Submission Guidelines

Touch: The Journal of Healing

Touch: the Journal of Healing is now accepting submissions. In addition to poetry and prose, we are actively seeking quality art and photography for this and future issues.

Please review these guidelines carefully to ensure we may give your submission prompt attention.

We are now accepting submissions for Issue 4, May 2010.

The submission period for Issue 4 will close at midnight EDT,

Monday, March 15, 2010.

General Guidelines

Email your submission to the appropriate editor: poetry, prose or graphics.
The subject header should include "SUBMISSION" and your last name. This helps us filter spam and get your submission more quickly.
Include an introduction to your work, similar to a cover letter, including your name, mailing address, and email address with a brief explanation of how your piece could contribute to the journal.
When including your work, please follow the guidelines for the appropriate genre below, e.g. no more than four poems, one prose piece, or three graphics per submission.
If special formatting is required, please email the appropriate editor before submitting to ask whether the journal is able to accommodate your needs.
End your submission with a brief (50 words or less) biographical statement written in the third person. You may include a link to your web site, if appropriate (limit one link per contributor).
Please note if this is your first publication. Prior publication credits are optional - work will be chosen for its content and quality.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, if noted. We require that if your submission is accepted for publication with another online or print journal, you inform us promptly. In many cases, simultaneous publications of the same piece may not be appropriate.
Reprints or previously published pieces are also fine, if noted, provided that you retain the rights to have the piece published again.
Contributors, under the age of 18, must include their age at the time of submission and will be required to send a Permission to Publish form signed by their parent or guardian if their work is accepted.

Please avoid:

Email attachments other than graphic submissions. Emails with non-JPG/TIFF attachments will be deleted unopened and without a response.
Submissions that asperse any individual or population including any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, profession, socioeconomic group, or disability.
Plagiarism, in any form, is grounds for rejection of all future submissions by the contributor.
Submissions by mail are not accepted at this time.
Translations or literary works written in any language other than English. Translations into English must be written by the original author of the piece.
Highly experimental pieces, e.g. fragmented words, words without spaces between them, text message shorthand, or single lines containing only a few letters.
Submitting a second submission (per category) before you have received a response to the first. You may submit to poetry, prose, and/or graphics simultaneously, but with only one submission at a time per category.

Poetry Guidelines

Limit your submission to no more than FOUR poems. If more than four poems are sent, the editors will read only the first four poems.
Send poetry submissions within the body of an email only. Please do not sent poetry submissions as an attachment to an email.
Poems exceeding 80 lines, including line breaks, are less likely to be selected for publication.
Use any style or genre that speaks to the journal's audience. Please consider that quality pieces that support the journal's theme are most likely to be selected.
To submit a graphic specific to one of your poems, please email it as a separate graphic submission and indicate which poem it illustrates.
Do not send prose or graphics submissions with your poetry submissions. The entire submission will be discarded.
Submit to poetry@thelivesyoutouch.com

Prose Guidelines

Limit your submission to ONE prose piece of 250-2,000 words. If multiple prose pieces are sent, only the first prose piece will be read.
Send prose submissions within the body of an email only. Please do not sent prose submissions as an attachment to an email.
Use any style or genre that speaks to the journal's audience, e.g. creative memoirs, reflective pieces. Please consider that quality works that support the journal's theme are most likely to be selected.
Please avoid academic or journalistic pieces, magazine articles, and how-to's.
When outside sources are cited, please use the standard MLA format.
To submit a graphic specific to your prose submission, please email it as a separate graphic submission and indicate that it illustrates your prose piece.
Do not send poetry or graphics submissions with your prose submission. The entire submission will be discarded.
Submit to prose@thelivesyoutouch.com

Graphics: Artwork and Photography Guidelines

We seek high quality color or b/w art and photography to enhance the pages of Touch: the Journal of Healing.
Limit your submission to no more than THREE graphic images. If more than three images are sent, the entire submission will be discarded unopened.
You must attach the images to your email submission. Links to photos hosted on webpages or photo galleries will not be accepted.
We prefer 200-300 dpi JPG or TIFF images. Please contact the editor before submitting other formats.
Photos that include a recognizable person may require special consideration for publication. Please contact the editor before submitting work that may require a release form.
Do not send poetry or prose submissions with your graphics submissions. The entire submission will be discarded.
Submit to graphics@thelivesyoutouch.com.

Acceptance and Publication Procedures

Contributors will receive email acceptance letters outlining the terms of publication. To be included in the final publication, you must respond to this email accepting the terms within ten days. Acceptance of the terms of publication is an agreement that in exchange for publishing your piece online and in the PDF and print versions of Touch: the Journal of Healing, and any other publication from The Lives You Touch Publications, we are purchasing the First Serial Rights and Electronic Rights to the piece or pieces; or in the case of reprints, we are purchasing the Reprint Rights. All contributors will receive a PDF copy of the issue in which their work appears via email. There is no cash payment for the rights to publish your piece, just as there is no charge for being published in the journal or receiving a PDF copy of the issue in which your work appears. We value our contributors, and we will include your biographical information on our online Contributors page for one year after a work is published. Upon request, we will also include a link to any upcoming or published books you may be promoting. Contributors work may be included in an annual "Best of Touch" PDF and print issues. On occasion, we may contact you requesting to delay publication of a piece if we feel it would better compliment a future edition. All selected contributions will be published within one year of acceptance.

Selection Criteria

As a writer, I've always wondered what criteria editors use to determine what gets published. Here are ours:

Quality - the piece should stand out through the adept use of language and metaphor. Grammar, syntax, and punctuation are all important considerations.
Content - the nature of Touch: the Journal of Healing demands that we consider content carefully. Content should contain elements of human interaction and speak of the physical, emotional, and/or spiritual Touch of humanity. An anecdotal story, for example, would be fine, so long as it has significant potential to instruct, inspire, or mean something to others in the context of Touch. Therapy writing would be discouraged insofar as it is self-focused.
Originality - contributions should be unique and special, something to be shared with our journal readers. Widely distributed works or overly worked pieces are less likely to be selected.
Poetic considerations - careful consideration of word choice, line and strophe breaks, imagery, and form are all important considerations. Ambiguity and abstraction, if well used and relatable, are welcome here, but it must serve to communicate with others.
Prose considerations - excellent use of language and the ability to convey experience are musts. Skill in saying much in fewer words lends gravity to the subject matter and increases readability.
Graphic considerations - balance, color and composure all support a compelling image. Quality images that evoke emotions supportive of Touch or that convey universal themes will be easier to match with written pieces.
We are editors of this journal, not editors of your work. We do not repair, re-write, or suggest revisions for technical, grammatical, or factual errors. We assume that you have already paid careful attention to the pieces you submit, have run them through a spell-checker, and have had at least one person other than yourself proofread each piece before we receive it. Pieces that suffer from extensive grammatical, syntactical, and/or spelling errors will be rejected.

Response Time

Typically you will receive an acceptance/declination response regarding your submission in four to eight weeks. This time may vary depending on when your submission is received within the cycle of reviewing and publishing the next issue. If you have not heard from us within two months, please send a status inquiry to editor@thelivesyoutouch.com.
The subject header of your email should read: STATUS INQUIRY - CATEGORY (poetry, prose or graphics) - Your Last Name.
Additional questions may be sent to editor@thelivesyoutouch.com.

O.P.W. Fredericks, editor

Guidelines updated December 20, 2009

Guidelines updated September 18, 2009

Guidelines updated August 27, 2009

Guidelines updated March 21, 2009

Guidelines updated March 19, 2009

Touch: The Journal of Healing

Submission Guidelines