Submission Guidelines

We’re glad you’re thinking of writing for Rainbow Rumpus! We are creating a new genre of children’s and young adult fiction. Please carefully read and observe the guidelines below.

• Stories should be written from the point of view of children or teens with LGBT parents or other family members, or who are connected to the LGBT community.
• Stories should celebrate the diversity of LGBT-headed families and their communities.
• The primary plot point of the story should not be family structure or children being teased about their families.
• Stories for 4- to 12-year-old children should be approximately 800 to 2,500 words in length. Stories for 13- to 18-year-olds may be as long as 5,000 words.
• Please observe standard manuscript format: 12-point Times, one-inch margins, double-spaced text, and page numbers.

We publish a variety of genres and will consider serialized work. Stories featuring families of color, bisexual parents, transgender parents, family members with disabilities, and mixed-race families are particularly welcome.

Rainbow Rumpus pays $75 per story on publication. We purchase first North American online rights and may also request the right to post formatted PDF and audio files for free download, and the right to include the story in a print anthology.

All fiction and poetry submissions should be sent to our Editor-in-Chief via our Contact page. Be sure to select the "Submissions" category. A staff member will be in touch with you shortly to obtain a copy of your manuscript.