2023 Chapbook Open

For the fourth year, The Masters Review is open for submissions of literary prose chapbooks! We’re interested in collections of flash fiction, creative nonfiction essays, short stories, and anything in-between. We encourage you to be bold, to experiment with style and form, as long as you stay under 45 pages. One chapbook will be selected as our winner by our guest judge, Michael Martone! The winner receives a $3,000 cash prize, along with manuscript publication and 75 contributor copies. Our chapbooks are distributed internationally and are available through Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. A digital version of the chapbook will be made available to our newsletter subscribers six months to a year after the print publication. 

Submissions will be accepted between September 1 and December 17, 2023. The Masters Review staff will select a shortlist of five to ten chapbooks to pass along to Michael Martone, who will pick the winner and write an introduction for the manuscript. The winning chapbook will be published in Spring 2025. Last year’s winner, Coats by Naomi Telushkin, selected by Kim Fu, will be published next spring. Masterplans by Nick Almeida, our inaugural winner, was chosen by Steve Almond, and Matt Bell selected Love at the End of the World by Lindy Biller as the winner of our second contest. 

All submissions must be single-author prose manuscripts of 25 to 45 pages. We are not interested in poetry. All manuscripts must be complete: no excerpts, no chapters of a novel, no works-in-progress, or any other incomplete work. Individual pieces may be previously published, but submitted manuscripts should contain some unpublished material. If you have questions or concerns about whether your manuscript would qualify, please email us at contact [at] mastersreview [dot] com.

Submission Guidelines:

• Manuscripts should include a Table of Contents (if necessary) and an acknowledgements page listing any previously published material within the manuscript.
• Submitted manuscripts must be between 25-45 double-spaced pages, at 12-point font (not including front/back matter, i.e., title page, dedication, table of contents, etc.). For collections, each piece should begin on a new page.
• Manuscripts must contain some unpublished material. Previously published material cannot have been published in any other chapbook or full-length collection. (Work that was included in a multiauthor anthology is permissible.)
• Self-published chapbooks are previously published and are therefore ineligible.
• We are not interested in poetry chapbooks. (We will consider chapbooks that contain some prose poetry.)
• Only single-author manuscripts will be considered.
• Simultaneous and multiple submissions are allowed, though each submission requires a $25 entry fee. 
• The winner receives $3,000, manuscript publication, and 75 contributor copies.
• The second- and third-place finalists will be acknowledged on our website, alongside any honorable mentions.
• If your submission is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw your submission on Submittable, or contact us otherwise to let us know the piece is no longer available.
• We do not require anonymous submissions for this contest. 
• This contest is for emerging writers only. Writers with single-author book-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. We are interested in providing a platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses and self-published authors are welcome to submit unpublished work.
• International submissions are allowed, provided the work is written primarily in English.
• Submissions are accepted through Submittable only.
• The contest’s deadline is 11:59 p.m. PST on December 17, 2023.
• Individual stories or essays within the manuscript may be considered for publication in our New Voices series.
• Every submission will receive a response by the end of April 2024. The winners will be announced by the end of May 2024. 
• Friends, family, and associates of the guest judge are not eligible for this award, nor are past Chapbook Open winners. 
• Editorial letters for up to three individual pieces within the manuscript may be requested. A significant portion of the editorial letter fee goes directly to your feedback editor. Scaling fees are in place to appropriately compensate your feedback editor. 
• Please email us at contact [at] mastersreview [dot] com with any questions, or if you need to edit your manuscript after submission.

Judging

MICHAEL MARTONE's recent books include Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana; The Complete Writings of Art Smith, The Bird Boy of Fort Wayne, Edited by Michael Martone; The Moon Over Wapakoneta; Brooding; and Memoranda. His stories and essays have appeared in Harper's Magazine, Esquire, Story, Epoch, Denver Quarterly, Iowa Review, Shenandoah, Bomb, StoryQuarterly, American Short Fiction, and many other magazines.

Martone has won two fellowships from the NEA and a grant from the Ingram Merrill Foundation. His stories and essays have won numerous awards and have appeared and been cited in the Pushcart Prize, The Best American Stories, and The Best American Essays anthologies. In 2013 he received the national Indiana Authors Award; in 2016, the Mark Twain Award for Distinguished Contribution to Midwestern Literature; and in 2023, the Truman Capote Prize for Distinguished Work in the Short Story or Literary Non-Fiction.
 

