Submit | Ambit magazine

Submit | Ambit magazine

Submit

Submitting poetry and prose

Ambit is put together entirely from unsolicited, previously unpublished poetry and short fiction submissions. Due to the amount of submissions we receive, we are only able to print about three per cent of the work that comes through our door. So how do you get into that narrow band?

• Get to know Ambit before you submit. Is your work a good fit? What sort of thing does Ambit print? Buy a copy to find out…

• If you decide your work is right for us, send 5-6 poems, or 2-3 stories (up to 10,000 words in length) to:

Ambit, 17 Priory Gardens, London N6 5QY, UK

• If you want to submit poetry and prose, please send them separately – our filing system is fragile!

• We do not read any email submissions – print only please.

• Enclose:

• a self-addressed envelope with UK stamps, OR
• for international submissions, include International Reply Coupons (IRCs), OR
• make sure an e-mail address appears on your cover letter.

• If you want your manuscripts returned, please make sure the return envelope is big enough and includes sufficient postage. We will not reply by post to any submissions that come without SAEs.

• Be prepared to wait 3-4 months for a reply. We apologise in advance for this, and thank you for your patience. We receive a huge amount of copy, have only a few readers, and like to read submissions carefully.

• We accept simultaneous submissions.

• If you’re worried about things going astray in the post, include a stamped, addressed postcard so that we can let you know that your submission has arrived at Ambit.

• Keep a record of exactly what you have sent and when.

• Ambit is a non-profit magazine. We pay our authors a token amount along with two copies of the issue their work appears in (plus discounts on further copies).

• We receive too many submissions to be able to give feedback on rejected work.

• We do not print articles, essays, interviews, memoirs or biography.

• By submitting your work you give us first print rights, and the right to reprint your work on our website and in digital form. Once we have printed your work, all rights return to you (except for our digital and internet reprint rights). Those electronic rights do not affect your right to publish your work elsewhere in any forms you wish. Does that make sense? We’re not trying to be tricksy…

Here are a few more things to think about

The editors are not overly fond of the following: wild slights of stylistic abandon (indiscriminately centre-justified poems, jazzy fonts, poems all in italics); folders full of poetry or reams of stories in a single submission; poems folded individually. We’re not afraid of genre fiction, but it should probably have an interesting relationship to the genre at hand – a straight-ahead detective or horror story probably won’t appear in Ambit.

Submitting artwork

Most of the art in Ambit is found by our Art Editor on visits to art schools, private views and exhibitions. The illustrations that accompany the poems and stories are commissioned from an established team of artists.

Very little of our artwork comes in on spec. This is party because we have no funding to pay the artists who appear in Ambit.

If, however, you have explored the art in the magazine and feel that your work would print well (black and white only) alongside what you have seen, you are welcome to send in a sample. Send it to:

Mike Foreman
Art Editor
Ambit
17 Priory Gardens
London N6 5QY

Please note:
• Emailed work will be deleted.
• We will only reply if you include either a stamped, self-addressed envelope with UK stamps or International Reply Coupons or an e-mail address.
• It can take 3-4 months for us to reply.