what we publish
We like the odd, the off-kilter, and the just plain weird. We like work that’s funny, that’s sad, and that’s both funny and sad. We especially enjoy experimental, surreal, magical realist, and genre-bending work. You like slipstream? Cool! We like it too.
Some of our favorite poets are Amy Gerstler, Danez Smith, Tracy K. Smith, Brenda Shaughnessy, Alison Benis White, Jericho Brown, Claudia Rankine, James Tate, Dean Young, W.S. Merwin, Russell Edson, and Ilya Kaminsky.
Some of our favorite fiction writers are Amy Hempel, Lydia Davis, Ha Seong-nan, Bora Chung, Carmen Maria Machado, George Saunders, Brian Evenson, Shirley Jackson, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Mariana Enriquez, Miranda July, and Ben Loory.
For a greater sense of our tastes, click HERE for our award nominations or HERE for our Bookshop storefront sharing staff favorites, curated reading lists, and books by our contributors. A portion of all sales goes to supporting Okay Donkey so feel free to purchase tons of books through our storefront.
We strive to amplify marginalized voices. We are not fans of gratuitous sex, gore, violence, racism, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.
We do not accept previously published pieces.
We do not accept nonfiction. Want us to publish your nonfiction? Call it something else.
We do accept translations.
Please send us one piece of fiction or batch of micros up to 1200 words or one poem per author, per submission period.
when we publish
We publish every Friday, alternating between fiction and poetry. We take a publishing break through December.
what we pay
Okay Donkey has been a paying market since January 2024. As of August 2026 we pay contributors a $25 honorarium for each piece of fiction or batch of micros or poem we publish.
when we’re open
We open for no-fee regular submissions on the 1st of every month but December. We stay open until we hit our submissions cap. Once we hit the cap, no-fee regular submissions will close. They’ll reopen on the 1st of the following month. Tip Jar and Expedited submissions stay open.
when we respond
Our response time on no-fee regular and Tip Jar submissions is around 2-3 months. If you haven’t heard from us after 3 months, feel free to follow up on your submission.
Our response time on Expedited submissions is within two weeks of reception.
Proceeds from Tip Jar and Expedited submissions help cover our expenses like Submittable, site, and admin fees, as well as contributor honorariums so thank you for supporting Okay Donkey and being a part of our community!
POETRY
- Please send us one poem per author, per submission period.
- While there are no strict word limits for poetry, we tend to like poems that fit on one page.
- Use a standard 12-point font and single space your submissions (except for form poems).
- Attach your piece as a Word doc, docx, Google doc, or PDF.
- Please include a brief cover letter with a short third-person bio if you so desire.
FICTION
- Please send us one piece of fiction or one batch of micros per author, per submission period.
- Our word limit for fiction is 1,200 words: in one piece or one batch of micros.
- Use a standard 12-point font and double space your submissions.
- Attach your work as a Word doc, docx, Google doc, or PDF.
- Please include a brief cover letter with a short third-person bio if you so desire.
- No need to describe your work. Most cover letters don’t. But if you’d like to, go ahead.
- Our Fiction Editor prefers work with a sense of story, inquiry, discovery, or pursuit to work that just describes a situation, no matter how lyrically. But feel free to send whatever you’d like.
rights
Okay Donkey acquires First Electronic Rights, Non-Exclusive Archival Rights, and Non-Exclusive Print Reprint Rights. All other rights remain with the author. If your OKD piece is reprinted in a book or anthology, all we ask is that you mention it was published here first.
etiquette
If we pass on your submission, please wait at least 1 month before submitting again. If we accept your submission, please wait at least 1 year before submitting again.
Simultaneous submissions are OK.
We do not accept multiple submissions. If you have a submission with us, please wait for a response before sending another.
We do not read or publish anonymous work. We do however respect author privacy and will publish works written under a pen name.
AI POLICY
We do not want anything written or translated by AI, LLM, etc. and, if you submit, we trust you understand that. This includes AI translation. We believe translation is a creative, human process.
In the rapidly-changing AI landscape, we may occasionally request writers provide evidence of human authorship. This will be done in good faith in collaboration with the writer. We may also use Pangram to spot-check submissions for potential AI-usage, though no decisions are ever made purely on the basis of Pangram analysis. We are particularly sensitive to the potential for false positives in AI detection software and to the addition of author text to any training corpus. Read more about Pangram here.
Click the button below to submit your work.