Coastal Shelf

19/03/2022

Our Spring Annual issue is live! It's the equivalent of 3 issues in one with how many pieces we have contained in this magazine. It's arranged in a way to give you a nice journey through different aesthetics and content in a fluid manner. The longest piece is just over 500 words long and there's a little something for everyone (except people who only like long stories). I think it rocks, and I think you'll dig it too! (and don't forget we're open for submissions until the end of the month https://coastalshelf.submittable.com/)

https://coastalshelf.com/spring-annual-2022-cover/

17/03/2022

Coastal Shelf is open for poetry submissions and prose submissions for a limited time!
Until March 31st, we read no fee submissions and tip-jar submissions. $30 payment for publication ($100 for folios). We like a very wide variety of writing from new and established writers (the work is what we care about, 100%). Give the journal a glance and send in some writing. We're looking for intriguing, carefully-worded work that surprises and entertains us. Tell your friends.
CoastalShelf.com/
CoastalShelf.Submittable.com/Submit

15/02/2022

Coastal Shelf's 6th Issue (Winter 2022) is now live! More prose than ever and some really awesome poetry, check it out today at https://coastalshelf.com/

03/01/2022

UPDATE: We are hard at work finishing up decisions on the Winter issue, and we'll also be doing a large 'annual' issue in January as well. We'll be sending out a mass email to those with active submissions later this week explaining and apologizing for the delays (long story short, I, the EIC have a new, much, muuuch more demanding job since the fall which has dramatically reduced the amount of time I've been able to dedicate to CS, and we've lost a couple readers, but we're still chugging along—feedback is the big wrench in the gears and this spring we'll be adjusting how we do feedback somewhat). As always, if you'd like your current submission 'fast tracked' send a message via your Submittable submission ('message', not 'note') and we'll get you a much quicker response without feedback.

The current plan is to open for submissions again in March, once we've cleared out the backlog, and then doing the contests again in April (Ceiling 250 and FuPo, hopefully with a somewhat larger prize).

We're also looking for a few more readers to help out (both on the fiction and poetry side). http://coastalshelf.com/poetry-reader-position

And finally, we're also getting an online workshop figured out which will help fund the CS author's payments in the new year. It will be a 6-week, 90-minute generative (focused on creating new pieces, and highlighting a number of literary magazines) class for $150 which includes feedback on a small portfolio, and will be limited to 8 people (who will get a special donor thanks in the journal) and will have an option for an additional 1-on-1 consultation session for a small extra fee. A few details may change, but that's the current plan. Email [email protected] for more info or to reserve a spot. If it's popular we will arrange some more over the spring/summer and be able to boost the author's payment which would be awesome.

We hope everyone's 2021 wasn't altogether terrible (and many condolences for those who experienced great sorrow), and that 2022 will be much, much better!

Poetry Reader Position We’re looking to add one additional, very specific member to our Coastal Shelf Crew: a poetry reader. What’s Expected: Duties are mild, just reading and making notes about what you’ve read, and we’re realistic, we all have lives, so the reading is largely at your own p...

11/11/2021

Again, apologies for the long wait on submissions. We'd lost a couple editors and I (EiC) have been working a new job that is far, far more demanding than I previously had (and just finally moved out of the series of extended stay hotels I'd been living in since July), but please know, your pieces are still under consideration, and we're still responding, just much slower than we'd originally planned/hoped to.

The massive backlog has been slowly but surely diminishing, and we'll be opening as scheduled for January submissions, with one limited 'rush submission window' which we'll be running in a few weeks which is capped at 25 submissions so we don't derail the normal process, but also can hopefully fundraise a little to pay our authors for the 'year end' annual issue which we've added to the schedule.

As usual, if you had opted for feedback and have decided you'd rather just get a response faster, you can add the note "FAST TRACK" to your submission and if we were waiting on additional editor feedback, we can forego that and get you your response sooner.

25/09/2021

We are super happy to announce the results of our first contests! The quality of the submissions was astounding (as well as the volume of submissions!) and we've actually decided to add an 'annual' issue at the end of the year to include many of the pieces we've received throughout the year which we really, really liked, but couldn't fit into the quarterly issues where we have a self-imposed limit on the number of pieces per issue.

Because there were so many great pieces, we're going to acknowledge a whole lot of authors, these are great writers to keep your eye out for, and they made it to the very last round of consideration and were in the top end of that batch. Without further ado... the big lists!

