Copytext Magazine is a literary arts journal dedicated to publishing creative works in the context of revision. Copytext features poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction from both established and emerging writers. We were founded by Editor-in Chief Lauren Frey and Managing Editor Marisa Lainson in August 2025. 

The word copytext is a bit of an outdated term for a proof: a preliminary copy of a publication used for checking and correcting errors before final printing. Across history, textual scholars looking to publish or reprint a manuscript would first create and review a “copy-text” to make corrections and ensure the accuracy of the final typescript form. The modern words “copy” and “copy-edit” derive from this legacy. You can read more about this history and the reason why we chose this as our name on our About page.

Please email your submission packet as a Word document to submissions@copytextmagazine.com with a brief cover letter in the body of the email. Each submission may contain two poems or two prose excerpts. Each poem or excerpt should have three versions: Final Draft, Middle Draft, and Early Draft. No version should exceed 300 words or two pages. Please review our full Submission Guidelines for more in-depth instructions on each genre. Since this is a unique submission process, we strongly recommend you download our submission template before submitting.  

Yes! We welcome writers to submit previously published work, especially if there’s an interesting revision story to share (e.g. if you have published a personal essay in a magazine and would like to show how you developed an excerpt of it, we would love for Copytext to be the home for these versions). Please state in your cover letter that the piece was previously published, include a citation and link to the former publication, and confirm that you as the author have the rights to the work. Do not submit work that you do not have the rights to, and note that it may not be nominated for awards.

Your final version, what we will call “the Publication,” may be submitted to awards and anthologies. We may nominate selected work for Best New Poets, Best Of The Net, Best Small Fiction, and Pushcart. Copytext also agrees that your Early and Middle Drafts will not be submitted to awards, anthologies, or other publications as stand-alone works.

Copytext reserves First Electronic Rights for all previously unpublished pieces and Non-Exclusive Reprint Rights for work that has been previously published elsewhere. Writers selected for publication will receive a contract detailing the full copyright and usage agreement in the acceptance email. 

Copytext is unable to pay contributors at this time, but we are actively building up resources to do so as soon as possible as we firmly believe compensation for creative work is vital. 

Copytext is operating as a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) registered under the State of Oregon (our EIN is EIN 39-3514915). We hope to eventually transition into a 501(c)(3) organization. At the moment, our financial goals are to cover operational costs and pay our contributors. All our goals will be listed on the Donation page, and we will keep you updated as we grow. 

Yes! We are a new Associate Member of CLMP. We will be continuing to seek out ways to engage with the broader literary community to grow as a trusted place to publish. 

We appreciate your interest in joining our Copytext team! At the moment, we are not accepting applications for readers, but please subscribe to our newsletter, where you will receive updates on open roles.

If you are able, we also deeply appreciate any donations so that we can pay our contributors and work towards building up our small team.