Voiceworks is a national literary journal, featuring new fiction, nonfiction, poetry, visual art and comics by Australians under the age of 25. Voiceworks is produced entirely by people yet to hit the quarter-century mark and relies on contributions from readers to make up its content. Each selected piece goes through a collaborative editing process, and individualised feedback is provided for all unsuccessful written submissions. All published contributors are paid for their work.

What we’re looking for

The best way to get a sense of the kinds of work we publish is to read Voiceworks! You can get yourself a copy by ordering it online, subscribing or by waltzing into one of these fine retailers.

Flare (Issue 113, Spring/Summer 2018)

Here we huddle with the mangrove roots. We grasp their hands and gasp as one, breathing together through the pores of craterous black sand. Little crabs and snails and creatures and half-crushed shells, we all stay low and watch the pink sky fold inwards like a fortune cookie. The sand tucks itself into folds of denim jean ankles. A beacon to remember behind closed lids, later. We blink and blink and blink and watch neon ions dance with our pinpoint pupils. The soot grows and grows and colours the dome. The flicker turns, rocketing towards spinning eruption. We watch the curve of the earth closing in above our bodies. We hold hands holding hands hands holding hands and listen to the sounds of our hearts and wet eyelids wet sand gripping onto mangrove roots.

“Here it comes.”

~Thanks to EdCommers Amie Green and Magenta Sheridan for the blurb~

Remember, you don’t have to stick to it. Our themes are a prompt more than anything else—a springboard to get the creative ideas flowing. Most of all, we just want good work. Our motto is…

—Themed work: good

—Good work: better

—Good themed work: BEST

Print Guidelines

Voiceworks accepts fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art and comics, but before you send it our way, here are some rules (they help control the fun):

—We are only able to publish writers and artists who are under the age of 25 (that is, 24 and under) at the time of submission.

—We only accept work by people living in Australia (including international students) or by Australians living overseas.

—We only consider previously unpublished work.

Each category has its own submission page with specific guidelines, but here are the basics:

Fiction: send no more than two stories, each no more than 3,000 words.

Poetry: send no more than three poems, each no more than 100 lines. We recommend reading our poetry guide here before sending us your work.

Nonfiction: we recommend that you pitch your nonfiction work before sending it to us. Head here for advice on how to construct your pitch and write good nonfiction. For completed work, send no more than two pieces, each no more than 3,000 words.

Art and comics: please keep in mind, we print in black-and-white (greyscale) and our page dimensions are 170 x 245 mm. We recommend you pitch your comics before sending them to us. For advice on how to pitch your comics, check out our handy guide here. Please send no more than three artworks or comics.

We encourage you to submit across genres, but please send us no more than four submissions in total (excluding comics and illustration applications).

Deadlines

Nonfiction pitches are due Sunday 19 August, 11:59pm.

Fiction, poetry, and completed nonfiction submissions are due Sunday 2 September, 11:59pm.

Art, comic pitches and finished comics are due Sunday 30 September, 11:59pm.

Rates of pay

$100 for written work and illustrator’s fee
$150 for multi-page comics

Voiceworks Online

Big news: we are redesigning our website and preparing to launch into the world of online publishing! If you make work that can’t be printed on the page, this is your time to shine! We are currently seeking experimental, digital-based writing and comics. This includes but is not limited to:

—Interactive fiction
—Hypertext writing
—Code poetry
—Bots and generative text works
—Writing with sound or video elements
—Full-colour comics or comics with animated elements

Digital Guidelines

—As with the print magazine, we are only able to accept work by people who are under the age of 25 at the time of submission, and who are living in Australia or Australians living overseas, and we only consider previously unpublished work.

—Please send no more than two submissions at a time. Word limits are as follows:

Fiction and nonfiction: no more than 3000 words

Poetry: no more than 100 lines

Comics: no more than 10 pages

If you aren’t sure if what you’re working on is the right fit for us, or if you want some guidance developing an idea, please feel free to send us a pitch. You can find our guides to pitching here and here.

Deadlines

Online submissions are open on a rolling basis.

Rates of Pay

$100-$150, depending on length and format

You’ll find further details on each category by following the link below. Please read the information carefully and contact Voiceworks Editor Mira Schlosberg if you have any questions or concerns. Alrighty then, it’s time to submit!