Submissions to Outwardlink.net (the "website")

• Please read all sections of our submission policy (listed on the left) before submitting your work.
• We accept both unpublished and previously published work.
• We accept simultaneous submissions.
• We accept poems (100 lines or fewer), prose pieces (2000 words or fewer), and artwork (file size 2 MB and smaller).
• Prose can be fiction or nonfiction—short stories, essays, articles, or other formats. Line and word count maximums are approximate.
• Artwork can be standalone images, images accompanying writing, or custom page borders. Maximum 2 MB file size is mandatory.
• All submissions must be sent electronically to the Outwardlink webmaster, usually as file attachements to the email. Click here to copy the email address to your clipboard, or contact the webmaster for assistance. Please do not use the Contact Us form for submissions.
• All submission must conform to our Rights and Restrictions.
• We do not accept writing or artwork posts to our Facebook page.
• By submitting your work to us, you agree to our Privacy Policy.

Theme

• We are looking for high-quality, short works of poetry and prose where the author's experience or perspective contributes to a dialog of diversity, a quest to expand the relationships that people of different groups have with each other and with the rest of the world. "Groups" may refer to ages, backgrounds, capabilities, cultures, ethnicities, faiths, genders, nationalities, orientations, or any other designation that society uses for labeling or categorizing people.
• The mission of outwardlink.net is to use writing to illuminate and deconstruct these labels, categorizations, stereotypes, and misinformation that prevent communication. We are looking for works that will further this cause. The ways in which we can address this mission are diverse, and only some of them are represented in our collection. We encourage thinking outside the box in approaching our subject matter.

Writing

Content

• Writing must conform to the rules specified in Rights and Restrictions.
• Writing must be primarily in English. You may use an occasional word or phrase in another language as long as we can determine that the word or phrase does not violate any of the rules specified in Rights and Restrictions.
• Writing must be well-formed, edited, and proofread. We are happy to make corrections for an occasional typo, but we cannot accept work that does not appear to be properly reviewed and edited.
• Poems must be approximately 100 lines or fewer. They can be in any style.
• Prose must be approximately 2000 words or fewer. It can be fiction or nonfiction.
• "Approximately" means we need you to submit writing of the appropriate length, but will not reject your submission solely for being a few lines or words over the limit.

Format

• Attachments must be in Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), Rich Text Format (.rtf), or plain text (.txt) format.
• We prefer attachments, but you can also include the text of your work within the body of an email.

Artwork

Content

• Artwork must conform to the rules specified in Rights and Restrictions.
• You can submit standalone artwork, artwork accompanying a writing submission, or a custom border for a writing submission.
• We may need to resize artwork accompanying a writing submission. Standalone artwork files must be no larger than 2 MB. We do not resize standalone artwork submissions as long as they conform to the maximum file size.
• Custom borders must be exactly 36 pixels in width. We recommend that they be no more than 144 pixels in height to work well as a repeating border. Please see our currently published works for border examples.

Format

• Attachments must be in JPEG (.jpg), Graphics Interchange Format (.gif), or Portable Network Graphics (.png) format.
• Custom borders must be in Graphics Interchange Format (.gif) format.
• Maximum file size for each piece of submitted artwork is 2 MB.

Rights and Restrictions

• You must be at least 13 years of age to submit items to this website.
• Any writing or standalone artwork that you submit to us must be primarily authored by you (with proper attributions of any quoted material) and not restricted from publication by another's rights. We cannot accept writing or standalone artwork submitted by you on behalf of another person.
• For previously published work, you must retain the rights to the work and provide the publication acknowledgements.
• Artwork accompanying a writing submission and custom borders do not need to be authored by you, but you must have permission from the author to submit these to us.
• We have the right to publish your submissions on our website (http://www.outwardlink.net) and promote your work on our associated Outwardlink.net Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/outwardlink) and on our Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/outwardlink) without compensation to you, any person who contributes artwork or custom borders submitted by you, or any person who is depicted in images submitted by you.
• You retain all other rights to your work, including the right to submit it to others for publication. This includes simultaneous submissions.
• You have the right to have us remove your writing or artwork from our website at anytime. Please contact the webmaster if you need to remove items from our website.
• Due to the nature and accessibility of our website, we cannot accept writing or artwork that contains:
  
  
  • Libel.
  • Defamation.
  • Personal attacks or flaming.
  • Threats towards individuals or groups.
  • Enticement to commit a crime or engage in an illegal activity. Exceptions to this are depictions of peaceful acts of civil disobedience.
  • Words or language inappropriate for persons under 13 years of age. We may be able to accept a certain amount of strong language (as with a PG-13 movie rating).
  • Written depictions of sex, violence, or subject matter inappropriate for persons under 13 years of age.
  • Visual depictions of nudity, sex, violence, or subject matter inappropriate for persons under 13 years of age.
  • Advertisements or commercial content.
  • Chain letters, pyramid schemes, or other similar forms of solicitation.
  • Spam.
  • Viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, or other malware.
• We reserve the right to reject submissions without reason or explanation other than a rejection notice. We also reserve the right to remove previously submitted work from our website at any time and for any reason. In the event that we have to remove your work, we will notify you.
• The opinions expressed in the works of the contributors to the website are the views of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of other contributors, Outwardlink.net, its editors, its webmaster, or its web host provider.

Facebook Posts

• We permit our Facebook fans to post on our Outwardlink.net Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/outwardlink).
• We do not permit fans to post poetry, prose, or artwork items on our Facebook page. Please follow our process for submitting these items to our website.
• All posts must conform to the rules specified in Rights and Restrictions.
• We reserve the right to remove any post at any time and for any reason.

Privacy

• By submitting your work and a valid email address and having us accept that work for our website, you agree to allow website visitors to contact you through the website's Contact Us form. This form enables us to partially encrypt and obscure your email address from visitors and automated email harvesters.
• If you receive a message from a visitor, you can decide whether or not to respond to it. If you receive repeated messages from the same visitor that appear to be abusive or threatening, contact the webmaster immediately.
• Aside from the Contact Us form, we use your email address only to contact you regarding your submissions or for important notices. We do not sell, trade, or share your email address.
• Any email correspondence that you have with us remains strictly confidential as long as it is not abusive or threatening. E-mail abuse or threats will be forwarded to the proper authorities.

How to Submit Your Work

• Submit your work to our webmaster. Click here to copy the email address to your clipboard, or contact the webmaster for assistance. Please do not use the Contact Us form for submissions.
• Write "Submission" in the subject line of the email.
• In the body of the email, include:
  
  
  • Your name as you want it to appear on our website.
  • Your contact email address, if different from the email address you used for the submission.
  • Citations of publications where an item has been previously published, if any (for an example of this, refer to Paulann Petersen's poem Ecumenical).
  • Appropriate attributions if you are submitting accompanying artwork or custom borders that you did not author.
  • (Optional) a short bio note (100 words or fewer).
  • (Optional) the URL to your personal website or web page.
• Attach to the email all files pertaining to your submission.
• Please do not submit more than 5 items at a time. Artwork or a custom border accompanying a writing submission does not count towards the 5 items.
• Please contact the webmaster with any questions about our submission policy or process. Thank you for your interest in Outwardlink.net!