We want to expect the unexpected. We are looking for extraordinary tales and the not so extraordinary, but most importantly, work that exhibits well executed writing, writing so amazing that it makes even the mundane interesting.

To give you a sense of the kind of writing that excites me, here are ten essays that I love:

• D. Watkins, “Too Poor for Pop Culture”
• Jacqueline Kolosov, “Dust, Light, Life”
• Heidi Basarab, “Did Mother, Maybe, Not Know Best?”
• Melissa Febos, “Call My Name”
• Jeffrey Hammond, “Night’s Watch”
• Kerry Reilly, “Body Worlds”
• Tara Dapra, “Writing Memoir and Writing for Therapy: An Inquiry on the Functions of Reflection”
• David Rompf, “A Personal History of Staring”
• Richard Terrill, ”Who Was Bill Evans?”
• Jericho Parms, “A Chapter On Red”

All submissions of non-fiction should be 3,000 words or less. Writers are allowed (even encouraged!) to submit up to two pieces, so long as the total word count does not exceed the maximum. Please indicate your word count in the document, prior to the title of your piece.

Note: Please take the time to read the overall guidelines above. We promise that if you read them carefully, then we will read your submission carefully.

Some poetry submission guidelines(more like rules):

• No more than four poems in a single submission, prettiest please, and only one submission at a time.
• We're not likely to publish a 40-page poem online, but if you want to take the chance, maybe don't submit three more (just give us the one).
• Check the list below. Our editors have curated a range of poems that represent the aesthetic they are seeking to create in Cobalt.
• Expect long turnaround times. To quote that famous internet opossum:  "I am very small, and I have no money, so you can imagine the kind of stress that I am under." We publish poetry once annually. It may be 4-5 months before you hear from us, but of course, we'll aim for quick responses as much as possible.

The Ways to Donora’s Heart

• William Blake, “To God”
• Tracy DeBrincat, “I Would Like To Think That Possibilities Are Endless”
• James L. Dickey, “The Heaven of Animals”
• Louise Glück, “Vita Nova”
• Thomas Lux, “Tarantulas on the Lifebuoy”
• Rainer Maria Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo”
• Franz Wright, “To”
• William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming”
• The entirety of William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, which I will forever count as poetry
• And this passage from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, same

Note: Please take the time to read the overall guidelines above. We promise that if you read them carefully, then we will read your submission carefully.

Although Cobalt is primarily focused on literary fiction, we will happily consider genre and experimental fiction as well. Types of fiction in which we are not currently interested include YA, “inspirational,” or erotica. This is especially true of stories that contain two or more of those elements at the same time. If all three, honestly, why are you still reading this?

Here are ten stories that resemble the range of stuff I'd love to find in my inbox:

• "Life Ain't Easy for a Girl Named Mickey" by Courtney Preiss
• "Sea Oak" by George Saunders
• "We Didn't Mind the Fire and We Watched While it All Burned" by Roxane Gay
• "Moles" by Timmy Reed
• "Hurricanes Anonymous" by Adam Johnson
• "My Small Murders" by Ron Tanner
• "Little Expressionless Animals" by David Foster Wallace
• "Navigators" by Mike Meginnis
• "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell
• "The Bastard" by Patrick DeWitt

A few Andrew-specific preferences:

Fiction submissions should be no longer than 2,500 words (please try to include the word count in your cover letter). My sweet spot is between 1,500 and 2,500 words, but I am often blown away by brevity.

If your story has even the slightest trace of Wes Anderson-ness to it, submit the heck out of it.

Authors may submit one work at a time (that is: one work per submission, one active submission at any given time). If I see a bunch of submissions by the same author, I'm likely to pass on all of them.

Please take the time to read the overall submission guidelines above. I promise that if you respect my time and effort, I will respect yours.

Thanks,
Andrew Keating