Editorial Letter Payment Scale:

• One complete story/essay, under 6,000 words: $69
• Two complete stories/essays, or one complete story/essay between 6,000-12,000 words: $133
• Three complete stories/essays, or work longer than 12,000 words: $197
• For each individual work critiqued, we will include up to two pages of feedback including observations on  strengths and opportunities for revision, where your story might be a  good fit, and other comments about craft.
• A significant portion of these fees go directly to your feedback editor.
• For questions about the editorial letter fees, please contact us at contact@mastersreview.com
   

Our New Voices category is open year round to any new or emerging author who has not published a novel-length work of fiction or narrative nonfiction. Authors with published short story collections are free to submit.  We accept simultaneous and multiple submissions but ask that you inform us immediately if your story is accepted elsewhere. 

The Masters Review pays a flat rate of $100 for flash-length stories (1,000 words or fewer) and $200 for longer stories (up to 7,000 words). We are thrilled to be paying for published pieces but will be highly selective in our choices for publication.

Guidelines
 

• This category is for emerging writers only. Writers with single-author book-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. We are interested in providing a platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses and self-published authors are welcome to submit unpublished work.
• We accept fiction and narrative non-fiction. We do accept a variety of genres and styles; our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft. We want to be wowed. Bend genres, experiment with structure, and write your heart out. But please, send us polished work. Our aim is to showcase writers who we believe will continue to produce great work. Send us only your best.
• We accept simultaneous submissions but please notify us if your work is picked up elsewhere.
• All submissions must be under 7,000 words.
• If you're submitting flash, feel free to include up to three stories in a single document.
• We do accept multiple submissions.
• We cannot consider work that has been previously published in any form. This includes personal blogs.
• Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history and a short bio.
• We aim to respond to all submissions within twelve weeks. Please do not e-mail before twelve weeks have passed. 
• For submissions that request an editorial letter, a significant portion of the editorial letter fees go to our feedback editor.

We don’t have any preferences topically or in terms of style. We’re simply looking for the best. We don’t define, nor are we interested in, stories identified by their genre. We do, however, consider ourselves a publication that focuses on literary fiction. Dazzle us, take chances, and be bold.   Thanks for supporting our publication, and thank you for your work. 

The Masters Review is now accepting submissions of completed book reviews, interviews and craft essays for publication on our blog. Please do not send pitches or queries to this category. Submissions must be previously unpublished. We do not consider reprints. At the moment, we are unable to pay for book reviews or interviews, but we can pay $50 for craft essays. If you have a pitch or query, please contact us at contact [at] mastersreview.com.

Genre Guidelines

Book Reviews

• Book Reviews must be of books scheduled for a 2023 or later release. We recommend submitting your review at least one month before the scheduled publication date. Earlier is better.
• Book Reviews should be between 700-1200 words.
• Include in your review at least one sentence that conveys your overall stance on the book and embolden it. (e.g., "The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley ruthlessly interrogates what it means to be successful as a Black woman, a Millennial, and a liberal living in an urban center.") 
• Our primary interest are debut authors and indie presses. Occasionally, we will consider and publish reviews from major presses or of notable authors.
• Rarely, we will consider a review for a book with a past release date, but it must have been published within four months. If you have questions about this policy, please contact us at contact [at] mastersreview.com.

Interviews

• We are interested in interviews with authors, editors, agents or other industry professionals, with a particular focus on recent publications or activity. Our mission is to bridge the gap between new and established writers, so any insight into the profession of writing is valuable (e.g., this interview with agent Miriam Atlshuler).
• Interviews should be between 1,200-2,500 words.
• Please include a bio of both the interviewee and the interviewer with your submission, as well as an introduction to the interview.

Craft Essays

• Craft Essays should focus on a particular aspect of the craft of writing fiction or nonfiction.
• Please do not send craft essays about poetry.
• We are especially interested in craft essays which examine the craft of a particular story. Please see our Stories That Teach and From the Archive series on the blog for examples.
• Craft Essays should be between 1,200-2,500 words.

The Masters Review is hiring guest editors to assist in our prose editorial feedback program!

We're looking for highly qualified writers with experience giving and receiving feedback at the professional level to compose editorial feedback for our submitters. Typically, guest editors have an MFA or PhD in creative writing or are currently enrolled in a graduate program. The hours per month are self-determined, but can range from 10 - 50+ hours. We pay our guest editors $30 per letter completed by the end of each month.

To complete your application:

1. Include a short third person bio in your cover letter, as well as a *brief* explanation as to why you'd be a good fit for this work.

2. Upload your CV / resume.

3. Upload a sample of your feedback. (Please remove identifying information, if necessary.)

We'll be in touch once we've reviewed your application.