General Submission Guidelines – Poetry and Art

Note: These are general guidelines; specific guidelines will be outlined in each call and may vary. 

We are open to a wide range of forms and styles—please just send us your best! We aim to respond to all submissions in less than 2 months, but decisions may take longer. Entries that do not meet the guidelines will not be considered.

If you are a PSNH member, you may submit your work for free. If you are not a member at the time of submission, we charge a nominal submission fee to help offset the cost of publication (we are a nonprofit).  You may join PSNH and help support our mission at psnh.org.

If you need to make changes to your submission BEFORE the deadline, please do not "Withdraw" the submission; instead, request access to edit your submission in the Submittable portal or via email (Touchstone@psnh.org).  

Submission Guidelines 

• No previously published work 
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please let us know immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere
• Please do not submit pieces that any editors may have previously seen in an online group (such as on Facebook or Goodreads), or that they may have given feedback on in a workshop or other situation
• Please do not submit pieces that must be accepted as a set, as we cannot guarantee publication of all or any pieces
• Work will be considered for the current submission period only
• Submissions must be received by the deadline date to be considered
• Submission must include the writer’s biography (50-word limit, written in third person)
• Uploads must not contain the poet’s name(s) or other identifying information
• File names for uploads should include the title of the first poem or art piece, or a partial title, and nothing else
• All rights revert to authors upon publication, but if you do resubmit elsewhere, please credit Touchstone
• All PSNH members will receive one free copy of the issue plus one free contributor copy if their work is selected for publication (members living outside the U.S. will receive a digital copy and can submit a request, with postage, for a hard copy) 

Submission Guidelines for Poetry

• Up to three (3) poems of 40 lines or less each 
• Poems must be typed in Times New Roman or similar, 11 pt. font, and should be left-justified unless other formatting is necessary or would significantly contribute to the artistry or meaning of the poem (please note that Touchstone is printed on approx. 6" x 9" paper, so lines longer than 60 characters may need to be printed on an additional line)

Submission Guidelines for Art

• Up to 2 images per submission period unless otherwise noted
• Only original work is accepted
• Submitted files should be between 1 and 20 MB in size
• Images must be submitted at 300 DPI or higher (high resolution)
• Images must fit or be able to be cropped to fit a 6″x9″ sized publication