--Ceiling 200 Contest Prize Winners
1) Heather Dobbins (You’re gone, but the cannonballs still go off)
2) Cassandra Sigmon (Lemons)
3) Mydhili Varma (The Invisibles)

--FuPo Poetry Contest Prize Winners
1) Jade Wallace (I'm Genderfluid Because I Wanted to Be an Immortal Jellyfish But Nature Said It Wasn't Allowed)
2) Zackary Medlin (To the Owner of the Gray Volkswagen)
3) Bree Rolfe (A Giant Cocktail)

--Ceiling 200 Contest Semi-Finalists
Madison Frazier
Michael Samra
Brett Biebel
Maureen Sherbondy
Sara Backer
Despy Boutris
Lorie Witkop
Ashley Kunsa
Yoni Hammer-Kossoy
Susan Nordmark
E.G. Fate
Felipe Hendriksen
Jannie Edwards
Jessica Sarlin
Gabriel Mainoo
Goldie Peacock
Cezarija Abartis
Brigit Truex

--FuPo Poetry Contest Finalists
Ellen Steinbaum
Joshua McKinney
Despy Boutris
Scott Wiggerman
Christina Olson
Harrison Gatlin
Ashley Velazco
Sara Baxter
Casandra Caverhill
Bree Rolfe
C200 Finalist
Michael Samra
Becki Lee
Miriam Logan
Traci McMickle
Sean Webb
AJ Bermudez
Dean Gessie
David Mohan
Kara Knickerbocker
Su-Yee Lin

--FuPo Poetry Contest Semi-Finalists
Lance Mason
Sarah White
Mo Lynn Stoycoff
Liz DeGregorio
Stephanie Sesic
Gary Leising
George McDermott
Rich Glinnen
Abriana Jette
Christina Tang-Bernas
Karen McGee
Josie Levin
Laura Laura
Deborah Ketai
Jeff Tigchelaar
Sophie Ewh

--Ceiling 200 Contest Honorable Mentions
Kristian O'Hare
William Tao
Lee Ann Pingel
Eve Greenlow
Kathryn Fitzpatrick
Nathan Long
Adele Evershed
Halima Abukar
OJO TAIYE
Ori Fienberg
Kym Cunningham
aral l.
Kameron Ray Morton
Divya Mehrish
Doug Jacquier
Claire Tuna
Brendan Connolly
Tim Staley
Sophie Aust
Michelle Spencer
Deborah Staunton

--FuPo Poetry Contest Honorable Mentions
Lanette Sweeney
Doug Van Hooser
Anne Marie Wells
Colette Chien
Janet Powers
Jack Forbes
Scott Dalgarno
Greg Bell
Andrew Gibson
Josh Lefkowitz
Heikki Huotari
Martha Stallman
Sam Bassett
Gary Leising
Laurie Petersen
Frances Klein
Lee Ann Pingel
Janet Kirchheimer
Mary O’Keefe Brady
Camille Newsom
Shana Ross
Peyton Vance
Cristina Legarda
Jennifer Freed

19/09/2021

Soon...

04/09/2021

Hi everyone! (Long post incoming)

1) New issue. Rest assured, the Fall issue of Coastal Shelf is well-in-the-works and will be live in September with the contest winners and many finalists in addition to other pieces. It has been a little delayed mainly because I underwent an abrupt cross-country move and started a much more intense job which has been greatly occupying my time.

2) Thanks. Big shout out to our editors George and Lisa who have really stepped up at the end of summer here and helped us continue to respond to subs even during this hectic period.

3) Contest results. We will be announcing contest results before long here as well, before the issue is out.

4) Submissions. And finally, if you're waiting on a submission (especially if you requested feedback) but you're growing anxious, as always, if you'd rather a quicker response you can add the note to your sub that reads "FAST TRACK" and we will get you a no/little feedback response (with journal recs still) quicker than a feedback response would be. We're still aiming to generally have our responses in line with standard lit mag timelines, around 6-10 months, sometimes much quicker, on occasion (if there's a piece we're really really considering) a little longer. We had a huuuuuge push of January submissions which we've made very good progress on, but we still have quite the pile of, if you're in that boat know we see you, we're not abandoning your sub, and there's likely been at least one editor to have read it, but we make every effort to have 2-3 editors read each piece in order to give it its fair shake and quality feedback. We're a very small staff and all the submission money that comes in goes out to our authors and Submittable fees, so we're definitely doing this for the love of writing.

Thank you again for your patience. We appreciate you, and really hope you keep writing and disseminating your work to the world.

