Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts submitted to Lake Effect must be original typescript or clear photocopies, and must be accompanied by a SASE with sufficient postage or they will not be returned. Internet submissions are not accepted. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify the appropriate editor should the manuscript, in whole or in part, be accepted elsewhere. Stories, poems, and essays will generally be returned or accepted within four months of their receipt (possibly longer over the summer). Currently, contributing writers receive two complimentary copies of the issue their work appears in as payment. All rights revert to the author upon publication. Lake Effect does not consider work that has previously appeared elsewhere.

Correspondence (but not submissions) may be emailed to the appropriate editor through the staff page.

Submissions (with SASE) and other correspondence should be sent to the editors at:

Lake Effect
School of Humanities & Social Sciences
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
4951 College Drive
Erie, PA 16563-1501

We also accept ONLINE SUBMISSIONS.

Fiction: Lake Effect is looking for stories that emerge from character and language as much as from plot. Lake Effect does not, in general, publish genre fiction, but literary fiction. For stories of longer than fifteen pages or so, query first. Lake Effect seeks work from both established and new and emerging writers.

Poetry: Lake Effect is looking for poems that demonstrate an original voice and that use multi-layered, evocative images presented in a language shaped by an awareness of how words sound and mean. Each line should help to carry the poem. There is no length limit per poem, but send no more than four poems at a time. Lake Effect seeks poems from both established poets and from new and emerging voices.

Creative Nonfiction: Lake Effect is looking for well-crafted and lively literary or personal essays. We are not looking for literary criticism, but essays that engage literature in the context of a lived life are certainly welcome. If your essay is longer than fifteen pages or so, please query first. Lake Effect seeks essays from both established and new and emerging voices.

Sample copies may be ordered. Refer to the ordering page.