Tag: auroras & blossoms Page 4 of 5

The FAQ Series: What are the Topics / Themes of Auroras & Blossoms?

By

On May 10, 2021

In FAQ Series

Many of you have sent us the same questions over and over via email. That is why we created a very detailed FAQ and Philosophy pages to help you.

But we wanted to make things even easier by breaking down all the questions into easy-to-digest posts.

Let’s start with the following question: “What are the topics / themes of your platform?“

We accept any topic/theme providing that it is positive and uplifting in nature, with the exception of erotica and politics.

Positive art stands for art that is stimulating, optimistic, confident, uplifting, and inspirational.

No matter what topic you choose to tackle (e.g., death, disease, mental illness, suicide, depression…), the pieces you send us should answer three basic questions:

– “How do they help others?”
– “How do they open their minds?”
– “Do they bring a better understanding of the situations or stories I am describing?”

If you can’t answer those questions, your submission is unlikely to make it into one of the issues of our magazine. So, please don’t send it to us. We will not respond.

With that said, other magazines will probably be happy to accept your stuff. We just don’t do edgy. We are 100% focused on positivity. This focus will never change.

See you soon for another topic covered in our FAQ series and don’t forget to check out our latest submission calls!

Check out our latest calls for submissions!

Positive Art Listings (04/26/2021)

By

On April 26, 2021

In Positive Art Listings

Hello folks!

As anthology editors, we believe that it is important to support fellow artists and editors. Welcome to our Positive Art Listings!

The Positive Art Listings have a simply goal, and it is to help your submission calls and artistic events to reach a larger audience. They will be published once a month in the form of a post on our blog.

NB: We vet every call we receive to ensure that it is family-friendly. However, we are not responsible for the content published by other magazines and platforms. As always, read guidelines carefully before submitting.

Current Positive Art Listings

ZiN Daily

Founded in 2017, ZiN Daily strives for truthfulness, authenticity and understanding, and encourages and emphasizes the role that literature and other arts have in society, the world and the lives of individuals. They view literature and art as testaments of anguish and catalysts for progress.

Call for submissions: ZiN Daily is open for submissions year-round. They accept prose, poetry, essays, reviews, excerpts, translations, art and photography from established and emerging writers.

Deadline: All-year long.

Submission fee: No.

Payment to selected artists: No.

Special note: ZiN Daily asks for worldwide first publication rights. Work must be previously unpublished (in print or online) with the exception of the original text of a translation. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but send courtesy email notifying them if the work has been accepted elsewhere.

Guidelines: https://zvonainari.hr/zin-daily

Submissions: https://www.zvonainari.hr/contact

Sledgehammer Lit

Launched in March 2021, Sledgehammer is the new lit mag on the block that aims to publish poetry and flash daily.

Call for submissions: We are looking for exuberant writing. We appreciate technicolour imagery, geographical settings brought to life, acrobatic turns of phrase. Show us the beauty within the ugliness. Peel back the layers of an onion to reveal hidden truths. Give us an gritty realism with a side dish of vulnerability. Give us sincere sarcasm. Give us something funny. Be yourself, quirks and all.

Feel free to experiment. Throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.

We want to be your Sledgehammer.

Deadline: Ongoing.

Submission fee: No.

Payment to selected artists: No.

Special note: Simultaneous submissions accepted. No previously published material. BIPOC / LGBTQ+ / marginalized creators welcome.

Guidelines and submissions: https://www.sledgehammerlit.com/contact-details

All My Relations

All My Relations is an art and lit, online and printed magazine, exploring the theme of familial (blood, adopted, affirming, community, or other “family”) loss or ancestry, prioritizing traditionally marginalized creators, but open to all.

Call for submissions: We are looking for honest pieces reflecting on your ancestors, pieces commemorating your memories (or imaginations if memories don’t exist) of lost elders and/or relatives (whoever your relatives are to you), pieces exploring the myriad of feelings that come with loss, pieces explaining rituals (either cultural or adopted) that help you cope with loss or honor your relatives, etc. We are looking for pieces that honor your lost, honor your journey through loss, and/or aid in communal healing.

