Beyond Words is an international print magazine of literature and art, founded in 2020.
We pair powerful writing with striking visual art, creating an experience greater than the sum of its parts.
Our global Editorial Board of 11 editors and writers reviews all submissions blindly, ensuring every piece is judged on its own merit.
We welcome poetry, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, short stories, and all forms of inspiring visual art.
Beyond Words Press also publishes themed anthologies of poetry and prose (no visual art in these). Check our Submittable page for current open calls and themes.
We read submissions and send out decisions every day. We promise a one-day turnaround for most of our projects (excluding visual art submissions and 250-word competition submissions).
For further information visit our website, and don't forget to check out our Facebook and Instagram!
We are currently reading for Beyond Words Magazine Issue 66 (publication date March 2026).
We invite you to submit your poetry, or short fiction or non-fiction, for consideration.
Tired of waiting for months to hear back from literary magazines? We at Beyond Words Magazine believe there can be another way. We work around the clock and promise to respond to your submission after 24 hours with a decision. BEYOND WORDS is an international magazine of literature and art founded in 2020. The magazine is stocked in bookshops in America and Europe. It is also featured in book fairs and writing conferences such as AWP and IndieCon.
Our global Editorial Board of writers and editors reviews all submissions in a blind review process.
Guidelines:
We accept submissions of poetry (up to three poems in a single submission) and flash fiction/non-fiction (one piece per submission; max. length 1000 words). We consider previously published works. We also accept simultaneous submissions.
If your work is accepted by us for publication, you consent to giving Beyond Words first publication rights, after which all rights revert back to you. If you do republish your work somewhere else, we ask that you give a mention to Beyond Words.
Looking forward to enjoying your works! In the meantime, we invite you to add us on Instagram @beyondwordsmagazine and/or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BeyondWordsMagazine for the latest updates.
Following the success of our series of themed anthologies, Beyond Words Press will release another anthology in February 2026, this time - all about DREAMS. We invite you to submit your poems, flash fiction/non-fiction, and short stories for consideration!
Guidelines
We accept simultaneous submissions.
We are OK with previously published works. However, if a submitted piece has been previously published, please add a note about it.
There is no word count limit for poetry; for stories, we ask that your work doesn't exceed 3000 words.
We promise a fast turnaround - you will hear back from us within 24 hours.
We look forward to reading your wonderful works. Good luck!
Unlike small changes, metamorphosis is a deep, irreversible shift in self, perspective, or form.
Following the success of our My Greatest Fear (2023), Once in a Lifetime (2024), Regrets (2025), Scars (2025) and Hotel Stories (2025) themed anthologies, Beyond Words Press will release another anthology in April 2025. This time the prompt is METAMORPHOSIS. We invite you to submit your poems, flash fiction/non-fiction, and short stories for consideration!
Metamorphosis is calling for stories and poems of transformation—beautiful, brutal, and everything in between. We want works where nothing and no one emerges unchanged: the caterpillar’s first wingbeat, the monster beneath the skin, the self shed and remade in fire or shadow. Your change can be wondrous or grotesque, voluntary or inevitable, but it must alter the core. Surprise us with the forms metamorphosis can take—across genres, worlds, and minds. Show us the moment of becoming, and make us believe there’s no way back.
We accept simultaneous submissions.
We are OK with previously published works. However, if a submitted piece has been previously published, please add a note about it.
There is no word count limit for poetry; for stories, we ask that your work doesn't exceed 4000 words.
We promise a fast turnaround - you will hear back from us within 24 hours.
We look forward to reading your wonderful works. Good luck!
Following the success of our My Greatest Fear (2023), Once in a Lifetime (2024), Regrets (2025), Scars (2025) and Hotel Stories (2025) themed anthologies, Beyond Words Press will release a collection of horror stories in May 2026. We can't wait to read your short stories and flash fiction/non-fiction!
When the Floorboards Creak invites you to step into the shadows, where every whisper could be a warning and every groan of wood might be the last sound you hear. We’re seeking original horror stories that make the reader’s pulse race—whether your monster is human, spectral, or something far worse. Give us haunted houses, cursed objects, restless spirits, or the terror of the everyday turned uncanny. Submissions should unsettle, surprise, and linger long after the final line. If your tale can make us afraid to walk down the hall at night, we want to read it.
We accept simultaneous submissions.
We are OK with previously published works. However, if a submitted piece has been previously published, please add a note about it.
We promise a fast turnaround - you will hear back from us within 24 hours.
Good luck!
We are thrilled to announce our brand new 250-word creative writing competition for Issue 69 of Beyond Words Literary Magazine! The prompt this time is: BROKEN!
We invite you to submit your poems and flash pieces up to 250 words. We will consider any literary work related to the prompt. Our 11-member Editorial Board will read all submissions in a blind review process, and will then choose the best works. The winning pieces will be featured in Issue 69.
Good luck!
Decision letters will be sent out mid-January.
We are thrilled to announce our brand new 250-word creative writing competition for Issue 70 of Beyond Words Literary Magazine! The prompt this time is: CONTROL!
