What We Pay (and how we do it)

 

Payments and Fees

For information about where and how we spend the monies generated by our submission fees and issue sales, please see our Transparency Index below.

We continue to pursue a sustainable model of independent publishing. For now, our model includes charging fees for submissions and fiction critiques, and we also are able to pay our staff as well as contributors consistently. Every issue, we get better at what we do. Our readers and editors become more skilled and more incisive, and our operations more efficient. 

Current Fees

  • Our standard submission fees are $4 for poetry and flash prose, and $5 for longer prose.
  • We offer free submissions to writers from historically marginalized groups
  • Our critique pricing for fiction is on a sliding scale:
    •   1 – 1,499 words, the price for a full critique is $50.
    •   1,500 – 4,999 words, the price for a full critique is $60.
    •   5,000 – 6,000 words, the price for a full critique is $70.

Digital Subscriptions

Digital copies of TLR cost $3.99 for a single issue, and a three-issue subscription is $8.99. A print copy is $10.99; three-issue subscriptions are $30.  

Contributor Payments

Authors of long prose and long works of poetry receive $135. Contributors of shorter poetry and flash prose receive $55.

Thank you for supporting endeavor. We hope to be providing stories, essays, and poems you want to read, by people you want to know, for many more years to come.

Thank you for being a part of what we do at Tahoma Literary Review.

Your TLR editors

 

The Transparency Index

Because we're committed to transparency in the publishing process, we publish a transparency index for each of our issues. Tahoma Literary Review pays everyone involved in our publication, from publisher/editor to production artist.

 Payment is made possible by:

  • Revenues received from submission fees (fees are $4 or $5)
  • Critique and feedback services for works in progress
  • Sales of individual issues and subscriptions
  • A portion (20%) of the fees paid to the publishers for speaking engagements, articles written dealing with the work of TLR, or other engagements undertaken in the role of publisher or editor
  • Donations

Here are the audited statistics from our past issues and reading periods:

Issue 22 (Spring 2022) 

 

Issue 21 (Summer 2021) 

 

 

Issue 20 (Spring 2021) 

Income and expenses for the latest issue of Tahoma Literary Review

 

 

Issue 19 (Fall/Winter 2020) 

Transparency Index-Issue 19

 

Issue 18 (Spring 2020) 

Issue 17 (Spring 2020)

 

 

Issue 16 (Fall/Winter 2019) 

Tahoma Literary Review Transparency Index - Issue 16

 Issue 15 (Summer 2019)

Issue 14 (Spring 2019)

Transparency Index, Issue 14

Issue 13 (Fall/Winter 2018)

 

Issue 12 (Summer 2018)

Issue 11 (Spring 2018)

Poetry Nonfiction Flash Fiction Total
Submissions 367 109 149 395 1,020
Submission Fees $2,423 $789 $776 $3,682 $7,670
Submittable Fee (5% + $.99/sub) $523 $148 $187 $576 $1,434
Donations         $0
Net Submission Income $1,870 $641 $589 $3,106 $6,206
Pieces Selected 11 3 2 5 21
Pay Rate $50/$125 $125 $50 $125  
Contributor Payments $625 $375 $100 $625 $1,725
Other Production Expenses         $1,213
Income (Loss) $3,269
Publishers' Share (distributed among four partners/editors) $2,000
Retained in Tahoma Literary Review
$1,269
Note: We have revised our Transparency Index slightly for issue 11. For one, we have made contributor payments uniform across genres. For another, we are including here other production expenses, including pay for our readers, copy editor, graphic designer, and cover artist. 

