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The Misfit Journal has come a long way. What started as a coffee shop conversation has evolved into an artistic vision spanning six continents. The path hasn’t always been clear, but the best paths never are. You can quote us on that.
Issue #1 – which landed in November of 2012 – was a creative cluster bomb, bringing together seven photographers, three visual artists, two poets and four prose-merchants. It took many months to select, curate, arrange, design, arrange, re-arrange, and perfect each piece and each page. Many hours and many litres of coffee were consumed. By the end, it was the perfect showcase for sixteen wonderful artists whose every word, and every pencil line, and every colour tone, had been selected with love, care and intention. It was a celebration in print; a coming-together of the Misfit philosophy and the artistic urge.
The creation of the first edition was an (awesome) experiment for us. We had no idea if people would understand what we were trying to achieve with the magazine; we certainly didn’t know if they would care. We released the first edition, without much fanfare, as a way of testing the proverbial waters. We wanted to see if there were other misfits out there who might be receptive to a publication like this. Happily, there were. Thousands.
And so, we are now preparing to go bigger. Issue #2 is in the pipeline, and will be published, along with all sorts of bells and whistles, in January of 2014. Put it in your diary, kids. However, we are not ones to rest on our laurels here at Misfit. And so:
Submissions to Misfit #3 are now open.
That’s right. We want your work. This issue, like all the others, will be a celebration of the Misfit ethos and we have for the past three months been accepting submissions that reflect the Misfit ethos. However, we have also decided to make edition #3 a salute to William Shakespeare. The publishing of edition #3 will coincide with the 450th anniversary of the Bard’s birth, and as we are all Shakespeare nuts at Misfit Inc. – indeed, our logo is actually an anime rendering of Henry V – we thought we would provide him a birthday present, in the form of a (semi) tribute issue. For that reason, we have now closed submissions that relate to the Misfit ethos and are now only accepting submissions that are inspired by Shakespeare.
So what kind of material is the Misfit after?
In a word: everything Short stories, novel excerpts, essays, memoir, creative non-fiction, poetry, artwork, photography. If it is inspired by Shakespeare, we want it.
In terms of word limits, try and keep prose pieces below 2,000 words. Poetry submissions should include between two and four poems, totaling no more than 200 lines. Attach files in either .doc, .docx or .odt format (not .pdf), and for prose pieces stick as closely to the formatting rules laid out here. Artists and photographers can feel free to send as many images as they like (within reason) – attach in .tiff, .bmp, .jpg, .tif, .png, or .gif. However, these images all need to be of a very high quality and resolution – preferably 16″x10″ at 300 DPI. (If you’re unsure how to render an image thus, contact us – we can help!)
All work must be original and previously unpublished (that includes personal blogs and websites). Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. The Misfit asks for first world rights (electronic and print), with all rights reverting back to the author after six months, and all copyright remaining with the author.
Did you mention something about payment…?
We certainly did. The rates are a bit of a complicated business – we have to be able to accept a single photograph from one person and ten from another – but basically, every contributor of written work will receive an $100 payment, and photographers and artists will receive approximately $25 per image/piece. (Oh, and every contributor will also receive one free print copy of the Misfit.)
