The Bloomin’ Onion accepts submissions of works of flash fiction and short stories on a rolling basis (year-round) and publishes two issues per year—April and October. In addition to the bi-annual issues, we also publish weekly features, which highlight one particular story we found captivating. Please, no poetry, essays, or anything other than fiction at this time.

Each submitted story should be no longer than 5,000 words. We consider flash fiction anything 1,000 words or less and short stories 1,001-5,000 words.

We aim for a response time of 4-6 weeks, but please be patient. You may reach out regarding your submission if you haven’t received a response within 8 weeks of the submission date.

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS are accepted and encouraged! However, please withdraw your work by responding to your submission email if your piece is accepted elsewhere.

We’re writers, too, and we don’t like being ghosted, so you’ll hear from us regarding your submission regardless of the final verdict. The email we send you will either be of acceptance, rejection, or confirmation that your work has been withdrawn. Unfortunately, we cannot offer individualized feedback on submissions at this time.

You may submit up to TWO total stories within a given submission period—that means two works of flash fiction, two short stories, or one of each. Anything beyond two submissions will not be considered until the start of the next submission period. All submissions are considered for the weekly features and the bi-annual issues.

All writers are encouraged to submit, as we greatly enjoy lifting up work written by newly published or previously unpublished writers.

We do not accept submissions of previously published work.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES will we publish anything racist, homophobic, sexist, transphobic, derogatory toward any marginalized group, AI-generated, or anything else deemed to be of poor taste. It is at the editors’ discretion as to what is categorized to be of poor taste. Should you choose to submit something ultimately deemed to be of poor taste, you will receive an email informing you that you’re banned from submitting further to our magazine, after which your email address will be blocked. Just be a good ‘lil onion.

Unfortunately, we cannot pay contributors at this time.

If accepted, The Bloomin’ Onion acquires First North American Serial Rights and First Electronic Rights. All rights revert to the contributor following publication. The contributor agrees to credit The Bloomin’ Onion as the original publisher if the work is subsequently reproduced online or in print.