Popshot Magazine
Website
From the Editor
Popshot is an illustrated literary magazine that publishes short stories, flash fiction, and poetry from the literary new blood. The magazine is published bi-annually, releasing a new issue every April and October. Each issue centres on a theme and the selected poems and short stories are then illustrated by some of the world’s finest contemporary illustration talent.
Since launching its first issue back in 2009, Popshot has firmly established itself as one of the world’s most exciting and accessible literary magazines. With a reputation for combining some of the most intriguing contemporary fiction and poetry with some of the finest contemporary illustration, the magazine has become a highly regarded publication for the quality of its writing, its strong visual and design aesthetic, its extremely high production values, and its ability to attract readers both young and old.
It has been named as one of ‘the fresh breed of literary magazines’ by The Independent, ‘the new face of British poetry’ by Prospect and ‘a who isn’t yet who of contemporary literature’ by Dazed & Confused. In a review by The List, it was noted that ‘the standard of writing is uniformly high, and on this evidence Popshot looks for the best and finds it.’
Submissions
There are three criteria we look for in a fiction submission. Firstly, it must be written clearly and should not be fussy, allowing the reader to lose themselves in the story rather than try to navigate what’s going on. Arguably, the best stories are written in such a way that we forget a writer has even written them. Secondly, they capture your attention from the first line, providing enough detail to instantly understand the scene but not so much that the reader’s curiosity is met. If the first line makes you want to read the second and the second line makes you want to read the third, that’s where we stumble across the hallowed ground of ‘unputdownable’. Thirdly, we love a twist, an unexpected turn or something that will stir the emotion. If a story brings out our gooseflesh, we put it in the magazine. Those stories that hit us in the viscera — the ones that really make us feel something — are the ones we look to publish.
What we look for in poetry is much the same as with fiction — clear writing, being hooked from the first line, being emotionally stirred — but it’s much more a question of beauty. Not necessarily in terms of its subject matter but in the way it’s composed; the beauty in the language that’s been chosen and the ability to ensure that each word is weighed, measured and found to say much more than just the word itself. It was Samuel Taylor Coleridge who said that poetry is “the best words in the best order” and as hard as we’ve tried, it’s difficult to find a definition much more punchy than that. See their submissions page https://www.popshotpopshot.com/submit/
Information
Editors Name Jacob Denno
Print publication? Yes
Circulation 6,000
Do you take online submissions? Yes
Submission Guidelines URL
Approx. Response Time? Less than a week
How often do you publish? Biannually
Year Founded? 2008
Do you pay? In contributor’s copies
Contact
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Mailing Address:
Email submit@popshotpopshot.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/popshotmag