Deadline: June 1, 2021, or until maximum number of pages has been reached.

Submission fee: No.

Payment to selected artists: Only to BIPOC, gender variant, and disabled submitters.

Special note: One written piece or piece of artwork per person accepted. Response within a month. Simultaneous submissions and previously published work accepted. 

Guidelines: https://www.talbot-heindl.com/relations

Submissions: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSca59_2YD_Gc3GvIyz_oYNS5aOHwCIYiHKhygJfpX3TGcbyvw/viewform?gxids=7628

Inertia Teens

Intertia Teens is an online platform for mental health awareness and a place where teens can share their feelings and thoughts.

Call for submissions: We are looking for submissions (creative nonfiction, fiction, haikus, poems, plays, spoken word, artwork, photography, collage, and etc.) for the first issue of our literary magazine. The theme is feelings. We want teens and young adults to share their stories whether written in quarantine or anything that reflects the power of emotions and feelings.

Deadline: N/A.

Submission fee: No.

Payment to selected artists: No.

Special note: Written pieces should not exceed 10,000 words. Simultaneous submissions accepted. No work promoting homophobia, transphobia, bigotry, misogyny, sexism, or racism.

Guidelines and submissions: https://saminanewsif.wixsite.com/inertiateens/basic-11

LUPERCALIA Press

Lupercalia Press invites and amplifies the voices of transgender and queer creatives. In order to de-stigmatize and celebrate the transgender body, and work toward achieving trans/queer equity, we enthusiastically publish chapbooks of poetry/prose/visual art/hybrids that focus on celebration, excess and sexuality by anyone who self-identifies as transgender or queer.

Call for submissions: New press publishing chapbooks for LGBTQ authors and artists.

LUPERCALIA press will showcase art and writing by trans and queer creators that focuses on themes of transgender and queer sex/sexuality/excess/celebration. We do not have any strict definition of how trans or queer manifests in your personal identity, nor do we want to be gatekeepers. If you say you are trans or queer, we believe and accept that in you.

We are always looking to highlight the voices of BIPOC communities, and those who have been traditionally marginalized from the literary world.

We are not looking for racism, homophobia, transphobia, ciscentrism, sex worker exclusionary language, femmephobia, anti-semitism, islamophobia, fatphobia, ageism, classism, ableism, etc.

Deadline: We read submissions from 4/15/21 to 7/15/21. We will provide full feedback and notification of acceptance or denial by 8/15/21.

Submission fee: No.

Payment to selected artists: $20/chapbook with a hardcover, hand pressed author’s copy. The print runs for 1 year.

Special note: Simultaneous submissions and previously published work accepted, so long as the previous publisher has given you permission to reprint.

Guidelines and submissions: https://www.lupercaliapress.com/submit

Tint Journal

Tint Journal is the first online literary journal with an explicit focus on writers who produce creative texts in English as their second or non-native language.

Tint showcases original fiction and nonfiction creations by ESL writers including short prose, flash as well as poetry. In view of the diverse backgrounds of our contributing writers, any subject matter which does not violate our values of acceptance and inclusivity is welcome. The journal also features audio recordings of the writers reading their work.

Additionally, English writers of any kind are asked to contribute interviews with and profiles of ESL writers, as well as reviews of pieces written by ESL writers.

Call for submissions: We are looking for poetry, essays, flash fiction, flash fiction, and short stories by ESL writers for our next issue. We are also looking for visual art to accompany the written work.

Deadline: Submission deadline May 30, 2021.

Submission fee: No.

Payment to selected artists: No.

Special note: Unpublished work only. Simultaneous submissions allowed, just let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.

Guidelines and submissions: https://tintjournal.com/submit/submission-guidelines

Our Current Submission Calls at Auroras & Blossoms

The PoArtMo Anthology: Volume 2

After our very successful first edition, the PoArtMo Anthology is back! We want your most inspirational art created in 2019-2021.

We accept poetry, poetry-graphy, photography, short stories, six word stories, essays, flash fiction, drawings and paintings. New this year: A second anthology featuring works dedicated to 13-16 year-old artists!

