Writers Guidelines

          Spitball welcomes submissions from both previously published and unpublished writers. However, writers submitting to Spitball for the first time must purchase a sample copy of the magazine for $7.50. Purchasing the sample does not guarantee that one’s material will be accepted for publication, as Spitball is not and never will be a vanity or subsidy publication; if we accept a poem or short story for publication, it is only because we think the work deserves to be published.

          The sample copy purchase is a one-time requirement. Once a writer has purchased the sample, he may submit as many works as he desires without ever purchasing another copy of the Magazine. This requirement is waived for those who are already subscribers to the Magazine, as well as for those who decide to subscribe at the same time they make their first submission. All first-time submissions made without the sample copy purchase will be returned unread.

          All submissions and payments for sample copies ($7.50 check or Money Order: made out to MIKE SHANNON: not Spitball) should be sent to:

          Spitball

          536 Lassing Way

          Walton, KY 41094

NB. We have canceled PayPal and no longer use their service for anything.

          We believe that reading the Magazine is the best way to understand what kind of material is most likely to be accepted for publication in Spitball. However, for those who like more explicit direction, we offer the following guidelines:

          -all material must be about baseball;

          -all material must be original, unpublished, and the property of the author;

          -we do not accept simultaneous submissions; NO EXCEPTIONS;

          -we will consider writing of all kinds, but we are most interested in receiving poetry and short fiction;

          -we will consider poems of any kind, style, and length;

          -fiction should normally run 5-15 typed, double-spaced pages (or shorter); short stories longer than 20 pages must be exceptionally good for us to publish them;

          -electronic submissions simultaneous with the hard copy submissions are encouraged, especially for prose;

          -length guidelines for non-fiction writing of all kinds (except book reviews) is the same as for fiction;

          -a brief biography of the author should accompany every submission; and

          -a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) should accompany every submission and correspondence.

          All book reviewing is now done in-house, with brief reviews appearing in the "Baseball Book News" column at the back of every issue. 

          Poems submitted to Spitball will automatically be considered for “Poem of the Month” honors in this website, as well as for publication in the Magazine.

          All material published in Spitball will be automatically considered for inclusion in the next “Best of Spitball” anthology.

          Since Spitball is published twice a year, it can take a while for us to reach a decision about a submission. Please be patient. If you do not hear from us, that means your material is still under consideration. When we are rushed for a response, we usually return the submission immediately when we might have continued to consider it carefully otherwise.

          Payment for work accepted by Spitball is two copies of the Magazine.

          Thank you for your interest in contributing to Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine.

NB: If we accept your work, we will ask for an electronic copy of your submission to be sent to spitball5@hotmail.com. All such work MUST follow the formatting style in the magazine and should not include page numbers or the author's name anywhere but at the top of the first page.

 All prose work (fiction and non-fiction):

MUST BE single-spaced;

MUST BE indented 5 spaces and 5 spaces only (for every new paragraph); and

MUST BE single-spaced (not double-spaced) between paragraphs.

Author's name MUST appear at the top of the first page and first page only, MUST be italicized, and should be the same size as the text.

Name of essay or short story MUST appear two lines underneath author's name. MUST be in bold. and should be two sizes larger than text.

Also ... apparently, many software programs now automatically put an extra space after every period, and sometimes even between every word of the document. YOU MUST send us the manuscript with these extra spaces deleted/removed ... even if this means you have to re-type your short story or prose piece after incapacitating the automatic extra space program on your computer. If you are unwilling to go to this extra trouble, then we may be unwilling to publish your writing.