What ages is Stone Soup intended for? In general, Stone Soup is for 8- to 13-year-olds. Good readers under age 8 might also enjoy it. Some readers continue to enjoy it after they turn 14. Our writers and artists are all ages 8 to 13. How can I send my work to Stone Soup? Read our Contributors’ Guidelines for a detailed answer to this question.
What are my chances of getting published? We receive an average of 250 submissions a week. We really enjoy seeing everyone’s work, but, unfortunately, we only have room to publish a tiny percentage of the work we receive.
Do you know of any other magazines that publish work by children? Yes. Please explore our links to Young Writers in Print.
What about magazines that publish work by teens 14 and older? Several magazines feature teenage writers and artists. See our Young Writers in Print page.
How many years has Stone Soup been published? Since 1973. We celebrated our 30th year in 2003!
Where does the name Stone Soup come from? Stone Soup is the name of a folktale that is told in many countries, including Russia, Sweden, and parts of Africa. Most of the versions tell how a pot of water and a stone can turn into a great soup when everyone contributes a little something — a potato, a carrot, some chicken. In Stone Soup Magazine, all our writers contribute a little something to make each issue rich and tasty. We have a version of the Stone Soup folktale on our Web site.
Why don’t you accept e-mail submissions? We are a very small company, and we’re afraid if we allowed e-mail submissions we would be flooded with material, and we wouldn’t be able to handle it all. We like to think that serious young authors would be more than willing to polish their work, print it out in a nice format, and mail it to us. Read our Contributors’ Guidelines for more information.
What is Stone Soup’s circulation? Our circulation is about 20,000, with 15,000 copies going to subscribers and 5,000 copies in bookstores. Because many of our subscribers are schools and libraries, we estimate our readership to be about 80,000.
Which bookstores carry Stone Soup? Stone Soup is carried in many Borders and Barnes & Noble stores, as well as many independent bookstores. However, our bookstore sales are handled by outside distributors; we do not know exactly which stores carry us.
What kind of rights does Stone Soup purchase for the work it publishes? When we select a piece for publication, we send a permission contract to the author’s parents. Normally, we purchase all rights, but we are happy to make other arrangements when asked.
Do you publish any other magazines besides Stone Soup? No, our company, the Children’s Art Foundation, only publishes Stone Soup. However, you can learn about many other magazines in Young Writers in Print.
Do you publish any work at all by adults? Book reviews? Art work? No, everything we publish is by young writers and artists. Our age limit is 13.
I own a bookstore and would like to carry Stone Soup. How can I order it? Our bookstore sales are handled by outside distributors. Full information is on our Bookstore Sales page.
Do you have any job openings? Sorry, not at this time.
Do you have an intern program? Sorry again, but because our staff is small, we are not equipped to handle an intern program.