Deadline for submissions: December 31, 2021.

Submission fee: $6 per piece or $15 for three pieces.

Payment to selected artists: Ongoing royalties.

Other perks: Complimentary PDF copy + interview on our blog or PoArtMo Show.

Submissions and guidelines: https://abpositiveart.com/poartmo-anthology

The Written in a Flash Anthology

Written in a Flash Anthology: A Collection of Positive Stories is a new project that seeks to highlight the most inspirational / positive short stories and flash fiction pieces created in 2019-2021.

Genres accepted: thriller, mystery, fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, young adult, humor, and nonfiction.

Deadline for submissions: December 31, 2021.

Submission fee: $6 per piece or $15 for three pieces.

Payment to selected artists: Ongoing royalties.

Other perks: Complimentary PDF copy + interview on our blog or PoArtMo Show.

Submissions and guidelines: https://abpositiveart.com/written-flash-anthology/

Have a Call for Submissions / Artistic Event to Promote?

We look forward to reading you.

David & Cendrine

Closure of Auroras & Blossoms Magazine and Next Steps

By

On April 15, 2021

In Announcements

Hello everyone,

We have some very sad news to share with you all. We have made the extremely difficult and painful decision to stop running our magazine. 

What Happened??

The magazine has been a bone of contention with certain people for months. Some artists have threatened to defame us because we would not bow to demands that no magazine would be prepared to accept under any circumstances. Others have accused us of running a vanity publishing scheme because we charge nominal submission fees and ask for donations so that our free submitters (who took advantage of our former free entry route) can also receive ongoing royalties. 

Many have called our policy of not accepting simultaneous submissions “wrong”, stating that it creates undue hardships to artists. (We do this to prevent our projects from becoming unnecessarily delayed or ruined by people trying to remove content right before publication.)

An increasing number of people have refused to follow our submission guidelines, disrespected our publishing deadlines, or refused/shrugged off our offer of ongoing royalties (something that has been rarely done with any magazine before!).

Earlier this month, a submission almost jeopardized the release of our second issue because it violated the Amazon rule regarding content being available freely and widely on the internet, hence cutting our ability to distribute the issue on Amazon. Accusations of vanity publishing resurfaced and a few artists berated us for unethical behavior. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

We have no problem with apologizing in case of mistakes. People are also entitled to their opinions. But when those opinions become false accusations, bordering on libel, and feel like a vendetta against our efforts to bring positivity and inspiration to the forefront, we cannot let it go any longer. 

Our Decision

Auroras & Blossoms is only run by two passionate, dedicated artists. People will always judge others, that’s a fact. However, we can take steps on our end to ensure that the bad apples are no longer allowed to waste our time and take the slots in our publications that other artists like you deserve. After all, the actions of a selfish few can easily endanger the reputation of Auroras & Blossoms, as well as yours. We care too much about the publication of your work to let this happen. 

What does it mean for the future? A more stringent submission process (unfortunately but completely necessary) and a stronger focus on themed anthologies, which our readers seem to enjoy a lot!

(By the way, our magazine may be closed, but all our previously published issues remain available for purchase!)

Thank You!

Thank you to all the people who have supported our magazine! We know that you are disappointed that its journey has to stop so early. However, we also know that you understand our decision.

At Auroras & Blossoms we will always do our utmost to defend our guiding principles of positivity and inspiration, and ensure that our platform continues to be a place where artists feel valued and respected.

David and Cendrine

Our Current Submission Calls

Currently, we have ‘The PoArtMo Anthology’, which is in its second year, and we also have just launched the ‘Written in a Flash Anthology’ exclusively for flash fiction and short story writers.

For more information, see below.

The PoArtMo Anthology: Volume 2

After our very successful first edition, the PoArtMo Anthology is back! We want your most inspirational art created in 2019-2021.

We accept poetry, poetry-graphy, photography, short stories, six word stories, essays, flash fiction, drawings and paintings. New this year: A second anthology featuring works dedicated to 13-16 year-old artists!

Deadline for submissions: December 31, 2021.

Submission fee: $6 per piece. $15 for three pieces.