 

Issue 10 (
Category Poetry Fiction Nonfiction Flash Flash Nonfiction Total
Submissions 252 262 61 78 37 690
Fee Income 1008.00 2340.00 369.00 376.00 176.00 4269.00
Submittable fee 5% + $.99 per sub 376.00 300.00 79.00 96.00 45.00 897.00
Donation Share 10.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 50.00
Publisher Share 248.00 687.00 0.00 98.00 40.00 1073.86
Available to Pay 470.00 1286.00 300.00 192.00 100.00 2347.00
Pieces Selected 9 4 3 4 2 21
Pay Rate 52.00 300.00 150.00 50.00 50.00
Notes: Figures are rounded to the nearest dollar amount. Some income from Fiction was shifted to increase payment amounts to other categories. Fiction maximum is $300. Flash Fiction and Flash Nonfiction maximums are $50. In case you’re wondering, the Publisher Share is used for things like business licenses and fees, advertising, and web development. So far, for each issue we’ve elected to cut our publishers’ share, and put additional funds into the payment pool.

 

Issue 9
Category Poetry Fiction Nonfiction Flash Flash Nonfiction Total
Submissions 248 282 57 70 24 681
Fee Income 992.00 1968.00 353.00 350.00 126.00 3789.00
Submittable fee 5% + $.99 per sub 295.00 378.00 74.00 87.00 30.00 1196.69
Donation Share 10.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 50.00
Publisher Share 244.00 557.00 0.00 73.00 0.00 1163.86
Available to Pay 463.00 1044.00 289.00 200.00 106.00 2845.45
Pieces Selected 10 4 3 4 3 24
Pay Rate 50.00 253.00 120.00 50.00 45.00
Notes: Figures are rounded to the nearest dollar amount. Some income from Fiction was shifted to increase payment amounts to Poetry and Nonfiction. Flash Fiction and Flash Nonfiction maximums are $50. In case you’re wondering, the Publisher Share is used for things like business licenses and fees, advertising, and web development. So far, for each issue we’ve elected to cut our publishers’ share, and put additional funds into the payment pool.
Issue 8
Category Poetry Fiction Nonfiction Flash Flash Nonfiction Total
Submissions 460 301 62 86 47 956
Fee Income 1840.00 2123.00 382.00 420.00 240.00 5005.00
Submittable fee 5% + $.99 per sub 547.40 404.14 80.48 106.14 58.53 1196.69
Donation Share 27.60 27.60 27.60 27.60 27.60 138.00
Publisher Share 452.41 601.60 0.00 109.85 0.00 1163.86
Available to Pay 867.79 1144.86 392.12 231.61 209.07 2845.45
Pieces Selected 13 4 3 4 4 28
Pay Rate 66.75 250.00 149.00 50.00 50.00
Note: some income from Fiction and Flash Fiction was shifted to increase payment amounts to Nonfiction. Flash Fiction and Flash Nonfiction maximums are $50.
Issue 7
Category Poetry Fiction Nonfiction Flash Flash Nonfiction Total
Submissions 154 154 24 53 25 410
Fee Income 616.00 924.00 144.00 212.00 100.00 1996.00
Submittable fee 5% + $.99 per sub 183.26 198.66 30.96 63.07 29.75 505.70
Donation Share 21.20 21.20 21.20 21.20 21.20 106.00
Print Sales Share 8.80 8.80 8.80 8.80 8.80 44.00
Publisher Share 154.54 256.95 -99.19 27.60 27.67 367.57
Available to Pay 308.20 498.39 124.81 151.33 72.68 1272.73
Pieces Selected 10 3 2 3 1 19
Pay Rate 30.82 160.13 75.00 50.00 50.00
Issue 6
Category Poetry Fiction Nonfiction Flash Flash Nonfiction Total
Submissions 160 141 38 48 22 409
