Deadline: October 31th, 2015
Payment: 6 cents per word (and possibly more). Royalties on additional sales beyond the Kickstarter will be 25% of ebook cover price and 10% of trade paperback cover price, both split evenly between the authors

The ALIEN ARTIFACTS and WERE- anthology kickstarter has made its goal! This means that we can now open up submissions for the remaining slots in the anthology. If you have a story idea that fits one of the anthology themes, write it up, revise it, polish it, and send it in for consideration. I’ve posted the guidelines below. Please note that the pay rate INCREASES as we reach higher stretch goals in the kickstarter, so please (http://tiny.cc/bfah1x) spread the word about the kickstarter so that we can not only add in additional authors to the anthology, but pay those authors as much as possible. Also, a special thanks to everyone who has already backed the project and gotten us funded! Without you, we wouldn’t be funded with over three weeks left in the kickstarter to reach those stretch goals! And now, the submission guidelines:

ALIEN ARTIFACTS and WERE- Submission Guidelines

Zombies Need Brains LLC is accepting submissions to its two science fiction and fantasy anthologies ALIEN ARTIFACTS and WERE-. Stories must be submitted in electronic form as an attachment with the title of the story as the file name in .doc or .docx format. The header of the email should include the name of the anthology the submission is for along with the title of the submission (for example: WERE-: WereJellyfish Gone Wild!). The content of the email should also include which anthology the manuscript is intended for. Please send multiple manuscripts in separate emails. Manuscripts should be in manuscript format, meaning double-spaced, 12pt font, standard margins on top, bottom and sides, and pages numbered. Please use New Times Roman font. The first page should include the Title of the story, Author’s name, address, and email, and Pseudonym if different from the author’s name. Italics and bold should be in italics and bold.

Stories for this anthology must be original (no reprints or previously published material), no more than 7,500 words in length, and must satisfy the theme of the anthology.

ALIEN ARTIFACTS is to feature stories where some type of left-behind alien tech has been found and how it may affect our society, our humanity, or the characters. It can be an artifact discovered on Earth in our past or during current times, OR PREFERRABLY, an artifact that we run across while exploring space in the future. I want to stress this: the story must feature an alien artifact (not an alien). Aliens can appear in the story, but the genesis of the story must be some kind of alien artifact. Stories featuring more interesting alien artifacts, and twists on how they are discovered or how they affect our society/humanity, while being set in the future, will receive more attention than those set in the present or past. In other words, we don’t want to see 100 stories dealing with an archeological dig discovering a long buried alien artifact. If we do, it’s likely that only one at most would be selected for the anthology. So be creative and choose something different and use it in an unusual and unexpected way. We are looking for a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.

WERE- is to feature stories where some type of were-creature OTHER than a werewolf is the main character. Werewolves can appear in the story, but they cannot be the main character or the central focus of the story. I want to stress this: the story must feature a were-creature! Stories featuring more interesting were-creatures, and twists on how they are integrated into the story, will receive more attention than those with more mundane creatures. In other words, we don’t want to see 100 stories dealing with a were-cat. If we do, it’s likely that only one at most would be selected for the anthology. So be creative and choose something different and use it in an unusual and unexpected way. We are looking for a range of tones, from humorous all the way up to dark.

The deadline for submissions is October 31th, 2015. Decisions on stories should be completed by the end of December 2015. Please send submissions to [email protected]. You will receive a receipt email within a few days of receiving the submission. Notices about decisions on the stories will be sent out no later than the end of January 2016.

If your story is selected for use in the anthology, you should expect a revision letter by the end of January 2016. Revisions and the final draft of the story will be expected no later than the end of February 2016. These dates may change due to the editor’s work schedules. Zombies Need Brains LLC is seeking non-exclusive world anthology rights (including electronic rights) in all languages for the duration of one year after publication/release of the anthology. Your story cannot appear elsewhere during that year. Pay rate will be an advance of a minimum of 6 cents per word for the short stories. For each additional $5000 raised above the Kickstarter minimum of $10,000, we will increase this advance pay rate by 1 cent per word. The anthology will be published as an ebook and an exclusive mass market paperback edition, distributed to the Kickstarter backers. The book would be available after that to the general public in ebook and trade paperback formats. Advances would be immediately earned out by the success of the Kickstarter. Royalties on additional sales beyond the Kickstarter will be 25% of ebook cover price and 10% of trade paperback cover price, both split evenly (not by word count) between the authors in the anthology and the editors of the anthology.

Questions regarding these submission guidelines should be sent to [email protected]. Thank you.

http://tiny.cc/bfah1x