Simultaneous Submission in Fiction
Quick answer: A simultaneous submission is the same story sent to several markets at once. Learn the etiquette, the withdrawal rules, and how to manage multiple submissions.
A simultaneous submission is the practice of sending the same story to more than one magazine, anthology, or contest at the same time, rather than waiting for each market's answer before trying the next. In other words, it is applying for several jobs at once instead of one at a time, and like that practice it is normal, sensible, and governed by etiquette.
The term appears in nearly every set of submission guidelines you will ever read, usually as 'simultaneous submissions accepted' or its stricter opposite, and knowing exactly what the phrase obliges you to do is basic professional literacy for a fiction writer. The mechanics are simple; the courtesy is everything.
The practice at work: one story, five envelopes
Picture a finished 4,000 word story and a market list where average response times run three to six months. Submitted serially, one market at a time, that story might visit five magazines in two years. Submitted simultaneously to five suitable markets, it completes the same tour in one season, and the writer's odds per unit of time multiply accordingly. This arithmetic is why almost all contemporary literary magazines accept simultaneous submissions: they know insisting otherwise asks writers to freeze their work in a single queue.
The contract that makes the system work has one clause: the moment any market accepts the story, you withdraw it from all the others, immediately and politely, through the submission portal or a short email naming the story and thanking them for their time. Editors accept the race because they trust the withdrawal. A writer who lets a story remain under consideration after acceptance, or worse, accepts two offers, breaks the machinery for everyone and is remembered for it.
Why some markets still say no
A minority of magazines, typically the most prestigious or fastest-responding, prohibit simultaneous submissions. Their reasoning is straightforward: reading is expensive, and an editor who spends hours on a story wants assurance it is still available when she says yes. Some pair the restriction with quick decisions, which keeps the deal fair; a market demanding exclusivity and taking nine months is asking writers to subsidise its inbox, and you may reasonably decline to submit there at all.
Contests add their own wrinkle. Many require that an entry be unpublished and remain available until results, which functions as exclusivity for the judging window; others accept simultaneous entries with the standard withdrawal rule. Read the terms before entering rather than after winning, because a story that wins two places at once creates a conflict no one enjoys resolving. Writory's contest calendar makes this easy to manage, with entries open the 1st to the 25th and results on the 30th, a window short enough that availability is never in doubt for long.
Running your submissions like a professional
Keep a tracker, spreadsheet or submission manager, recording story, market, date sent, response due, and outcome, because simultaneous submission without records eventually produces the nightmare of forgetting where a story is. Group your targets in tiers, submit each story to three to six markets of similar standing at once, and refill the slate as declines arrive. Respect every market's stated rules individually: mixing exclusive and simultaneous markets for the same story is the trap to avoid, since an acceptance elsewhere forces you to withdraw from the exclusive market mid-read, which is precisely the discourtesy their policy exists to prevent.
When the acceptance comes, withdraw everywhere else the same day. If a portal allows partial withdrawal notes, say the story was accepted elsewhere; editors genuinely like hearing it, and the courtesy marks you as someone worth reading next time.
Neighbouring terms: multiple submissions and reprints
A multiple submission is a different thing wearing a similar name: sending several different stories to the same market at once. Guidelines address it separately, and many magazines that welcome simultaneous submissions still ask for one story at a time per author. Confusing the two terms in a cover letter is a small but visible amateur signal.
Previously published work belongs to a third category again, reprints, governed by whether the story has appeared anywhere before rather than by where it is currently under consideration. A story can be simultaneously submitted and unpublished, and it stops being either the day it is accepted.
What poets can take from this
- Submit each story to several comparable markets at once and track every placement.
- Withdraw from all other markets the same day an acceptance arrives.
- Never mix exclusive-only markets with simultaneous ones for the same story.
- Check whether contests require the story to stay available until results.
- Distinguish simultaneous submissions from multiple submissions in your cover letters.
Try it yourself
Write a story about a writer who receives two acceptance emails for the same story within one hour and, over a single evening, drafts and deletes seven versions of the withdrawal email. Let what she finally sends reveal which magazine she actually dreamed of.
Questions
What happens if a story is accepted by two magazines at once?
You must decline one immediately, which is uncomfortable and occasionally burns a bridge. The system exists to prevent this: withdraw everywhere the moment the first acceptance arrives, and respond to offers quickly.
Do I need to mention simultaneous submission in my cover letter?
If the market accepts them, a single line such as 'this is a simultaneous submission, and I will withdraw promptly if accepted elsewhere' is standard courtesy. If the market prohibits them, submitting there is itself your promise of exclusivity.
Can I withdraw a story from a market for reasons other than acceptance?
Yes, at any time and without explanation, through the portal or a brief polite email naming the story. Writers withdraw pieces to revise them, to retire them, or because a contest deadline requires exclusivity, and no editor holds a courteous withdrawal against anyone.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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