Choose a submission format first: Short Stories (3,000–8,000 words), Very Short Stories (500–3,000 words), Novellas (15,000–30,000 words), Nonfiction (3,000–8,000 words), or Illustrations & photography. Short Stories and Nonfiction each contain more specific calls. Explore the format hierarchy.
Call-specific requirements take precedence over the general ranges below. The ChillSubs listing supplies the current literary calls, payment ranges, and closing dates. Most current literary calls close December 31, 2026. Historically accurate fiction has no fixed closing date listed. A Foreign World is open.
Multiple and simultaneous submissions are welcome. The listing gives an estimated response time of 180 days. This is an estimate, not a guaranteed deadline.
We do not accept AI-generated stories or AI assistance that directly affects the prose, structure, characters, or themes of a work.
The submission form asks for author credit, form, genre, original language, word count, synopsis, editorial fit, copyright confirmation, and first-publication status. Central ideas, real-life inspiration, website, social links, and referral source are optional. Upload up to five documents, at no more than 10 MB each, or supply a readable manuscript link. Artist submissions use a portfolio or work-sample link.
New World is a journal of stories devoted to reuniting a divided tradition: writers who experience, adventure or live on the fringe first, then draw upon those experiences to create captivating and thought-provoking stories. We seek to assemble the modern continuation of that tradition in hardcover journals made to last and to be passed down from one generation to the next.
We look back to the lost age of Conrad, London, Stevenson, Hemingway, Robinson Crusoe, The Arabian Nights, and National Geographic: a tradition of adventure and discovery, but also of strange moral systems, philosophical questions, distant places, and encounters with unfamiliar ways of life.
Setting should be essential to the story. We are drawn to fiction that could not simply be moved from one country, landscape, historical period, or way of life to another without becoming a fundamentally different work.
Stories may be realistic, historical, speculative, mythic, or otherwise difficult to categorize. We care less about genre than about physicality, atmosphere, narrative movement, and a genuine sense that the reader has been taken somewhere.
For Volume I: The Stars, the theme should be integral rather than incidental. We welcome stories involving astronomy, navigation, observatories, celestial mythology, expeditions, spaceflight, ancient cosmologies, darkness, remote landscapes, or other meaningful encounters with the night sky and the worlds beyond it.
Above all, we want stories that leave the reader with the feeling of having gone somewhere, encountered something, and returned.
I. Physicality
The physical world matters. Weather, distance, labor, and the body should shape the story. Characters do not simply think—they act, travel, build, endure, and inhabit real places.
II. Time & Place
Every story should have a strong sense of place. Setting is essential to the narrative and could not simply be exchanged for somewhere else.
III. Intellectual/Spiritual Seriousness
We seek stories that ask meaningful questions. Whether philosophical, historical, scientific, or spiritual, the work should strive for more than entertainment alone.
IV. Mythic Structure
We value stories where physical events lead to personal, philosophical, or spiritual transformation. The outward journey should reflect an inward one.
V. Cinematic Imagination
Stories should unfold through memorable scenes rather than exposition. We seek work that is visual, dramatic, and emotionally immediate.
VI. Discovery
Every story should introduce the reader to something unfamiliar—a place, culture, history, profession, philosophy, or way of life. The reader should leave with a larger understanding of the world.
VII. Timelessness
We value stories meant to last beyond the conventions and worldview of the present day culture. Stories that speak to what it means to be human are the heart of our editorial values.
New World is particularly interested in stories involving:
We do not discriminate by genre. New World will consider work from any genre that matches our criteria.
We accept foreign language fiction and will translate selected work into English for final publication.
We are generally not looking for:
We are less interested in:
Our top priority is our bi-annual print volumes, but New World also publishes relevant short stories, nonfiction, and essays on the New World/Conquistadore website, YouTube, or Substack.
Some of these stories and essays may be published as standard prose, audio readings, or video essays. Stories and essays published in New World volumes are first published in print, but may be republished online, or adapted to audio or video mediums at New World's discretion. Full details about publication will be reported and must be agreed to in publication contracts upon selection.
Yes. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify us promptly at contribute@readnewworld.com to retract your submission.
We accept submissions in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), Google Docs, plain text (.txt), rich text, markdown, or PDF format.
We may select reprints of exceptional quality and fit. For previously published stories where the author or submitter still owns the copyright, please email us directly at contribute@readnewworld.com. Tell us about the work, where it was previously submitted and published, and confirm that the author holds the rights.
We pay $150 USD for accepted short fiction and $150 USD for accepted nonfiction. For stories between 500 and 3,000 words, we pay a flat honorarium of $50. The current novella call lists compensation of $300–$550 USD; final terms are agreed with selected contributors.
New World acquires First Serial Rights to publish accepted works and the non-exclusive right to republish them in future New World anthologies, collector's editions, anniversary editions, online in text, audio, or video formats, and other New World publications.
For works published in translation, these rights apply to both the original-language text and any translated editions published by New World. Contributors must have the authority to grant these rights.
We will also retain the right to use works in the marketing or promotion of New World, online and in print.
Copyright remains with the author. All other rights remain with the author. We ask that any subsequent publication acknowledge New World as the place of first publication.
Email: contribute@readnewworld.com