Our next open reading period is 1-15 February
We welcome submissions from all writers, emerging or established. We’re interested in new voices, different voices, unapologetic voices, inspired voices; we like writing that gets you in the head as well as the gut, that has a point, that isn’t afraid.
Whether it’s fiction, poetry, essay or a hybrid, we want high-quality text, and by ‘high-quality’ we mean thoughtfully composed words with a focus on impact.
Think you’ve got what we want? Read on for more about how to submit, and what you can do that might just make us fall head-over-heels with your work.
How to get published in Verity La
Official Stuff
- We generally only consider previously unpublished work. However, if there’s a good case for us making an exception, please let us know!
- Verity La is an artist-run initiative (creative folks doing things for themselves) and a not-for-profit Incorporated Association. We are currently unable to offer payment to our writers.
- We accept simultaneous submissions, but ask that you alert us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- Verity La holds First Electronic Rights to all works accepted. Authors agree not to publish or authorise the electronic publication of the material for three months following first publication. For subsequent reprints, we ask for acknowledgement of first publication in Verity La.
- If your work is accepted for publication in the journal it will also be considered for inclusion in our bi-annual Verity La eBook anthologies.
- It may take up to two months for us to read your work and reply to your submission. If we don’t get back to you within that time, feel free to query. Heaven knows we’re only human and sometimes things slip through the cracks!
- If we accept your work, it may take up to six months for us to actually publish it. This is because we only publish one piece a week — but trust us, it’s worth the wait, and when your work is featured, it will be given lashings of love and attention.
- One final thing: if your work does end up appearing in Verity La, please don’t engage with us about our graphic design/layout/illustration decisions — they’re a matter for us and we take our editorial independence seriously. You just bask in the glory of getting published!
General Stuff
- Submit your best work, work that even you as the writer — or artist — are excited about.
- Writing for the online environment means that you’re competing against an infinite amount of other stylish and interesting sites aim to engage your readers within seconds. How to do this? Do it dramatically and succinctly.
- Edit your work, and edit it again, and edit it one more time; make sure that you search and destroy every typo, including punctuation errors — a misplaced apostrophe is like grit in the eye.
- We don’t have a specific style guide, but we’d appreciate it if you’d present your work if chosen for publication using:
single spaces after full stops; single quotation marks (double within a quote); end-notes using Roman numerals and subsequent internal citation of page numbers in parenthesis once a text has been referenced (in reviews/essays); judicious use of hyperlinks (if the source is reputable and stable).
- Include a brief covering email briefly stating your writing background so we know where you’re coming from.
- And of course, subscribe to the journal (it’s free, and you’ll get a sample of our latest eBook anthology!) so you know what sort of work we’re into.
Reviews
We are open to requests for reviews of literary fiction and poetry collections all year-round.
- We only review around five titles per year and prefer to throw our minimal clout behind books from non-mainstream Australian authors
- Having said that, all publishers great and small, national and international, are welcome to send us books to review
- Small publishers and self-publishers — do tell us a little about yourself, including your background and what you’re trying to achieve, so we know where you’re coming from
- Contact our reviews editor Devika Brendon via the form below to request a review
- Please note, however, that sending us a book or request does not necessarily mean we will run a review
- We receive many books and are a small team, so please be patient with us
If you would like to review for Verity La, get in touch at editor@verityla.com
Submission portals for fiction, nonficion and poetry are open 1-15 February 2026.
Work submitted outside this period will not be considered.
Guidelines
Fiction
Editor: Brentley Frazer
Nonfiction
Editor: Joshua Dabelstein
From personal essays and memoir to analysis and cultural inquiry — and anything in between — we ask only that you tell us what you really think.
Specs: We prefer submissions of under 2500 words, but might make an exception if your work is exceptional. Please specify ‘Nonfiction Submission’ in the subject line of your email. Include a brief covering message and bio.
Poetry
We are braced and ready to read the wildest urges of your poetic hearts! Send us poems that veer off the well-lit path into the undergrowth, poems that crash through barriers erected to keep us contained. Jump from the diving board of your life and take us with you headfirst into the salty brine of what it means to be YOU. Be brave, be daring, be original! If you want to — be funny. But, most importantly, be whoever-the-fuck-you-are. Make us read your poems and wish we’d written them ourselves. Blast us with your brilliance. WHOever you are, WHEREver you are — we are hungry for your work.
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© 2026 by Verity La and individual contributors. The views expressed by Verity La contributors are not necessarily those of the editor/publisher. Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted if acknowledgement is made to Verity La. Images used on this site are sourced through Wikipedia Commons or similar providers, or are presented in this context for educative purposes only.