Payment to selected artists: ongoing royalties.

Other perks: Complimentary PDF copy + interview on our blog or PoArtMo Show.

Submissions: https://abpositiveart.com/poartmo-anthology

The Written in a Flash Anthology

Written in a Flash Anthology: A Collection of Positive Stories is a new project that seeks to highlight the most inspirational / positive short stories and flash fiction pieces created in 2019-2021.

Genres accepted: thriller, mystery, fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, young adult, humor, and nonfiction.

Deadline for submissions: December 31, 2021

Submission fee: $6 per piece. $15 for three pieces.

Payment to selected artists: ongoing royalties.

Other perks: Complimentary PDF copy + interview on our blog or PoArtMo Show.

Submissions: https://abpositiveart.com/written-flash-anthology/

Why We Charge Submission Fees and Do Not Accept Simultaneous Submissions

By

On March 8, 2021

In Announcements

Hello everyone!

When we launched Auroras & Blossoms, we knew that things would not run smoothly all the time. We expected criticisms and problems, like any other publication. Unfortunately, the last few months have been very rough, and we have been forced to make an important decision.

Today, we would like to tell you about it.

During the second half of 2020, we started receiving an increasing number of irrelevant and careless submissions. All of them came from artists opting for our free route offer (for one piece), and who had not read any of our detailed FAQ / submission guidelines.

Slowly but surely, these submissions began overwhelming both our e-mail inbox and our heads too, making it incredibly difficult for us to spend time reviewing paid submissions. We ended up being faced with a major backlog and numerous complaints (even threats!) from the artists submitting via the free route, who did not seem to understand the concept of a priority listing (for the people who paid a fee) and how we run a magazine.

Conversely, the paid submissions we received were usually a breeze to read and easy to accept. Their authors were professional, respectful, and they often had a healthy pride in their work.

As a result of this, in August we made the decision to drop the free route altogether (except for 13-16 year-old artists) and settled for a fee of $6 per piece. Many artists, including those who had opted for the free route before, were up in arms about this, accusing us of trying to steal their money and get rich off of their backs. Others completely understood and supported us 100%. Their support continues to this day and we are very grateful for it.

We would like to make it very clear that we do not enjoy charging a submission fee. We would love to be able to publish an artist’s work for free. Unfortunately, a magazine does not run itself. It is actually a costly endeavour both in time and money for the people involved in its production. You need dedication and patience to make it work, just like you would for any other serious business.

Actually, only a few magazines make enough money to pay both staff and contributors. The main reason for this is that they have been around for a long time (they have a household name or established presence) or they have sponsors whose financial support helps offset their bills/ongoing costs.

We do not have sponsors. Our only sources of revenue are submission fees, donations, and book / magazine issue sales. Furthermore, we actually pay ongoing royalties per piece to artists who are featured in our issues and anthologies. You will not find this often in the industry, particularly when it comes to online magazines / journals.

What Your Submission Fee Covers

To those who equate paying a small fee for the chance to be published in a magazine or anthology (and receive ongoing royalties in the process) to vanity publishing, here is our answer:

If you can do all of the same things that we do for only $6, please let us know, as we would love to hire you! Publishing means: formatting, proofreading / editing, cover design, video trailers, uploading to Amazon and other platforms, and regular marketing / promotional work.

When you pay the submission fee for your pieces, donate to us, or purchase a copy of our books / magazine issues, you help compensate us for the huge amount of time we spend running Auroras & Blossoms.

NB: Paypal and Stripe keep a fee for each donation or fee payment you send to us. The same goes for Amazon, Draft2Digital, and other online bookstores where we sell our books. So we actually do not receive the whole amount you send us!

