TimBookTu Submission Guidelines

TimBookTu is a non-paying web site provided for writers, poets, and essayists to publish their work online. All works should be by or of interest to African-Americans and those of the African diaspora. While the work featured on the site is geared towards African-American writing and culture, TimBookTu will accept work from other cultures as long as the work has an Afrocentric nature to it.

Stories and poems published by TimBookTu should be suitable for the general public. While TimBookTu does not attempt to censor any work, submissions using strong language or strong sexual content will be considered and a message such as: Advisory. Contains strong language will be added in the Table of Contents. Submissions deemed to be too explicit, pornographic, too violent, racist or hate-filled, or any work considered distasteful by the Advisory Committee, will be refused for publication.

Submissions are posted quarterly in January, April, July, & October. Deadline is the 15th of month proceeding month of posting.

Emphasis should always be on content and not form. The editor will not make substantial grammar corrections but will only make minor spelling corrections primarily in essays and fiction. Since poets often use poetic license for effect, spelling will be left as is unless it is an obvious misspelling.

Please Spell Check Your Work And Have Someone Proof It Before Submitting.

Submissions with too many syntax or spelling errors, will be returned to the author for correction and revision.

If upon viewing your work you wish to make corrections, please contact the {editor} (newworks@timbooktu.com).

TimBookTu is copyrighted. Submitted work remains the property of the creator and is self-copyrighted once it is created. To find out more about copyrights, visit the U.S. Copyright's Office FAQ Page. While work submitted remains the property of the writer, the design and layout of the web pages are the property of TimBookTu.

How to Prepare Your Work to be Published.

Using the TimBookTu Submission Form

You can submit your submission(s) via the TimBookTu Submission Form. This form will prompt you for the necessary information and send your work to the editor automatically. This is the preferred method of sending your submissions. If you have very long submissions, such as an essay or fictional piece, use the E-Mail Submission information below. However, you can use the other methods indicated below for all submissions. If you choose to use the submission form, disregard the following information and go straight to the form.

E-Mail Submission

Please send your work(s) in ascii text format or Microsoft Word format. Your work(s) can be sent as an attachment to your e-mail or within the body of the e-mail. If problems occur sending it, please let the editor (newworks@timbooktu.com) know and an alternative method will be suggested.

Send works via E-Mail to: newworks@timbooktu.com.

The format of your work is important:

The subject line of the E-Mail should specify "TimBookTu Submission."

The message should show:

Your full namename

Pen name or name to be used on work

Your e-mail address and your home mailing address

City, State, Zip Code

Home Phone (optional)

Title of Work

Type of Work (i.e. Poetry, Essay, Fiction, Book Excerpt, etc)

Name of author or whatever name you want to accompany work.

Start of work

Enter the content of your submission here. Do not include the title here.

End of Work.

Copyright date or date of creation.

Please make sure to indicate whether your work is poetry, short story, essay, or other types of work. This will help for the editor to place it in the appropriate category. If untitled, please so indicate. If any of the above is omitted, it may delay posting of your work.

Please provide a brief biographical sketch and a photograph to be included with work. The photo is optional and if you do not wish to have one included, please indicate that in your submittal.

Note: No personal info such as address, phone number, etc. will be displayed on the author's bio page. Only the e-mail address will be used to allow readers to contact you.

E-Mail Submission of Multimedia Files and Large Files

Please send your Podcasts, Audio Files or Video Files as an attachment to your e-mail and provide the appropriate information about your submission. If you wish to send a link to your multimedia file, the link will be embedded into the Table of Contents in the appropriate area. Large files containing fiction, non-fiction, etc. should be in Microsoft Word format.

If problems occur sending it, please let the editor (newworks@timbooktu.com) know and an alternative method will be suggested.