Submission Guidelines
BleakHouse Publishing seeks work anchored in social justice, criminal justice, and the carceral system. Our mission is to shed light on the men and women entangled in the criminal justice system and on conditions of incarceration. Many of our writers are current or former prisoners, or have a research background or interest in criminal justice.
Books
Book manuscripts are invitation only; we do not take unsolicited submissions for books. When we do ask for a manuscript, we prefer poetry or a short collection of stories or essays (100 pages or fewer). We typically publish one title per year.
Tacenda Magazine submission guidelines
SCOPE:
We are an independent publishing company focusing on amplifying the voices of formerly or currently incarcerated individuals. While we aim to preserve the original message, voice, and style of the pieces we publish, BLEAKHOUSE also works closely with our authors to build relationships and to provide writing support, feedback, and mentorship.
CONTENT:
We aim to focus our efforts on publishing content relating to incarceration, reentry, and the carceral system’s intersection with issues of social justice.
POETRY:
We publish poems ranging from less than one to five pages in length.
SHORT STORIES AND PERSONAL NARRATIVES:
We publish short stories ranging from one to five pages or 250- 12,500 words.
SOCIAL JUSTICE ESSAYS:
We publish essays exploring intersections of social justice and incarceration ranging from one to five pages or 250- 12,500 words.
BOOK REVIEWS:
We publish reviews of books related to incarceration and social justice ranging from one to five pages or 250- 2,000 words.
SUBMISSION GUIDANCE FOR AUTHORS:
Currently, we cannot return original work, guarantee publication, or pay authors for their work. Published authors retain the rights to their work. Please provide a return address so that we can contact you after submission.
Editorial Process
We edit for basic grammar and spelling to enhance readers’ experience with the author’s work. All ideas and content remain the author’s. If we do have questions or content suggestions, we will work with the author on revisions. Our intent is to keep this the author’s work while making sure readers understand the author’s ideas.
Publication
All rights revert back to the author or artist upon publication. However, if your piece is accepted by another publication at a later date, we ask that you acknowledge that the work was originally published by us. All artwork and published pieces are viewable on www.bleakhousepublishing.org.
Marketing
Because we have a small staff, we’re unable to guarantee a thorough marketing strategy. However, we have a modest contact list and are hoping to grow our reach through collaborations with state and national organizations. For books, we may also be able to schedule speaking events via Zoom, though there will likely be no monetary compensation.
How to Submit
You may submit as often as you’d like; however, we take a break from mid-July through Labor Day and in January, and we like to include a wide range of voices. We cannot guarantee publication. Because we are a not-for-profit, we cannot pay for published pieces. Unfortunately, we cannot send back originals.
Mailing Address
Dr. Robert Johnson
Dept. of Justice, Law, and Criminology
American University
BleakHouse Publishing
4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20016