The number of hours we spend running Auroras & Blossoms

Every day:

  1. Promotional material creation – 30 minutes
  2. Promotional activities – 30 minutes
  3. Social media posts and interactions – 1 hour
  4. Blog posts – 1 hour
  5. Emails – 2 hours
  6. Research – 2 hours
  7. Brainstorming sessions – 20-30 minutes
  8. Website updates – 20-30 minutes
  9. PoArtMo Collective – 30 minutes

Per project:

  • Your submissions – 30 minutes to 2 hours / entry
  • Writing of books and guides – 30 hours (minimum) / project
  • Formatting of magazine issues, anthologies and other books – 15-20 hours (minimum) / release
  • Proofreading / Editing of magazine issues, anthologies and other books – 15-20 hours (minimum) / release
  • Cover design – 5 hours (minimum) / release
  • Emails to selected artists – 3 hours / release
  • Preparation / Running of the PoArtMo Show – 5 hours (minimum) / show
  • Video creation – 5 hours (minimum) / video

The money running Auroras & Blossoms costs

  1. Domain name – US$20 / year
  2. Hosting – US$120 / year
  3. Advertising – US$300 / year
  4. Streamyard – US$96 / year
  5. Animoto – US$360 / year
  6. Miscellaneous promotional costs – US$150 / year

NB. This running cost list above does not even include all of the countless hours that the two of us spend on the magazine and Auroras & Blossoms in general. This is not a salaried position for either of us!

If you ask other magazine editors about their own costs, they may share much higher numbers. We are able to keep ours quite low because of the following:

  • Cendrine has a long experience in marketing and using WordPress. She also designs our covers and promotional materials, creates our video trailers, updates our website, and formats / uploads our magazine issues and anthologies to Draft2Digital, our ebook distributor.
  • David proofreads our issues and anthologies, involves himself in editing and contributing process to projects, works as the PR expert of the duo, and has a knack for efficient research/niche promotion.
  • We do not use Submittable or similar services to deal with submissions. While a majority of magazines rely on them, their rates are way too high for us. Hubspot for this reason has served us well up until this point.

Our Revenue in 2020

$360. Yes, you read it right: $360. (Actually, $355, but we wanted to boast a little bit. ;-))

Now, our goal is not for you to take pity on us and shower us with donations (even though they are truly appreciated). We do not personally gauge our success on how much money we make from our magazine. We just want to be transparent as possible with you and publish the best content from you that we possibly can. We also believe that education goes a long way. Many of you have never run a magazine or publication, so you cannot know what really happens behind the scenes, and how much time, work and money are involved.

We love what we do and that is why we continue to do it with passion and professionalism. But we are sure that you now understand that we cannot support you, if we do not take care of the needs of the magazine first and this also means supporting us too. Without financial support and our charging a small minimum submission fee, we would no longer be able to cover our costs and continue to run Auroras & Blossoms.

Our Stance on Simultaneous Submissions

We know that simultaneous submissions are standard practices in the online magazine/journal industry. Unfortunately, we are not a standard platform/magazine, we are actually an exclusive digital content provider.

Every submission we receive takes us between thirty minutes and a couple of hours to review/discuss. This is time we cannot spend on other things, including other submissions. The more entries we receive, the heavier the workload. This means often having to work well into the weekends and late at night.

This, in itself, is fine of course. The real issue is when you withdraw your work because it has been accepted elsewhere. It means that our time was wasted.

What is even worse is when artists do not respond to our emails and suddenly decide to withdraw their submissions as soon as the issue or anthology is ready for publication. It has happened to us on more than one occasion.

That is the reason why we do not accept simultaneous submissions. Furthermore, no amount of pressure will get us to change this decision.

Thank you for reading us! We hope that this message will give you a greater appreciation and understanding of the way a magazine is run, along with how and why we make the decisions that we do. They are all for the benefit of the artists that we publish, plain and simple.

Happy creating!

Cendrine & David

Positive Art Listings (02/25/2021)

By

On February 25, 2021

In Positive Art Listings

Hello folks!

As magazine and anthology editors, we believe that it is important to support fellow artists and editors. Welcome to our Positive Art Listings!

The Positive Art Listings have a simply goal, and it is to help your submission calls and artistic events to reach a larger audience. They will be published once a month in the form of a post on our blog.

NB: We vet every call we receive to ensure that it is family-friendly. However, we are not responsible for the content published by other magazines and platforms. As always, read guidelines carefully before submitting.

