Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT IS THE UNCONVENTIONAL COURIER?

The Unconventional Courier is an online literary zine. We are a digital zine and site publication that publishes quarterly. (4 issues per year.)

We focus on works that deal with the heavier stuff- human nature.

HOW DO I SUBMIT MY STORY/POEM?

WHEN IS EACH ISSUE PUBLISHED?

Our publication is now quarterly, meaning we publish each issue every 3 months: 4 issue per year.

WHEN CAN I EXPECT MY SUBMISSION TO BE REVIEWED?

Update:

Due to unexpected, massive surge of submissions, our editors (Teté, Fortunus & Helevorn) are currently reviewing 400+ submissions.

Review and response time is now 6 months average.

Subs are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.

We now offer expedited responses.

If you required an expedited response due to simultaneous publishing opportunity (i.e. You need confirmation from us to whether or not we accept your submission because you are/ wanting to submitting to another journal), please request EXPEDITED REQUEST.

Be sure to include your contact information and a brief synopsis of your submission in question.

Please note we charge a $10.00 (USD) fee per submission. Please email us us theunconcourier@mail.com for payment information and processing.

We apologize for the inconvenience in advance.

WHEN CAN I EXPECT A RESPONSE FROM THE EDITORS?

Refer to the above answer.

Response time may take longer than usual due to high volume of submissions.

Consult our submission section on our home page.

You may fill out this Google Submission Form. This is an easier process to submit your work!

Submissions are closed until January 2024.

HOW MANY WORKS MAY I SUBMIT SIMULTANEOUSLY PER MONTH?

You can submit up to 5 works per month for consideration every month.

WHAT TYPES OF WORK DO YOU ACCEPT?

Short Stories
Poetry
Essays
Art work/Photography once every 2 months (Cover Feature only)

WHAT ARE MY CREATIVE RIGHTS WHEN I SUBMIT TO THE UNCONVENTIONAL COURIER?

Rights and Rules:

Creators retain complete rights of their submitted works. The Unconventional Courier gives full legal and creative rights to original creators. (You own your work.)

Previously published work is allowed.

Previously published work must be cleared for future publication from previous publisher. I.e., if you submitted to a previous literary journal or zine, please make sure they clear you to publish your work again with another zine.

WHAT DO YOU NOT ACCEPT?

Submissions lacking punctuation, spelling errors and basic grammar
Content that contains offensive, distasteful or incendiary style, design, or intent
Content that endorses criminal activity
Slam poetry
Body horror
BDSM
Furry/Anthro
Fantasy (We accept Surrealism if presented with philosophy.)
Harmful or malicious content
Occult themes

WHAT ARE EDITORS' RIGHTS?

WHAT ARE YOUR SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS?
On our Google Submission Form, we require:

Brief Bio: (Required)

Social Media Contacts: (Required)

Photo of Submitting Author: (Optional. Preferred but not required.)

Pronouns: (Optional.)

Submissions:

Themes of Human Nature and Philosophy.
We accept only PDF, Open Office, Word Doc, and Google Doc. Other forms will be rejected.
Length: 250-6,000 words.
Submissions must be edited and formatted with appropriate grammar.
If formatting is necessary for your work's original intention, you must clearly state this in your submission form.

Editors of The Unconventional Courier retain the explicit right of minor editing of submissions.

Editing pertains to, but is not limited to:

Spelling errors (we allow UK/Can spelling for an international audience)
Capitalization
Punctuation
Minor sentence structure issues for grammatical standard(This is to maintain readability for our readers.)
Formatting if you failed to provide your submissions with an acceptable document format.
Formatting if body of text is run-on or discerned as hard-to-read.

(The Unconventional Courier believes in accessibility for all readers, including readers who are ocularly disabled.)

Editors of The Unconventional Courier retain the explicit right of reformatting submission format via document to fit the format of the zine's digital (and future) print publications, including but not limited to, to The Unconventional Courier's website.