Halfway Down the Stairs publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and book reviews. New issues are published twice a year (in June and December), and each issue is themed. We publish primarily literary and mainstream work, but accept work in most genres, with children’s literature and erotica as the exceptions.

Please note we are a non-paying market.

Our December 2026 issue will be themed Spark. Submissions are open from July 1, 2026 through August 15, 2026. We aim to respond to all submissions by mid-October if possible, but before publication at the latest.

SUBMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS — AT A GLANCE

For any one issue, we will consider up to three poems from the same author, but only one piece of fiction or one piece of nonfiction from the same author. Submissions should relate to the theme of the issue.

We are a small team of volunteers. If you are submitting writing to us, please note we will not consider (or respond to) submissions that do not meet our key requirements. Specifically, submissions:

• Must be emailed to us within the timing window stated for each issue (we do not consider early or late submissions)
• Must be pasted into the body of the email (we do not open attachments or links)
• Must identify the genre (poetry, fiction, or nonfiction) in the subject line
• Must not have already been published elsewhere
• Must not be plagiarized or developed entirely by AI

Please use this format for the subject line: “Submission – [Poetry / Fiction / Nonfiction] – [Title/s]”

Along with your writing, we request that you include the following information in the body of the email:

• The title of your piece(s)
• The name under which you wish to be published 
• Your email address (for our own records – we will never publish this)
• Confirm that the piece has never been published elsewhere
• Whether your piece is a simultaneous submission
• A content warning if this is warranted (e.g. self-harm, violence, abuse)
• A short biography in third person 

For prose submissions, please single space your work, with double spacing between paragraphs. Please do not indent your paragraphs.

You can send your submission to us at halfway . stairs @ gmail . com.

If your submission is accepted, please note that the editorial team will pair your writing with an image of our choice, and publish your biography along with your writing.

More detailed guidelines (e.g. our theme calendar, and what we look for in submissions) are provided below.

THEME CALENDAR

Our upcoming themes are as follows:

December 2026 issue
Theme: Spark

June 2027 issue
Theme: Somewhere Else

We only accept submissions for themes during our specified submission periods, for the specified theme, which are January 1 – February 15 for June issues; or July 1 – August 15 for December issues.

At all other times we are closed for submissions.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

• We are looking for serious writers with an appreciation for language and the craft of writing. We want fiction with memorable characters and realistic plots, poetry that is fresh and original, and nonfiction that is both thoughtful and entertaining.
• We will accept only writing that has been proofread for spelling and grammar. Trust us on this one. We keep our virtual machete very sharp for people who are grammatically challenged, and we are not afraid to use it. 
• Having said that, as an international ‘zine, we accept differences in spelling usages (e.g. British vs American English) and will publish whatever is considered correct in an author’s home country.
• We are not interested in explicit sexual content, gratuitous violence, or repetitive swearing, unless it is essential to the plot and not included solely for shock value.
• Please do not send us any of the following: poetry that sounds like it ought to be on a Hallmark card, poetry you copied from a Hallmark card, how-to articles, first drafts of anything, fanfiction, anything full of sentimentality, or religious and/or political propaganda disguised as fiction.
• This ought to be obvious, but only send us your own work, humans. If you send us anything plagiarized or written by a robot, remember we have a machete.
• We do not accept previously published work. This includes not only formal publications in print and online journals, but any pieces you may have posted to a blog, personal website, etc. If it’s already available to the public in some form, we do not accept it.
• We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know immediately if your piece is accepted by another journal.
• As above, we do not consider or accept submissions outside the specified submission period.
• We reserve the right to make minor editorial changes without consultation, where there are unintentional errors or inconsistencies in punctuation, spelling or grammar. We will consult authors about anything more substantive.
• The editors are all responsive to shameless flattery and to gifts of chocolate.

Poetry Guidelines

We accept poetry of roughly 500 words or less, although we are not terribly strict about this guideline.  We are rarely willing to be lenient with the theme when it comes to poetry, and will do so only if the submission is very good.

Please note that we only accept three poems at any one time from a single author and, for the most part, publish only one poem from any one author per edition.

Fiction Guidelines

We accept fiction of roughly 5,000 words or less related to the theme of the issue. The fiction editors are looking mostly for short stories, but we are happy to consider well-crafted flash fiction. We don’t want to be too strict with the guidelines, because we appreciate originality, creativity, and stories that are off the beaten path. We like stories that grab us from the beginning, make us think, and keep us enthralled. Stories should be written confidently and fluidly, avoiding too many adjectives or too much dialogue. We will be negatively distracted by poor grammar/spelling, clichés, and a lack of editing.

Please submit only one piece of fiction at a time, and ensure stories are formatted as requested below.

Nonfiction Guidelines

We accept creative nonfiction of 3,000 words or less. Halfway Down the Stairs is specifically looking for essays and memoir with a strong voice and a unique and personal point of view. We publish well-written, honest writing that inspires emotion. Humor is also appreciated.

We are not looking for stream of consciousness rants of a political or religious nature. Save those for your blog. We respond negatively to spelling and grammatical errors, so please proofread your work closely if you wish to have it seriously considered.

As of 2018 we began accepting nonfiction submissions outside of the issue theme.  Submissions within the theme are still encouraged, but high quality submissions outside the theme will also be considered for publication. Please note this only applies to nonfiction submissions.

Please submit only one piece of nonfiction at a time.

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Upon publishing your work, Halfway Down the Stairs will require exclusive electronic rights to it for 3 months, or the length of one issue.  After the three month period is over, we will request nonexclusive electronic rights so we may include it in our archives.