Current Positive Art Listings

ZiN Daily

Founded in 2017, ZiN Daily strives for truthfulness, authenticity and understanding, and encourages and emphasizes the role that literature and other arts have in society, the world and the lives of individuals. They view literature and art as testaments of anguish and catalysts for progress.

Call for submissions: ZiN Daily is open for submissions year-round. They accept prose, poetry, essays, reviews, excerpts, translations, art and photography from established and emerging writers.

Deadline: all-year long.

Submission fee: No

Payment to selected artists: No

Special note: ZiN Daily asks for worldwide first publication rights. Work must be previously unpublished (in print or online) with the exception of the original text of a translation. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but send courtesy email notifying them if the work has been accepted elsewhere.

Guidelines: https://zvonainari.hr/zin-daily

Submissions: https://www.zvonainari.hr/contact

Floresta Magazine

Floresta (meaning ‘forest’ in Portuguese) was established in 2020 by a Woman of Colour who wanted to create a space to showcase the variety and depth of perspectives, projects, work, and art being done by women centred on and around the environment.

Call for submissions: In line with the environmental themes of Floresta, they are looking for visual work that explores ‘nature’ in relation to the theme of ‘lockdown’.

Has your relationship with nature changed or become more significant? Has nature become a sanctuary, an escape or a border? Has nature taken on human-like characteristics and acted as a companion or confidant?

Submissions are not limited to these questions, they are prompts, but your work must interact, incorporate, reflect or explore the theme, as you interpret it. (Your work does not have to have been created during the periods of lockdown.)

Deadline: February 1-28, 2021.

Submission fee: not mentioned.

Payment to selected artists: not mentioned, feature in online exhibition.

Special note: Simultaneous submissions are accepted. Original work only, up to 2 separate works. All forms of visual work considered: photography, photo series/ photo diaries, video, film, collage, paintings, renders, AR. Women artists only.

Submissions: https://florestamagazine.com/lockdown-online-exhibition

Pareidolia Literary

Pareidolia Literay is a new journal for pattern-finders. They accept poetry, short and flash fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, essays, criticism, reviews, visual art, and media art. They believe in inclusion, uplifting underrepresented and emerging artists and authors, ethical operation, mutual aid, fostering community, and transparency.

Call for submissions: Pareidolia Literary’s Vol. 1: Still life

Deadline: February 21, 2021.

Submission fee: No – donations accepted to help supporting operating fees.

Payment to selected artists: No

Special note: Simultaneous submissions accepted (let them know if you are accepted elsewhere before decisions are sent). Previously unpublished work only (exception: artists affected by Violet & the Bird.)

Submissions: https://www.pareidolialiterary.com/submissions

Exeter Publishing

Exeter Publishing is an independent publishing company whose aim is to shine light on emerging artists of all backgrounds and mediums.

Call for submissions: Volume 1 of their digital chapbook series. Theme: UNSPOKEN. Focus on flash fiction (in first, second, or third person POV).

What’s something you’ve always wanted to say but never could? What if you’d said something earlier – would things have turned out the way they did? Is this a piece borrowing from truth? Or is it entirely fictional? This is your time to explore the uncertain!

Deadline: April 4, 2021.

Submission fee: US$2

Payment to selected artists: No, but free digital copies of publication + feature on Exeter Publishing’s website and social media accounts.

Special note: Simultaneous submissions accepted (reach out to them if your work is accepted to another publication that doesn’t accept previously published work).

Submissions: https://www.exeterpublishing.com/chapbooks

Our Current Submission Call

The PoArtMo Anthology : 2021 Edition

After our very successful first edition, the PoArtMo Anthology is back! We want your most inspirational art created in 2021.

We accept poetry, poetry-graphy, photography, short stories, six word stories, essays, flash fiction, drawings and paintings. New this year: A second anthology featuring works dedicated to 13-16 year-old artists!

Deadline for submissions: December 31, 2021

Submission fee: $4 per piece.

Payment to selected artists: ongoing royalties.

Submissions: https://abpositiveart.com/poartmo-anthology

Have a Call for Submissions / Artistic Event to Promote?

We look forward to reading you.

David & Cendrine

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