15/06/2021

Issue 4 of Coastal Shelf is live and it's a wild ride! A little bit of everything and it's all awesome. https://coastalshelf.com/issue-4-cover/

The issue is crafted in a way that reading from the beginning to the end is the ideal experience, and the limited number of pieces we publish each issue make that an actual possibility. Block off a little time and take it all in. Soak in the June Coastal Shelf goodness. It's surreal, it's nostalgic, it's historic and scientific. It's thought-provoking and emotion-evoking. It's the perfect thing for your face right now!

15/06/2021

Did you submit something to Coastal Shelf and either before we got to it, or after we unfortunately were not able to find a place for it in CS, that piece was published? We want links to those pieces for our Summer issue's "Ones That Got Away" feature!

We're going live tonight, but we can edit the links in whenever. Message us here or via email or even in your submission in Submittable, just be sure to include the phrase "Ones That Got Away".

11/06/2021

The new issue will be going live on Monday! Galleys are all out to authors and I'm finally going to sleep.

08/06/2021

Issue 4 contracts are all out! I'm super excited for this issue, so varied! The submission response slowdown will be over soon and responses will be again pouring out. If you have a piece that is from 2020 know that you're still being considered, and we'll be sending you a response soon. We were busy crafting the issue as a whole as best we could and, yeah, very excited. And tired. But it'll be worth it for this issue.

As always, if you had marked that you wanted feedback in your submission and you now would like to be moved to the 'no feedback' queue which is much shorter (because the time required per submission is much lower), you can add a message to your submission with the words "FAST TRACK" and we'll make sure you're responded to quickly. Sometimes (but not always) we have 2 of 3 reader's feedback we can pass along which may not be as comprehensive, but will still include journal recommendations.

03/06/2021

AND THE LAST RESPONSE IS OUT! Finished the night off with an acceptance, too! The Ultra-Fast Lane Submission Event was a blast—an exhausting blast. I really hope the submitters are pleased with their feedback. While we only promised 100 or 250 words of feedback, we averaged over 700 words at a quick calculation (I'm very tired, so I may be slightly off) so I hope at least a few of those words are helpful.

Time for a good night's sleep before getting back to finishing up the June issue for hopefully the beginning of next week! I'm really excited to show the world this issue's feature and awesome pieces.

02/06/2021

Big shout out to our Ultra-Fast Lane Submitters! We're in the process of organizing the editor's feedback and your responses will all be going out today! We went a little bit overboard on the feedback in many cases, but we wanted to be as helpful as possible in this short window of time.

18/05/2021

We are announcing a very brief 'Ultra-Fast Lane' submission window at the end of this month! I've arranged with some of our wonderful editors to have a big reading crunch as a mini-fundraiser for Coastal Shelf. Submit on the last weekend of May and get a response by the following Tuesday—and support the journal to boot!

When: 5/28-5/31. Responses guaranteed by 6/2.
What: 3 poems (under 80 lines) or 1 short story (under 3000 words) or 3 flash fictions (under 1000 words)
Cost: $10 for very limited feedback and journal recommendations. $25 for 100-250 words of feedback, journal recommendations, and your name included with our benefactors for a year starting with the June issue.

17/05/2021

We are again open for submissions! Both for general submissions and for our Science-themed feature for our first issue of 2022. https://coastalshelf.submittable.com/

Because of our large backlog we are not able to offer feedback on every submission but as always we'll do our best to give notes and suggestions when we can. We're approaching our June issue and have some really really tough decisions in our near-future. Wish us luck!

08/03/2021

The FuPo Poetry Contest and The Ceiling 200 Contests are back for a few more days. We've reopened the regular contest submission portal until Friday for those that had missed the deadlines whether because they were focused on the AWP or SMOL bookfairs, or just heard too late. We understand, we got you. https://coastalshelf.com/contests/

Contests Share these images on your social media and help us reach as many writers as possible! Check out this cool calendar. The FuPo Poetry Contest is for “funny and poignant” poems under 60 lines. 3/5/21 deadline. More here.The Ceiling 200 Contest is for very short fiction or prose poetry und...

05/03/2021

ISSUE 3 IS HERE!!!

https://coastalshelf.com/

04/03/2021

Issue 3 is in the final stages—VERY SOON!

If you had submitted something to our journal which has since been published elsewhere, send us a link now for our "Ones That Got Away" feature.

We'll edit them in if you see this after this issue is out, so do send those links. Providing, of course, it was something that had been submitted to CS and either we weren't able to find a place for it, or it was accepted elsewhere before we could respond. [email protected]

28/02/2021

Submit your writing to literary magazine Coastal Shelf's inaugural contests now, there's less than a week left!

The contest themes are The FuPo Poetry Contest for 'FUnny and POignant poems under 60 lines', and The Ceiling 200 Contest for 'fiction/nonfiction or prose poetry under 200 words'.

