Submissions

Aurealis is open to submissions as follows:

Submissions from Australian and New Zealand writers: 1 February – 30 September

Submissions from anyone anywhere: 1 March  – 31 March 2026

Subscribers are fast-tracked through the assessment process.

Fiction guidelines

Aurealis is looking for science fiction, fantasy or horror short stories between 2000 and 8000 words. All types of science fiction, fantasy and horror that are of a “speculative” nature will be considered, but we do not want stories that are derivative in nature. We do not publish horror without a supernatural element.

Although we are an Australian-based publication, we are open to submissions in English from anywhere in the multiverse during specific reading periods.

Stories containing an unacceptable number of spelling mistakes and typos, and those that do not conform to our guidelines in other ways, will be rejected automatically. This may seem harsh, but we are being honest about it. Please take the time to polish your work in every way before you send it to us.

Aurealis pays between A$20 and A$60 per 1000 words, but assume the lower rate for unsolicited submissions.  Payment is made soon after the publication of the issue containing your story. Minimum payment is A$20. You will also receive a free electronic copy of the issue containing your story.

We buy First Electronic Publication Rights and the non-exclusive rights to include the story in a print and digital anthology. All other rights remain with the contributor. The story must not be published elsewhere for a period of twelve months after it appears in electronic form in Aurealis.

 Aurealis does not publish reprints. We don’t publish poetry or novel extracts. We don’t serialise longer works.

Aurealis does not publish AI generated stories. Please do not submit them.

Our response time for subscribers is no more than two months and can be up to twice as long for non-subscribers, but we are always aiming for much shorter turnarounds.  If you are a subscriber, please do not query us until two months have passed since your submission.  If you are a non-subscriber, please wait four months.  Where time permits, unsuccessful authors will be emailed a reply in the form of a checklist critique and/or a personal note. We are sorry, but Aurealis is not able to respond to queries about rejected stories.

Fiction submission guidelines

All fiction submissions to Aurealis must be by email. Please e-mail submissions to:submissions@aurealis.com.au

Hard copy submissions will no longer be read or receive a response.

Please include the following information with your submission:

  1. The subject line of the email must be in the following format:
    Aurealis submission: <“Title of story”> <(word count)> by <Author name>
    eg Aurealis submission: “The Attack of the Cyber-witches” (2500 words) by Sy Fixion
  2. The body of the email should include:
    • A repeat of the email subject line
    • Your name, address, all phone and email contact details
    • A brief cover letter (max 200 words) “Here’s a story that I wrote about…”
    • A brief bio (max 100 words)
  3. Please include on the first page of your submission the author’s name, email address, postal address, phone number, the title of the story and the word length. Do NOT include your name or address in the footers or headers of the file.
  4. Please attach your submission as a file to your email; do not include your submission in the body of an email. Submissions should be included as rtf files only. We cannot guarantee submissions will/can be read if sent as any other file format.

Email submission example

Here is how the start of your fiction submission should look:

Aurealis submission format

  • Please only submit one story at a time. We do not accept simultaneous submissions.
  • Save your story file as the title of the story. Do not include your name in the file name.
  • Stories must be unpublished and if accepted must remain unpublished until they appear in Aurealis. Stories should not be published (made publically available) on personal websites, public writer’s forums, small press publications, POD books/collections, self published collections etc. We are not interested in seeing stories that have been previously rejected by the magazine.
  • All stories are judged on merit through a blind reading process. All identifying information is removed prior to sending it to our readers. Hence, we do not want identifying information in headers and footers
  • Subscriber submissions will be fast-tracked through the assessment process. If you are a subscriber, please indicate this clearly in the subject line: “Aurealis submission: <“Title of story”> <(word count)> by <Author name> (SUBSCRIBER)” and on the first page of your manuscript.
  • All manuscripts should be double-spaced with broad margins and numbered pages.
  • Use 12 pt Times font, or a similar serif font, such as Cambria, Palatino, Baskerville. No other fonts, please. Italicise words and passages that you want italicised. DO NOT underline words or passages you want italicised
  • If you have not heard from us after two months, please check your spam filters before querying us.
  • Note we have a no AI policy.

Please direct all fiction submission queries to: submissions@aurealis.com.au

Non-fiction submission guidelines

We are interested in articles between 500 and 2000 words of interest to readers and writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror. These include humorous pieces, serious articles and interviews. We prefer non-fiction where some visuals are included. Non-fiction must be previously unpublished and remain unpublished for 12 months after publication in Aurealis. Our payment is A$20 per 1000 words to a maximum of $40. Send all non-fiction articles and queries to nonfiction@aurealis.com.au. We have a no AI policy.

Art guidelines

Internal artwork is commissioned, but we will consider samples of your black and white work from Australians. We are not looking for cover art. We have a no AI policy.

Artwork and artwork enquiries can be emailed to: editors@aurealis.com.au. We will only respond if we are interested and our response may be considerable time after the query, depending on the backlog of covers on hand.

Our payment is A$25 for black and white story illustrations. Payment is made soon after the publication of the issue with your work.

While the utmost care is taken, Aurealis cannot accept responsibility for the loss or damage of any hard copy manuscripts or artwork.

Review book guidelines

Aurealis reviews novels, anthologies, collections and non-fiction of interest to readers of  science fiction, fantasy and horror. Please send queries to reviews@aurealis.com.au. Do not send digital files unless requested to do so. Due to the volume of requests, we only respond if we are interested in seeing the book. A book request from us is no guarantee it will be reviewed.  Please do not send follow-up queries.

If you would like to write reviews for Aurealis, please send an expression of interest to the Reviews Editor at reviews@aurealis.com.au. If there is an opening, the Reviews Editor will get back to you with information about how to apply.