LumicPress Magazine
The LumicPress Magazine is an upcoming quarterly magazine that will feature manga style comics, illustrated stories, and some activities for children. In an effort to provide more opportunities for creators, and bring more manga style comics to children, schools, and libraries, we decided to start up a quarterly magazine!
Our magazine is currently still in progress, so we are just currently fielding submissions until we’re ready to release the first issue. We are giving a soft deadline of late April 2026, since this is around the time we’d like to get things rolling with the magazine.
There is currently no theme for submissions in the magazine, but if you’re looking for some kind of direction–consider submitting stories that you feel will empower our youth in all kinds of areas in their lives. We anticipate that we will be donating a portion of our magazine copies to various places where kids are in need of free reading materials, such as schools, facilities, and organizations.
We plan for the magazine will release quarterly, around 28-36 pages on average, black and white, and 8.5×11 sized. A rough estimate of the official launch could be anywhere from August-November 2026.
Submissions
- 1-5 page black/white comics, $30 a page, so a range of $30-$150 USD, depending on the amount of pages submitted.
- Written narrative 500-800 words. (remember to keep the lexile level to 645L-845L. 4th-5th grade level or lower.) a rate of $75 USD.
- In addition to comics, we also publish coloring pages, cut-out paper dolls, writing activities (like mad libs), papercrafts, drawing/crafting tutorials, etc. We will also buy one time rights for these pieces as well, if you decide to submit something like this.
- Rights to Your Work: You retain full copyright and ownership to your work. By accepting payment, you grant LumicPress a non-exclusive, royalty free license to publish your work once in our publication. Any use of the same work again would require your permission and would be subject to a new agreement and additional payment.
Submission Guidelines
- Comics/stories included will have to be “one shot” (standalone, not continuing) entries.
- They can be previously published online or elsewhere, as long as they haven’t been published exclusively with a publisher.
- We are only accepting original work, no fan art, and absolutely no use of AI or AI assistance.
- Creators submitting their work must be 18 years of age or older.
- Comics and writing can be both fiction or nonfiction. Stories can be funny, suspenseful, thrilling, heartwarming, etc. Feel free to get creative! Please just make sure all content is suitable for children (no foul language, alcohol/substances, explicit blood/gore, nudity, or sexual innuendos.)
- We’re looking for entries that can resonate with a wider range of ages, so the target demographic is anywhere from 6-14 years old. This way some stories might be more popular with the younger crowd, and other stories might gravitate to the older crowd. So feel free to focus on a particular age group if it’s easier for you.
- Please also keep in mind that submissions will need to be in a left-right format due to consistency with the printing.
If you are having trouble with wondering if your work will resonate with young readers, you can look to your local library or bookstore and flip through many different books to get a grasp of the kinds of topics and concepts that children’s literature represents.
If you need some more inspiration: think gag-a-day comic strips Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, Peanuts, or 4koma style comics like Chi’s Sweet Home, Yotsuba, and Lucky Star. Or, if you want to tell a more concise story, feel free to explore a short story concept in 5 pages. You can utilize as many panels as you want, as long as it fits within a 8.5 x 11 format.
It goes without saying, but all creators will be credited, and we’d love to have a little bio section with some info about the artist and a picture if you would like.
Submissions will need to be suitable to fit into a 8.5 x 11 printed page size, 300 DPI. (2550 x 3300 pixels) You may draw your pages smaller than this, but the final pages need to be exported into the suitable size, and any bleed area that needs to be extended should extend to the full width. Please download our template if you need help with print sizing.
Submission Process
The magazine is operating with a rolling submissions process. For right now, we are paying upon publication, not acceptance. There is a lead-time of several months because of our editorial calendar, meaning, i.e., December holiday material should be mailed for consideration in March. Certain entries may also get accepted quicker simply because of the themes presented (for example, spooky stories getting lumped together for an end of the year release)
Cover Illustrators
In addition to magazine content, we will also be commissioning artists to create a cover design for each release! If you are interested in being a cover illustrator, please send us your portfolio with color/illustration examples. Commission rate to be determined.
Interior Illustrators
We will always be searching for illustrators who can help with interior illustrations (either small pictures to fill in some spaces) or illustrations to accompany narrative works. These will be black and white illustrations. Commission rate to be determined depending on the artwork needed, and how complex the image may be.
Advertising
We do accept a small, curated number of advertisers, depending on what you are planning to advertise. Ads are in black and white, aside from back cover ads, which are in color. We tend to prioritize children’s/young adult literature (such as other book releases, magazines, or publishers), or organizations/non-profits/products that provide a benefit to youth and families.
- Full-Page, Full Color Ad: $500 (8.5” W x 11” L)
- Half-Page, Black/White Ad: $80 (3.5” x 4.25” – six sections)
- Quarter-Page, Black/White Ad: $50 (5.5” x 7” – four sections)
- Business Card, Black/White Ad: $35 (3.5” x 2” – ten sections)
How to Submit
Please send any comic/story submissions through our Google Form.
Send any interior/cover submissions or general portfolio reviews to: portfolioreviews (at) lumicpress.com
If you need a comic template for your submission, you can find one here.
Any advertising inquiries can be sent to: sales (at) lumicpress.com
If you have any questions about the submission process or the magazine, email us at: contact (at) lumicpress.com
Please note that as time goes on, some guidelines may be subject to change.