A list of your five favorite albums of the current year, and your ten favorite albums of all time. This is not so that we can judge your tastes, but so that we can get a sense of what you like to listen to. While the current writers have diverse tastes, we have plenty of gaps in coverage. This is simply a way to help us see if you might fill one of those gaps.

Art

Simply put, we publish artists whose work captures our attention and moves us in some way. Much of what we describe as our aesthetic tastes in the literature section also applies to the kind of art that attracts us.

Submissions for Features (artists): Attach a .PDF of your work in our submission form or include a link to your website/blog that hosts an ample selection of your work. We prefer the web link. DO NOT attach a single image. A single images tells us nothing about your work a whole and will be deleted without consideration. We publish artists who are either working on a particular project or whose work includes interrelated aesthetic decisions. Look through our previously published features to see if you'd be a good fit for the magazine. We can't stress this enough.

Should we decide to feature you in the magazine, we will require the following:

• 5-10 high resolution images (we prefer JPEGs) of your work to include in our artist portfolio. If you are under contract with a gallery, we require you to clear sample rights with the various gatekeepers you're working with
• Promotional headshot
• Cover letter or press materials providing a sense of who you are and the kind of work you create
• Links to video interviews, live performance clips, etc.

Please understand that we will only feature one artist per issue, and we often solicit hose artists, meaning that the frequency of artists pulled from submissions for features will be incredibly low. If you are selected, we will contact you and set up an interview to talk about what the feature will look like.

Submissions for Art Reviews (writers/reviewers): With art reviews we look for commentaries on recent exhibits that are generating a decent amount of national buzz. We also publish a series called Gallery Spots that showcases local, independent galleries (example here), especially if the gallery does something unique or interesting. We're also interested in write-ups on cool art blogs, magazines, etc. And of course we're always open to accepting full-blown artist features, though for those we must first approve the artist you want to feature and see two Q&A style interviews you've written in the past. For reviews, use the submission form and select "Reviews." For features, contact us.

*By submitting to The Fiddleback you claim sole ownership of the material submitted and agree to have your work, if chosen for publication, archived indefinitely. For literature submissions, all rights revert back to the author upon publication.