Miscellaneous
- What exactly is Ploughshares?
- What is your contact information?
- How can I contact one of your authors?
- How do I request permission to reprint?
Submissions (Before sending work, please read our complete submission guidelines.)
- Do you accept unsolicited submissions? If so, what types of manuscripts are you looking for?
- What is Ploughshares’ reading period?
- Do you bestow any awards?
- Do I need to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (S.A.S.E.)?
- Do I need to include a cover letter?
- How much can I submit at one time? Can I mail poetry and fiction together?
- Can I submit my manuscript online?
- Can I submit work simultaneously to another publication?
- Do you accept previously published work? What is your definition of previously published? Do web publications count?
- How long should I wait before I query about my submission?
- I’ve revised my work since sending it to you and want to send in the new version. Is that okay?
- Should I be targeting my work to a specific guest editor? What happens to my submission? Will the guest editor be reading it?
- What do you pay, and what rights do you buy?
Subscriptions
- How many issues of Ploughshares are published per year? Why didn't I receive a summer issue?
- How do I subscribe?
- When can I expect my first issue?
- How can I tell when my subscription is going to expire?
- I’ve moved but my issues of Ploughshares have not been forwarded. What happened?
- How do I notify Ploughshares that my address has changed?
- One of my issues was never delivered or arrived damaged. What should I do?
- I'm receiving two copies. What’s going on?
- How do I give a gift subscription?
- How do I renew my subscription?
- I renewed recently, but just got another renewal notice. Why?
- How do I order back issues?
Miscellaneous
Ploughshares is a literary print journal, publishing poetry and fiction and occasionally personal essays/memoirs. Each issue is guest-edited by a prominent writer who explores different and personal visions, aesthetics, and literary circles (see our guest editor policy.) We are considered one of the top literary journals in the country; work first published in Ploughshares is selected continuously for annual prize anthologies such as The Best American Poetry, The Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. See the list of our prizewinners.
Although we are affiliated with Emerson College, we are not a student publication. We receive 1,200 submissions each month from all over the country and the world, and the authors we publish range from best-selling household names to fresh new discoveries.
Emerson College, our institutional sponsor, is a premiere communications and performing arts college in Boston and hosts one of the best M.F.A. programs in creative writing in the country. Student-run reviews at Emerson College include Redivider, The Emerson Review, and Gangsters in Concrete.
What is your contact information?
Ploughshares
Emerson College
120 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 824-3757
pshares@emerson.edu
Our office hours are Monday through Friday, nine to five.
How can I contact one of your authors?
You may mail or e-mail us a letter for the author, and we will forward it for you. We're sorry, but we do not give out any contact information.
How do I request permission to reprint?
Please see our guidelines for Reprint Requests and Photocopying for Course Adoption.
Submissions
Do you accept unsolicited submissions? If so, what types of manuscripts are you looking for?
We welcome unsolicited submissions. We consider primarily poems and short stories, although we do very occasionally publish personal essays/memoirs. Novel excerpts are acceptable if self-contained. Unsolicited book reviews and criticism are not considered.
Please familiarize yourself with issues of Ploughshares before submitting to us.
What is Ploughshares’ reading period?
We accept submissions postmarked from June 1 to January 15. Any material mailed from January 16 through May 31 will be returned unread. Sorry, but we adhere very strictly to these postmarks.
We have two annual internal awards: our Zacharis Award, honoring the best debut book by a Ploughshares author, and our Cohen Award, for best story and poem published in a yearly volume of Ploughshares.
Do I need to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (S.A.S.E.)?
Yes. All submissions, and correspondence regarding submissions, should be accompanied by a S.A.S.E., business size #10, with a stamp, for reply. Material sent without a S.A.S.E. will not receive a response. If a manuscript without a S.A.S.E. has been rejected, we keep it for six months after the postmark date, then recycle it.
Do I need to include a cover letter?
We do prefer that each submission includes a cover letter with your name, submission date, contact information, and a brief bio citing previous publications, if any.
How much can I submit at one time? Can I mail poetry and fiction together?
We’ll consider one prose piece, and one to five poems.
Poetry and fiction are read by separate editors; please mail them separately.
Can I submit my manuscript online?
You may submit online via our electronic submission system. Please register and submit.
Can I submit work simultaneously to another publication?
Yes, as long as you indicate that a submission is simultaneous and you notify us immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.
Do you accept previously published work? What is your definition of previously published? Do web publications count?
