Naija Readers’ Buffet – Submission Guidelines

Naija Readers’ Buffet

At Naija Readers’ Buffet, we want to read fresh and hot stories of Africa(ns) and showcase stories that we’re proud of to the world.

We want fun, non-linear writing; send us whimsical articles, memorable short stories, witty commentaries, striking poems, and relatable memoirs.

We don’t believe much in boxes, so if you’ve written something interesting and thoughtful, we have a vibrant reader base waiting to consume it.

Rest assured, we read every submission that we receive.

Guidelines

1. We accept unsolicited submissions all year round. We consider and publish short fiction, poetry, creative and critical non-fiction, book reviews, essays, and press releases.

2. Send us previously unpublished work. We only publish previously published work (online) when we request for it. However, if you have work published in print (but not accessible online) and you’d like us to publish, please send a query letter to [email protected].

3. We don’t mind simultaneous submissions; just let us know when it’s been accepted elsewhere.

4. Word counts and formatting (strict adherence required):

Fiction; 300 – 1500 words.

Nonfiction (creative and critical): 500 – 1000 words

Poetry: (Send no more than 3 poems of 50 lines or less each per submission)

Interviews; 2000 words or less

Others (interviews, reviews, listicles, commentaries, press releases, gossip, etc): 1000 words or less.

Formatting: 12 pt, Time New Roman or Garamond; double line spacing. Attach only .doc and .docx documents in the submission manager. No PDF.

5. Do not include your name or any means of identification in your attached submission. On the body of your mail, leave us a brief cover letter.

6. Let the subject of your mail read, “NRB SUBMISSION [include the category of your submission]” e.g “NRB SUBMISSION [Poetry]”.

7. Go through your work carefully before you upload it. We get turned off by bad grammar, bad punctuation, plagiarism, and cliché language. We don’t tolerate writing with homophobic, sexist, tribal-supremacist or racist leanings. No space for hate here.

8. There is no required theme. However, we ask that you adopt touches of satire in your work.

9. If we accept your work, you’ll retain copyright to your work. But you have to give us first publishing credits should you want to republish elsewhere. And please notify us to that effect.

10. Please note that we may edit your work, but we’ll carry you along.

11. Once published, we typically don’t consider removing published work on our site. Unless on rare, unique cases where we might consider making an exception.

12. If your article is time-sensitive, especially if it is in response to recent happenings in the literary or online socio-cultural scene, consider emailing us a pitch to [email protected] with the subject, TIME-SENSITIVE.

Note: Response time is between 1-4 weeks from submission. If you do not receive a response after this period, please email us a query ([email protected]).

We can’t wait to read your work!

Naija Readers’ Buffet is another brand new initiative brought to you by Naijahotstars