TVBR Short Story Contest, themed “Work” UPDATE
While we’ve done some preliminary read-throughs, TVBR Editorial Team hasn’t begun making decisions about finalists from our “work”-themed short story contest entries.
The response email sent out to Submittable entries was mistaken about having a decision by the end of December. We apologize for any inconvenience this mistake caused.
Again, we apologize for any inconvenience the mistaken statement (i.e., “TVBR’s editors will have a short list decided by early December.”) on our automatic Submittable response caused.
Once our Issue #25 goes to the printer—we’re aiming for the third week in April—we’ll read through the “Work”-themed contest entries in earnest.
TVBR Is Transitioning Away from A Website to the User-Friendlier Substack Platform
“The Vincent Brothers Review’s Weekly Reader” Substack issues will feature poetry, fiction, nonfiction, rock ’n’ roll stories, writing advice, writing prompts, news you can use, and updates about our print issue production schedules.
Subscriptions to The Vincent Brothers Review Weekly Reader are FREE for now, but we’ll move to paywalls for much of the content once we figure out this Substack beast.
Subscribe here to stay updated on TVBR’s print and Substack issues. Again, all subscriptions are FREE at this time, but you will need to sign up with an email to get the newsletter. You can cancel at any time.
The kick-off post to our Substack newsletter can be found here.
The Flash Fiction/Time Capsules/Haibun/Short-Lined Poems/Dispatch Prose (i.e., Writer and/Or Their Book Tributes, Book Reviews, and Rock ’n’ Roll Albums That Changed How I Listen to Music) Submissions portal is open all year, and read on a rolling basis.
The Vincent Brothers Review is a paying market, and we typically pay $35 per Flash Fiction/Time Capsule/Haibun UPON PUBLICATION. Our modest submission fees are used to cover payment to writers and staff, as well as the production and printing costs of both our online and hard-copy issues. All rights revert to authors upon publication.
Stay Tuned: We also plan to sponsor a haibun contest in mid-summer 2024 centered around the images/ideas of full moon cycles and women’s empowerment. Watch here for details.
PLEASE NOTE: TVBR editors take their time when considering submissions selections. Our response time can take up to a year, or even longer. This is why we accept SIMULTANEOUS submissions. Our production time is also long. TVBR is not for you if you’re impatient or fast-tracking a publication career. We have a small staff of editors who all work other jobs and we cannot adjust our reading or production schedules to writer-directed deadlines.
Send us work you would be proud to see in print or online. The best way to discover what kind of manuscripts we seek is to read our current issue and at least one back issue of The Vincent Brothers Review! We publish themed issues. Visit our website for our latest online selections and details about our upcoming themes: www.thevincentbrothersreview.com.
Our most recent print issue (#24: themed “Changes”) is $16.77 each postpaid; perfect-bound back issues are $14 each postpaid; saddle-stitched back issues are $5.00 each.
Take a look at our print copies! We enjoy the process of putting print issues together—attention to details; balance between words, white space, and image; and the synchronicity between writers and artists previously unknown to each other—and we think that joy shows.
Writers seeking publication should support and read their fellow writers’ work and the work of the magazines they are approaching for possible publication.
Great writers are always great readers, too. Set high reading standards in addition to high writing standards. If you plan to market your work, you must be aware of what that market is publishing—research online literary publications, as well as the litmag sections of libraries and bookstores. Once you’ve found a few magazines you enjoy reading, subscribe to them, and study the material they feature. The habit of reading contemporary litmags and eMags will enhance and broaden your appreciation of literature and assist you in placing your work.
We make our manuscript selections based on the author’s word choices, style, and the images, ideas, and characters those words convey. The typeface used by an author is not a factor in our consideration; however, manuscripts presented in a clear, legible manner are easier to read.
Read your manuscript out loud before sending it out.
Letting a manuscript rest for a week or so before approaching it for the second edit is a good idea.
Only unpublished manuscripts are acceptable, though we do accept simultaneous submissions. In fact, we encourage simultaneous submissions as our response times can be long. If you send a simultaneous submission, please notify us as soon as possible when that manuscript is accepted.
AGAIN—please note that our response times can be as long as a year, or even longer. If you’re in a hurry to see your name in print or fast-tracking your publication career, TVBR is not for you. We have a small staff of readers who all work other jobs and we take our time when considering manuscripts. And then, we take our time putting the issues together.
The Vincent Brothers Review editors seek submissions of Flash Fiction, Time Capsules, Haibun, Short-Lined Poems, and Dispatch Prose pieces (up to 2,500 words ) reflecting on the themes of “Rock ’n’ Roll Album that Influenced How I Listened to Music,” “An Elegy For a Writer/Book That Changed My Life,” OR “Immigrants Get The Job Done” for our Substack newsletter—“The Vincent Brothers Review Weekly Reader.” The reading fee is $3.00 per submission and you can include up to three Time Capsules, three Haibun, five to seven Short-Lined Poems, or one Dispatch Prose piece per each submission.
For examples of the work we seek, see our “The Vincent Brothers Review Weekly Reader” here. You will need to sign up for a subscription by email, but subscriptions are FREE for the time being.
Our modest submission fees are used to cover payment to writers, as well as the production and printing costs of both our Substack and hard-copy issues. All rights revert to authors upon publication.
The Vincent Brothers Review is a paying market, and we typically pay $35 per Time Capsule/Haibun we select for publication. We pay for accepted manuscripts UPON PUBLICATION. Our modest submission fees are used to cover payment to writers and staff, as well as the production and printing costs of both our online and hard-copy issues, and our newsletter.
All rights revert to authors upon publication.
This submission portal is on a rolling basis, open all year.
Time Capsules are brainstorms that briefly capture and express specific Times/Places that no longer exist, that WILL exist, or that are eternally fleeting. Imagine you’re filling a Time Capsule to show future recipients what it’s like to be alive RIGHT NOW. Or, what it was like to live long, long ago. The only tools you have to make that reveal are between 500 and 1,500 words. Choose your words wisely.
More specifically, these words illuminate what you want to remember about this time we’re living in, this crossroads for humanity, this stand-up-for-the-humans-right-now time.
Or, 500–1,500 words about what you remember of the Before Times—what it was like before internet, cell phones, or binge watching TV. Each word will need to pull its weight enough to transport your reader to the exact place and time you’re describing.
The haibun form is a combination of prose and haiku. See the links below for samples and more information about the haibun form:
https://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/
https://poets.org/text/more-birds-bees-and-trees-closer-look-writing-haibun
https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/haibun-poems-poetic-form