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
• 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 (100-word limit, written in third person)
• Upload files 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, 12 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 3 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