Deadline 3/5, First Prize $250 ($100/$50 for 2nd/3rd), and because we want to reach writers that aren't normally able to submit to contests because of the cost factor, the first piece can be submitted for free! (and a second for just $5). All submissions are read blind.

Please help us reach underserved and just plain awesome writers for these contests—we're excited to read all of your work. https://coastalshelf.com/contests/

27/02/2021

While we made the nomination back in December, we hadn't properly announced it. So, for The Sonder Press's annual Best Small Fiction anthology, from our first double issue we have nominated the wonderful flash prose pieces "Acid and Alkaline" by KD Leslie and "Veins" by Divya Mehrish! We have spirit fingers crossed for them and wish them all the luck in the world!

10/02/2021

Submit to our two contests now! Deadline 3/5 and $250 first prize. There is no entry fee for first piece, but submit a ton and help both the journal and your chances (though to ensure fairness all submissions are read blind).

These are our first contests so please help us spread the word! See https://coastalshelf.submittable.com/ to submit or https://coastalshelf.com/contests/ for more information.

02/02/2021

OUR CONTESTS ARE OPEN!!!

We'll be posting some fancy announcement soon, but just wanted everyone to know that our contests are open for submissions! Deadline is 3/5/2021, there are 2 contests each with a $250 first prize (2nd $100, 3rd $50) and no fee entry options. https://coastalshelf.submittable.com/

The contests are:
The FuPo Poetry Contest (or FuPoPoCo), for FUnny and POignant poems (under 60 lines), and
The Ceiling 200 Contest which is for prose pieces under 200 words (fiction, non fiction or prose poetry). Please spread the word! More details at https://coastalshelf.com/contests/

We happily accept simultaneous submissions providing you notify us in a timely manner if a piece is accepted elsewhere with a note in Submittable. We also read blind—only looking at cover letters after reading and deciding upon the piece so do not include your name in the file name or in the docum...

08/01/2021

20 Minutes left for the January 7-day submission window! Get your sub in now, join the massive party that's already started! https://coastalshelf.submittable.com/

We happily accept simultaneous submissions providing you notify us in a timely manner if a piece is accepted elsewhere with a note in Submittable. We also read blind—only looking at cover letters after reading and deciding upon the piece so do not include your name in the file name or in the docum...

01/01/2021

We're LIVE BABY! One week only https://coastalshelf.submittable.com/

(Until May, and not including contests, PiF and a limited number of no fee submissions each month, but you get the point! Send your work in now!)

We read submissions year-round with our tip jar submissions, and until we run out of our monthly allotment of free submissions. If the free submission option isn't available check back at the beginning of the next month. See individual categories for genre guidelines. We pay at least $20 a piece—t...

04/12/2020

We are excited to announce our awesome 2021 Pushcart Prize nominees! It was tough choosing but we had to do it—and Monday we mailed out that ol' manila envelope. This year we nominated 4 poems and 2 pieces of prose.

Poetry: “Still Love” by Jack Powers; “SOUTHERN FRIED” by Jefferson Carter; “My lover has left, and everything is worse now” by Cat Dixon; and “MOURNING OUR DEAD” by Mary O’Melveny
Prose: “Got To Get Back” by Nikolai B.; and “Veins” by Divya Mehrish.

We've got all of our fingers and toes crossed for you folks which will make walking a bit difficult for awhile, but we'll get used to it. You're worth it. GOOD LUCK!

01/12/2020

2021 reading and publishing calendar! There will be, in our typical fashion, overly-explanatory pages describing all of the contests very soon, but for now please share this around and make some google calendar notifications for sending in your submissions!

30/11/2020

Please keep sharing around our first double issue https://coastalshelf.com/issue-12-cover/ which we're extremely proud of (we'll be announcing our Pushcart nominations from the issue tomorrow) but we're also looking forward to the new year.

We're back reading our eyeballs out and the plan is to have the whole backlog of early summer submissions cleared out by the end of December so if you have a submission with us you'll hear before too long! The "Fast Track" option is still available of course for anyone that wants to 'line jump' and forego the majority of feedback (add "Fast Track" as a message to your submission).

We'll also be announcing our 2021 reading schedule tomorrow so stay tuned! We have 3 contests, a 'science' themed feature and multiple open windows, and we're dedicated to paying all of our writers at least $30 (excepting Waterlogged Paper reprints). We're super excited to read your work!

21/11/2020

Coastal Shelf's inaugural double issue is live! I'm so excited to share these twenty-nine poems and stories with the world, and I think you'll love it too. https://www.coastalshelf.com/