Calling all Brisbane Creatives!

Denizen’s Digest needs you! We are seeking writerly and writerly adjacent submissions for issue 1 of Denizen’s Digest, an anthology of fiction, creative non-fic, poetry, table-top stuff, and whatever else you want to squeeze in the allocated space (up to 4 A5 pages).

Submissions are open to anyone based in Brisbane up till midnight on the 18 th of March. The theme for our first issue is simply Netherworld, in whatever sense you see fit. This may relate to the venue or something closer to the literal definition or even both!

(Image illustration original from ‘Weird Tales November 1947’, CC, artist unknown)

Denizen’s Digest Submission Guidelines 

WHAT WE WANT:

Denizen’s Digest is an extension of Netherworld, so we want submissions to reflect the weird dank corners of our little slice of Brisbane. Format and style are up in the air: we’re chasing everything from genre fiction to poetry to creative non-fic to tabletop games to one-act plays. Given who we (the editors) are, we’ll probably have a bias towards the weird stuff, but don’t let that stop you from saying what you want to say.

Each zine will have a Theme that we want all submissions to speak to in some way. You can take it as all vibes, you can be hyper literal, you can be anywhere in between — so long as you’re in conversation with our theme. If you’re not? Sorry, but we won’t be able to accept your piece. Keep an eye on the Netherworld socials for the theme announcements, or just shoot us a message and we’ll let you know!

HOW WE WANT IT:

Instead of a word count, your piece will be given a maximum of four A5-sized pages within the zine (or two landscape A4’s) with a 10mm margin. Outside of that one restriction, you’re free to choose your own length. Do make sure it’s readable though, please — anything smaller than ten-point font is probably too small to work.

Since we’re arranging the zine this way, we really want you to go wild with the space. You’re welcome to mess with the text, chuck in a piece of art or a photograph, and do whatever you like to use the space best. Just double-check the next section to make sure your work isn’t going to get mucked by our printing process.

Please submit ALL pieces as .pdf files so we can get your piece layed out exactly how you want it. Even if you’re only submitting regular prose, it’s way quicker for us.

Send your submission through to info@netherworldarcade.com, with “Denizen’s Digest” somewhere in the subject line before the cut-off date. That date will be included in the theme announcement post on our socials.

HOW WE’RE DOING THIS:

Denizen’s Digest will be printed as a 30-ish page A5 booklet, entirely in black and white. If you’ve checked out our Boneworld zines before, Denizen’s Digest will be the exact same level of quality. Ultimately, it will look nice, but not be expensive. Just be aware that any visual art you submit will be printed in black and white.

You WILL be compensated for your submission! We’re paying $30 per piece, PLUS a $50 Netherworld voucher, PLUS an exclusive enamel pin (it wouldn’t be a Netherworld thing without a pin). If your piece gets selected for the zine, we’ll reach out for your details.

WHO WE WANT:

Brisbane writers. Beyond that, we don’t mind who you are, or what you do, or how much writing you’ve had published before. Netherworld has always been a space of inclusion, and we’re a part of Netherworld. If you’ve had a drink here, you’ll know the vibe.

If you want to add in a short author bio to your submission, please do! We’ll include it at the end of your piece if possible, so please also double-check that it fits in the space. If you’d like to stay anonymous, or just use your name and no bio, that’s also totally fine, just let us know. 

THE OTHER STUFF:

• By purchasing your piece, we are ONLY purchasing First Australian Rights to publishing the text of your work. This means you’re welcome to shop it around after we’ve finished our print runs — just make sure other publishers know about us. We may reach out in the future about other rights. 
• We don’t care about simultaneous submissions like most other lit mags do, but make sure you’re across the rules of any other publication you’re submitting to. They can be grumpy about that stuff. 
• Multiple submissions is a no-go. We just don’t have the capacity to manage that amount of work! We’ll only consider your first submission, unless you specifically ask us to disregard it in favor of another. 
• We’d prefer it if you gave us something original, but we can chat about reprints if you have a piece that perfectly matches our theme that you wholly own the rights to. 
• No excerpts please. We want your story to stand on its own. Serial works may be open to consideration, but would require some serious discussion first. 
• Please bring your work up to a publishable standard before submitting. That means no typos, no huge grammar issues, and it should be mostly coherent. Otherworldly jabberings are fun, but it’s nice to wrap them in some narrative. 
• It should go without saying, but no AI.