Submission Guidelines

Many Nice Donkeys is interested in unpublished poetry and flash prose (fiction & nonfiction) of all sorts. We welcome the literary, the weird, the disobedient, and the avant-garde. Send us poems that make claims we can’t stop chewing on and stories that reframe the ordinary. If you have work in hybrid genres, send that, too! We’re excited to see a broad range of submissions from which we can build deeply connected and unique issues.

Submission Window for Volume I, Issue V: June 6 through July 18

Please review the guidelines below in full before sending us your submission.

Format

We currently do blind reads at MND. Please do not include your name or contact information anywhere in your submission documents (please do keep your name and contact information in the actual submission email for tracking purposes). Please do paginate your documents. We ask that you use standard fonts like Times New Roman or Garamond and submit .doc or .docx files. The name of your document should be the title of the first piece that appears in the submission. If you submit in multiple genres you may send them in one email, but each genre submission should be a separate document.

Previously published work includes any work that was self-published on a personal blog or website, in addition to traditional publishing. We are also looking to avoid any work that is already slotted for future publication in a chapbook or collection, even if our issue would be released first. Should we select your work for publication, we’ll solicit a brief bio in your acceptance email. Please do not send any major revisions/updates for pieces after they’ve been accepted in their original format.

Poetry

Send up to 5 poems, but no more than 8 total pages of poetry in a single document. Each poem should start a new page. Please follow the format guidelines above unless a .pdf is necessary in maintaining the shape of a poem. Please also note that we are unlikely to accept rhyming poems and poems that are center aligned.

Fiction/CNF

We will accept flash prose of up to 1000 words. This means that whether you submit one piece or ten, the total word count for all the pieces combined should not exceed 1000 words. Along with paginations, please include a word count at the top of your document.

Frequency

You may submit in both poetry and prose, but please do not resubmit to either category in the same submission period until/if you have received a denial for your initial submission.

Simultaneous
Submissions

Are welcome. We ask that you let us know as soon as possible by sending us a follow up email if some of your work is accepted elsewhere (be sure to specify which piece(s) if you have submitted multiple).

Citizenship

We welcome you to challenge us but remember: if you are an ass you must be a nice one. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, misogyny, sexism, etc. have no home here. Should you send work containing/perpetuating intolerance or hate, our barn doors will close on you quickly.

Where

Send your unpublished work to manynicedonkeys@gmail.com with your genre stated in the subject line. We can’t wait to read your work!

Rights

Many Nice Donkeys acquires first serial rights. Following publication, all rights revert back to the writer.

AI

Please do not submit work that was entirely generated by ChatGPT or any other artificial intelligence platform. We welcome these tools as alternative ways for finding inspiration, but we want the work you share with us to be written by you.

Response

To all the eager donkeys out there: We will do our best to respond to all submissions in a timely and adequate manner. Please do not inquire about the status of your submission unless eight weeks have passed.