We invite you to submit your poems and flash pieces up to 250 words. We will consider any literary work related to control. Our 11-member Editorial Board will read all submissions in a blind review process, and will then choose the best works. The winning pieces will be featured in Issue 70.
Good luck!
Decision letters will be sent out in April.
We are thrilled to announce our brand new 250-word creative writing competition for Issue 71 of Beyond Words Literary Magazine! The prompt this time is: THE VOICE!
We invite you to submit your poems and flash pieces up to 250 words. We will consider any literary work related to voices. Our 11-member Editorial Board will read all submissions in a blind review process, and will then choose the best works. The winning pieces will be featured in Issue 71.
Good luck!
Decision letters will be sent out in April.
We are thrilled to announce our brand new 250-word creative writing competition for Issue 72 of Beyond Words Literary Magazine! The prompt this time is: THE WITNESS!
We invite you to submit your poems and flash pieces up to 250 words. We will consider any literary work related to witnesses. Our 11-member Editorial Board will read all submissions in a blind review process, and will then choose the best works. The winning pieces will be featured in Issue 72.
Good luck!
Decision letters will be sent out in April.
We are thrilled to announce our brand new 250-word creative writing competition for Issue 73 of Beyond Words Literary Magazine! The prompt this time is: DOUBLE LIFE.
We invite you to submit your poems and flash pieces up to 250 words. We will consider any literary work related to double life. Our 11-member Editorial Board will read all submissions in a blind review process, and will then choose the best works. The winning pieces will be featured in Issue 73.
Good luck!
Decision letters will be sent out in April.
Some truths are buried, locked away, whispered only in the dark, or never revealed at all. Secrets shape us just as powerfully as confessions do.
Following the success of our My Greatest Fear (2023), Once in a Lifetime (2024), Regrets (2025), Scars (2025), Hotel Stories (2025), and Father (2026) themed anthologies, Beyond Words Press is preparing a new anthology for release in October 2026. This time the prompt is SECRETS.
We are looking for poems, flash fiction/non-fiction, and short stories that revolve around what is hidden. The secret kept at great cost. The secret that corrodes, protects, liberates, or destroys. The one that slips out by accident or explodes into the open after years of silence. Private worlds, forbidden knowledge, family silences, buried histories, unsent letters, locked drawers, and information that changes everything once revealed.
Your secret may be intimate or cosmic, sensible or terrifying. It may be carried willingly or forced into silence. What matters is the tension it creates and what happens when it is held, discovered, or finally spoken. Surprise us with the many shapes secrecy can take, across genres, voices, and realities.
We accept simultaneous submissions.
Previously published works are welcome; please include a note if your piece has appeared elsewhere.
There is no word count limit for poetry. For prose, submissions should not exceed 4,000 words.
Our Editorial Board reviews submissions daily and promise a fast turnaround. You will hear back from us within 24 hours.
We look forward to reading what you dare to share. Good luck!
Home is one of the first words we learn, and one of the hardest to define. It can be a place, a feeling, a person, a moment in time. It can be something we inherit, something we build, something we lose, or something we are still searching for.
Following the success of our My Greatest Fear (2023), Once in a Lifetime (2024), Regrets (2025), Scars (2025), Hotel Stories (2025), Metamorphosis (2025), and Fathers (2026) themed anthologies, Beyond Words Press invites submissions for a new anthology, scheduled for release in November 2026. This time, the prompt is HOME.
We accept poems, flash fiction/non-fiction, and short stories that explore the many meanings of home. The place you return to, or the one you left behind. The space you feel safe in, the one you never quite belonged to, or the one you are still trying to create. Home may be physical or imagined, temporary or permanent, chosen or imposed.
We welcome work that looks at home as comfort and conflict, stability and change, presence and absence. Stories of arrival, departure, staying, rebuilding. Home as shelter, as responsibility, as memory, as promise. We are interested in how home shapes lives, relationships, and inner worlds.
Surprise us with the forms home can take across places, languages, bodies, and lives.
We accept simultaneous submissions.
Previously published works are welcome; please include a note if your piece has appeared elsewhere.
There is no word count limit for poetry. For prose, submissions should not exceed 4,000 words. We review submissions daily and promise a fast turnaround. You will hear back from us within 24 hours.
We look forward to reading what home means to you.
Good luck!
We are thrilled to announce our brand new 250-word creative writing competition for Issue 71 of Beyond Words Literary Magazine! The prompt this time is: STILL WAITING!
We invite you to submit your poems and flash pieces up to 250 words. We will consider any literary work related to waiting. Our 11-member Editorial Board will read all submissions in a blind review process, and will then choose the best works. The winning pieces will be featured in Issue 71.
Good luck!
Decision letters will be sent out in April.
We are looking for visual artists who would like to get their work - photography, paintings, drawings, collages, sculptures - featured in one of our next editions!
Beyond Words is a magazine of art and literature. In each issue, we match between literary and visual works and present both side-by-side, adding perspectives and strengths to both pieces.
Please upload up to 15 pieces. We will get back to you with a decision soon.
Looking forward to reviewing your submissions! In the meantime, we invite you to add us on Instagram @beyondwordsmagazine and/or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BeyondWordsMagazine for the latest updates.
Good luck!