Treehouse

We’re very excited to announce that beginning August 16, 2014, we will only be accepting submissions via Submittable.  (Don’t worry: it’s still free to submit!)

As of July 24, 2014, we ask that you please hold off on sending us submissions until that time.  This gives us adequate time to seamlessly make the switch without the risk of new incoming submissions getting lost in the fray.  If you have recently sent a submission via e-mail, please know it is still being reviewed and will not be neglected as a result of the submission manager change.

We hope moving to Submittable will make it easier for you to submit your pieces to us for review.  We also intend for the switch to help cut down on the delay in response time.

The link to our Submittable site is below, but again, you will not be able to submit until August 16, 2014.  Submissions sent to the e-mail address previously listed on our submissions page after this date will not receive consideration.

All of the same guidelines for submitting creative material remain the same.  The only change is where you’ll send it.

For questions regarding the status of a submission, please e-mail treehouse[dot]inquiries[at]gmail[dot]com.

Overall Guidelines:

Send your work via Submittable using the link below.  We accept simultaneous submissions, and we’ll take up to three pieces at a time.  (These can be submitted as one file or multiple — it’s up to you.  File types accepted are .doc, .docx. .rtf, and .txt.)  Let us know if at any time after submitting, all or part of your submission is published elsewhere.  Please don’t submit previously published work – including work on personal blogs.

Cover letters are nice, but not necessary.  In any case, please include a short bio (try to keep it around 50 words or less), and if you have a Twitter handle, website, blog, etc., include them.  If we accept your work, we’ll also pimp the hell out of your social networks!

Creative Nonfiction Guidelines:

For creative nonfiction we accept all forms of essays. We will publish short nonfiction pieces with a maximum of 1,000 words. We encourage our writers to try new things in the genre.

Fiction Guidelines:

We’re looking for submissions of 1,000 words or less. Any subject matter is welcome.

Poetry Guidelines:

Though we initially only read prose poetry, we will now consider all poetry. We prefer vivid poems that give us a sense of why they matter to the poet and reader. As with the other genres, poems should not be very long.

Genre-Bender Guidelines:

If your creative work doesn’t fit into any other category, this is the genre for you. Experimental writing is encouraged. Length should be 1,000 words or less.

Brief Encounter Guidelines:

Brief Encounters are flash fiction, flash nonfiction, flash genre-benders, or short poems that respond to a monthly prompt.

Treehouse will suggest a prompt every four weeks or so. Pieces submitted should take into account the theme chosen by Treehouse editors as a starting point for the BE or somehow relate to the subject within the submission. Beyond that, they can do whatever they want. Brief Encounters should be no longer than 400 words. We will publish a new BE every Thursday.

Brief Encounters should be labeled as such in the subject line of the email to distinguish from general submissions and should be attached as a word .doc. Feel free to send more than one in the same document.

Find our newest Brief Encounters and prompts here.

Note: Response time runs approximately two months from the date you submit your work.  This time frame various depends on a number of factors, and it can sometimes be shorter or longer.  We’ll do our best to get back to you as soon as possible, and we appreciate your patience in the meantime!