Rules for Submitting to the
Dragon Bone Journal
We take fiction submissions from all genres and non-fiction submissions for any topics relating to writing and publishing. Here's our detailed list of rules for submitting your works for consideration.
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Please read this entire page before submitting. Any entries that do not adhere to the rules will automatically be disqualified.
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Thank you for your understanding! We're so excited to read your entries.
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FICTION/NON-FICTION/POETRY SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 2026 ISSUE CLOSE APRIL 30TH, 2025
PROMOTIONAL/INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES CLOSED.
Rules for Literature Submissions
We have a limited number of spaces available for submissions. Submissions are not accepted by first come first serve. We will select candidates by careful review of if they align with procedure and the quality of their content.
Submission Deadline
Submissions for the 2026 issue open January 1st, 2025, and will close April 30th, 2025.
We will not consider submissions sent after April 30th 11:59pm CST.
Submission Lengths
Fictional Short Stories: between 100-3,000 words long
Poetry: between 10-500 words long
Non-Fiction: between 100-3,000 words long
Fiction (Content)
All fiction submissions must be relatively clean with no graphic sexual content, no sex scenes, no excessive cursing, no graphic blood/gore/horror, and no smut. Fade to black is acceptable. Cursing on a PG-13 level is acceptable. Fade to grey is acceptable in some circumstances. Fighting, magic, & horror elements is acceptable.
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Please contact us if you have questions about your story's content. We are more than happy to review it to see if it's acceptable.
Fiction (Genres)
All genres are accepted except for smut and some extreme horror.
Accepted genres include but are not limited to: Romance, Fantasy, Thriller, Horror, Mystery, Contemporary, Sci-Fi, Dystopian, Western, Paranormal, Historical.
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Please contact us by sending us a DM on social media, through the contact page on this website, or via email at dragonbonepublishing@outlook.com if you have any questions about your story's content.
Non-Fiction (Content)
Content must be relative to publishing or writing.
Works about personal experience are accepted as long as they are also educational, motivational, inspiring, or helpful in some way to the reader.
Extremely minimal cursing accepted.
Find a list of example topics here.
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Please contact us if you have questions about your story's content. We are more than happy to review it to see if it's acceptable.
No AI Content
We will absolutely not accept any submissions that were generated by Artificial Intelligence. All submissions must be original work created by a human and owned by a human. By submitting to this Journal, you automatically pledge that the work you are submitting is your own and that you did not use AI to create it.
Formating
We will only accept entries that are either a workable Word Document or Google Doc.
We will not accept PDFs.
Title of the document must include the name of the work and author name.
All entries must be double spaced and Times New Roman 12pt font.
Please include a short 100-word or less author bio at the beginning of your submission inside the Word Document or Google Doc (your bio's word count will not be added to that of your submissions).
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Editing
Please only send in entries that have been previously edited.
We will not accept any entries that need extensive developmental editing or excessive grammatical edits.
Where to Submit
Please fill out our submission form and answer each question carefully and thoroughly.
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Submission Form for the 2026 Issue of The Dragon Bone Journal
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We will not be accepting submissions sent to our email.
Number of Entries
Each author may submit as many entries as they would like to each of the categories, as long as each entry follows the rules stated on this page.
Rules for the Journal
Compensation
As compensation, authors will receive a digital copy of that year's edition of The Dragon Bone Journal for free. They will also be able to purchase author copies of the Journal at near print price to sell and profit off of as they see fit (for events, signed copies, markets, bookstores etc.)
Our Rights
Dragon Bone Publishing holds and retains all rights to refuse to publish any work we do not wish to publish. We also retain the right to remove any content from our magazine that we wish at any time. We hold the right to terminate any contract made with an author if we see fit.
Contract
If an author's work is accepted for publication in the Dragon Bone Journal, they will be required to sign a contract stating that Dragon Bone Publishing has the right to print, reproduce, and profit off their work. If an author wishes to refuse publication, they may do so before signing the contract.
If the author does not sign and return the contract before the stated deadline for that contract, it will be understood that the author refused publication and their work will no longer be considered for publication.
Terminating Contract
Authors hold the right to pull their content from the Dragon Bone Journal any time before that particular issue is printed. However, if an author decides to pull their work from the Dragon Bone Journal after they have signed a contract (and wish to terminate that contract), they will have to pay a fee of $80 to compensate Dragon Bone Publishing for the work already put into the author's content.
Exclusivity
Dragon Bone Publishing will not maintain exclusivity rights to stories published in any Dragon Bone Journal. Any stories previously published (that are not currently under an exclusivity agreement with another publisher) will be accepted and stories published The Dragon Bone Journal can be published elsewhere as long as the other publisher does not require exclusivity.