Fee 4.00 6.00 6.00 4.00 4.00
Fee Income 640.00 846.00 228.00 192.00 88.00 1994.00
Submittable fee 5% + $.99 per sub 190.00 182.00 49.00 57.00 26.00 504.00
Donation Share 5.00 5.00 55.00 5.00 55.00 125.00
Print Sales Share 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 25.00
Publisher Share 130.00 258.00 14.00 5.00 11.00 418.00
Available to Pay 330.00 416.00 225.00 140.00 111.00 1222.00
Pieces Selected 11 4 3 4 3 25
Pay Rate 30.00 104.00 75.00 35.00 37.00
Issue 5
Category Poetry Fiction Nonfiction Flash Flash Nonfiction Total
Submissions 234 197 25 63 29 548
Fee 4.00 6.00 6.00 4.00 4.00
Fee Income 936.00 1182.00 150.00 252.00 116.00 2636.00
Submittable fee 5% + $.99 per sub 278.46 254.13 32.25 74.97 34.51 582.64
Donation Share 31.50 31.50 31.50 31.50 31.50 157.50
Print Sales Share 21.37 21.37 21.37 21.37 21.37 106.87
Publisher Share 118.81 166.12 0.00 34.72 18.00 437.65
Available to Pay 591.60 814.63 170.62 195.18 116.36 1888.39
Pieces Selected 15 6 2 5 3 31
Pay Rate 39.44 135.77 85.31 39.04 38.79
Issue 4
Category Poetry Fiction Nonfiction Flash Flash Nonfiction Total
Submissions 242 123 39 49 23 476
Fee 4.00 6.00 6.00 4.00 4.00
Fee Income 968.00 738.00 234.00 196.00 92.00 2228.00
Submittable fee 5% + $.99 per sub 287.98 158.67 39.51 58.31 27.37 582.64
Donation Share 15.43 15.43 15.43 15.43 15.43 52.50
Print Sales Share 21.64 21.64 21.64 21.64 21.64 108.21
Publisher Share 122.79 105.17 0.00 0.00 1.70 229.66
Available to Pay 594.30 511.23 220.76 174.76 100.00 1576.41
Pieces Selected 15 4 2 4 2 27
Pay Rate 39.62 127.81 110.36 43.69 50.00
Issue 3
Category Poetry Fiction Nonfiction Flash Flash Nonfiction Total
Submissions 144 91 21 44 10 310
Fee 4.00 6.00 6.00 4.00 4.00
Fee Income 576.00 546.00 126.00 176.00 40.00 1464.00
Submittable fee 5% + $.99 per sub 171.36 117.39 27.09 52.36 11.90 380.10
Donation Share 5.00 5.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 22.00
Print Sales Share 21.64 21.64 21.64 21.64 21.64 108.21
Publisher Share 74.60 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 431.21
Available to Pay 356.68 455.25 124.55 149.28 53.74 1005.49
Pieces Selected 10 4 2 3 1 20
Pay Rate 35.67 113.81 62.28 49.76 53.74
Issue 2
Category Poetry Fiction Nonfiction Flash Flash Nonfiction Total
Submissions 225 135 49 52 24 461
Fee 4.00 6.00 6.00 4.00 4.00
Fee Income 900.00 810.00 294.00 208.00 96.00 2308.00
Submittable fee 5% + $.99 per sub 267.75 174.15 63.21 61.88 28.56 595.55
Donation Share 139.51 139.51 139.51 42.67 43.81 505.00
Print Sales Share 19.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 95.00
Publisher Share 113.97 229.20 0.00 57.79 30.25 431.21
Available to Pay 676.79 565.16 389.29 150.00 100.00 1881.24
Pieces Selected 18 4 4 3 2 31
Pay Rate 37.60 141.29 97.32 50.00 50.00

Issue 1

Category Poetry Fiction Flash Total
Submissions 351 167 79 597
Fee 4.00 6.00 4.00
Sub Total 1404.00 1002.00 316.00 2722.00
Submittable fee 5% + $.99 per sub 417.69 215.43 94.01 727.13
Donation Share 35.00 45.00 35.00 115.00
Sub Total 1021.31 831.57 256.99 2109.87
Publisher Share 295.00 150.00 6.99 445.00
Available to Pay 726.31 681.57 250.00 1664.87
Pieces Selected 24 5 5 34
Pay Rate 30.26 136.31 50.00