Submission Guidelines...
How does it work?
We will publish one author’s story over the course of a series of Instagram posts. The frequency of the posts is determined collaboratively between the co-editors and authors. For example, one short story may be published within 6 posts with the text of the story put in the posts’ captions. Feel free to browse our stories to see what this looks like.
What should my submission look like?
Please submit a Word document manuscript to our co-editors at cerealization.submissions@gmail.com with your text already divided into an idea of what you’d like the different posts to look like on Instagram. We strongly encourage you to keep the form in mind when writing—make it punchy! Keep in mind that each post should leave your audience wanting—needing—to read the next one! Another delicious bite of cereal! Also keep in mind that each Instagram post contains 2,200 characters (so around 365 words) and is truncated after 125. Filling the character limit for each post is not required.
We ask that each story has a maximum of 8 posts, meaning a submitted manuscript should have fewer than 3,000 words total. This is a maximum, submissions can be significantly shorter.
What about the images/videos for the posts?
The possibilities are endless! Illustrators, photographers, musicians, etc. are ALL welcome. We encourage authors to collaborate with artists of their choosing or reach out to us to help you find an artist to collaborate with. Please include the name, medium, and contact info of the artist(s) at the top of your manuscript when submitting. The image/video limit is 10 per post, but filling this limit is not required. IMPORTANT: An artist collaborator is not required.
If we accept your work, we will reach out to you and the artist(s) regarding how to proceed with posting your work together.
How does editing work?
If you have an editor you commonly work with, we encourage you to work with that editor before submitting your manuscript. Post-submission, our co-editors will work with you to edit your work before posting.
If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please write to us at cerealization.submissions@gmail.com.