No, we do not publish any previously published work. Our definition of "published" is material distributed in any way (print or electronic) to the public, meaning more than a workshop, or friends, or family. Material that has appeared in any publication, print or web, would be considered previously published.
How long should I wait before I query about my submission?
Ploughshares receives 1,200 submissions each month, and like most literary journals, we have a very small staff. It takes a long time for us to read everything—but we are committed to giving every submission a fair chance, and every submission is indeed read carefully.
Please wait five months before querying. Contact us by mail, or e-mail. Be sure to include a S.A.S.E. and the postmark date of submission if querying by mail.
I’ve revised my work since sending it to you and want to send in the new version. Is that okay?
Please send us only the absolute best representation of your work. Because of the volume of submissions we receive, we cannot accommodate revisions, changes of return address, or forgotten S.A.S.E.s after the fact.
Should I be targeting my work to a specific guest editor? What happens to my submission? Will the guest editor be reading it?
We do not recommend trying to target specific guest editors. Our backlog is unpredictable, and staff editors ultimately have the responsibility of determining for which editor a work is most appropriate. Your submission will be screened by staff editors, who select only the most promising manuscripts to send to the guest editor. Please see our guest editor policy for more details.
What do you pay, and what rights do you buy?We pay $25 per journal page, with a minimum of $50 and a maximum of $250. We purchase First Serial Rights. Copyright remains with the author. The author will have the authority to have the work reprinted elsewhere after it has appeared in Ploughshares, for example in a short story collection or anthology, as long as Ploughshares is credited with first publication in the reprint.
Subscriptions
How many issues of Ploughshares are published per year? Why didn't I receive a summer issue?
We publish four issues a year, but one is a double issue. Our Spring poetry & fiction issue is published on April 15, the Fall prose double issue is published on August 15, and the Winter poetry & fiction issue is published on December 1.
You can subscribe online with a Visa or Mastercard through our secure server. Or if you prefer, you may mail your check, money order, or Visa or MasterCard information (credit card number and expiration date) to:
Web Orders
Ploughshares
Emerson College
120 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02116
Checks should be made payable to Ploughshares. Our rates are $30 for one year (three issues) or $50 for two years (six issues). All orders outside the U.S., except Canada, are subject to a $12 per year shipping surcharge for Global Economy shipping (four to six weeks), or $24 per year for Air Mail (four to seven days). The shipping surcharge to Canada is $10 per year.
When can I expect my first issue?
Orders are usually shipped within business two days of receipt (our office is open from Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 Eastern Time). If you choose to start your subscription with the current issue, please expect one to two weeks for delivery by Media Rate in the U.S. You may request Priority Mail for quicker delivery of your first issue, for a $2.50 surcharge.
How can I tell when my subscription is going to expire?
We will notify you by mail three months in advance of your final issue with a renewal letter. Your expiration date is also printed on each issue’s mailing label. “Exp: Fall 2004,” for example, means that the Fall 2004 issue will be the final issue of your subscription.
I’ve moved but my issues of Ploughshares have not been forwarded. What happened?
Our issues are sent by Standard (bulk) Mail, which the post office does not forward. It’s a mystery, actually, what happens to these issues—they’re not returned to our office, either, but are supposedly deposited into the "Dead File" in U.S.P.S. parlance. Please try to keep your address up-to-date with us. If you’ve moved and missed an issue, contact us and we’ll send a replacement to your new address.
How do I notify Ploughshares that my address has changed?
One of my issues was never delivered or arrived damaged. What should I do?
Contact us by mail or e-mail. We’ll send a replacement.
I'm receiving two copies. What’s going on?
It’s possible that a renewal was incorrectly recorded as a new subscription. Contact us, and if appropriate, we'll combine any duplicate records into one, extending your subscription for remaining issues.
How do I give a gift subscription?
For gift subscriptions, when you subscribe online, you will have the chance to include a gift message and specify the recipient's name and address when you check out.
How do I renew my subscription?
You can renew online. If you are renewing at least two months prior to expiration, you're eligible for our Early Bird discount.
I renewed recently, but just got another renewal notice. Why?
Our renewal notices take some time to prepare and mail. The mailing list for a renewal letter is set in stone a few weeks before the letter is actually mailed—if you renew during this two-week window, you'll still receive the renewal letter even though your subscription has been renewed. When you renew, we mail you a postcard, thanking you for your payment, and noting your new expiration date on the address label. This is your correct expiration. Please ignore any other renewal notices you receive in the next few weeks.
Almost every issue of Ploughshares ever published is available for purchase online. See the list for prices, and to browse the contents.