Seven Seas Magazine - personal essays from around the globe.

Seven Seas Magazine is an online magazine directed to international writers and readers of personal essays from around the world, people who live everywhere--by the Seven Seas.

The editor of Seven Seas is dedicated to publishing personal essays only--that is creative, literary nonfiction, slices of life. To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, I would like to quote a passage from the introduction of "The Art of the Personal Essay," written by author Phillip Lopate:

"The hallmark of the personal essay is its intimacy.
The writer seems to be speaking directly into your ear, confiding everything from gossip to wisdom. Through sharing thoughts, memories, desires, complaints, and whimsies, the personal essayist sets up a relationship with the reader, a dialogue--a friendship, if you will, based on identification, understanding, testiness, and companionship [...] How the world comes at another person, the irritations, jubilations, aches and pains, humorous flashes--these are the classic building materials of the personal essay. We learn the rhythm by which the essayist receives, digests, and spits out the world..."

Submission Guidelines

Language
Only English language pieces will be accepted.

Topics
There are no specific topics (that's the fun thing). This fact has triggered the comment that the Seven Seas guidelines are "vague." Well, I don't believe they are. I want variety, and I am not going to dictate what you should write about. I may not like it (for personal or editorial reasons), but I still want you to come up with a topic yourself.

You can write about your cat, your mom, your friend, your life, your work, your hopes, your travels, your thoughts, your everything. All I ask is to receive personal essays from talented writers. If you do not know what a personal essay is, I urge you to check out our creativity page or read the old issues. If, after reading the previous issues, you still don't know, please don't submit. I am not in need of academic or scientific essays, essays that never use the word "I," or stream-of-consciousness pieces that only mean something to you, but sound confusing to others. If your essay sounds like no one but you would understand what it's about, I probably won't publish it. Make me feel with you, for you, against you--make me feel and you're on the right track.

Word limit
Essays should be no longer than 2,000 words.

Limit on the number of submissions
There is no limit on the number of submissions, BUT -- I ask you not to send more than three essays at a time. Please wait for me to get in touch with you before you send more. Each submission must be submitted via the submission form.

Copyright
You will, of course, retain the copyright to your work. As soon as your submission has been accepted, you are granting Seven Seas Magazine one-time electronic publishing rights. This means the following: Seven Seas publishes your essay in only ONE Seven Seas issue (unless publishing in installments has been agreed upon.) Seven Seas would like to keep issues online and archived for an unlimited, as of yet unknown amount of time. This is to say, the issue your essay appears in could be archived online for 20 more years or longer, or it could be "nixed" within the next few days.

If you no longer want your essay to be published on the Seven Seas site, please send an e-mail to that effect to annika@sevenseasmagazine.com. I will then remove your essay from the issue in which it appears and from the site. You are, at any time, free to submit your essay elsewhere. However, please take into consideration that other publications do not accept multiple submissions. You will have to inform them that your essay has been published at Seven Seas.

Deadlines
There are no deadlines. Seven Seas accepts submissions on a rolling basis. A Seven Seas issue is ready for publication as soon as I believe it's "perfect" and "full." If I accept your essay it will automatically be published in the next "open" issue.

	Payment Seven Seas is a "labor of love." I am not making any money, and thus--I'm sorry to say--I can't pay you. But I'm able to offer you...
	Little Perks A very nice byline, an even nicer biography, the link to every new Seven Seas issue in your inbox every month, and the opportunity to find yourself in the company of fine writers.

Editing
As the editor, I reserve the right to edit. That means if I find your essay needs work, I will make minor changes. I say "minor changes" because I don't believe in editing until there is nothing left of the author's original voice. I will get in contact with you, should I believe that your essay needs to be edited. You can then decide whether you would like me to do the editing (after which I will let you read your essay again to see whether you agree with the changes) or whether you would like to rewrite and resubmit your piece. I will not get in touch with you about very minor changes (such as commas, misspellings or the changing of a word or two.)

Creativity
For more information on the personal essay genre, please read the Seven Seas creativity page.

Response to your submission
If your essay is accepted for publication, I will get in contact with you within two months of the date of your submission.

Seven Seas does NOT write rejection letters. This magazine is a voluntary project. For time constraint reasons, I cannot reply to every submission received. If you haven't heard from Seven Seas within said two months, you can safely assume that I will not publish your essay. You are, at any time, free to submit your essay elsewhere.

Disclaimer
Please read the disclaimer before you submit!

Way of submission
Submissions are accepted electronically, via the Web, only! Please use the Seven Seas submission form. (Essays submitted via e-mail will not be accepted!)

Please use the Seven Seas submission form!

I look forward to reading your work!

Good writing!