The Horror Tree

Horror Tree is a resource for authors that lists open markets, articles, interviews, original fiction, and more!

Category: Pay

Payment Scale

Events / Flat Amount / Novel / Novella / Royalties

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Taking Submissions: Nightfire Unagented Submission Guidelines (Early Listing)

Submission Window: June 15, 2021 (9AM EST) to June 22, 2021 (9AM EST)
Payment: Novels are an advance on royalties, Novellas are the same or pure royalties
Theme: Novels and novellas for adults across the breadth of the horror genre—from the cosmic and Lovecraftian to the beloved undead tropes of zombies, ghosts, and slashers and the more uncanny and internal terrors of isolation, lost love, and aging.

The following guidelines outline how to submit novels and novellas to Nightfire. Please be sure to read them carefully so that your submission does not get disqualified.

Note: Tor/Forge Books’ submission information is here, and Tor.com’s submission information is here. To learn more about the Tor/Forge, Tor.com, and Nightfire editorial teams, check here.

Nightfire will be open to novel and novella submissions from June 15, 2021 (9AM EST) to June 22, 2021 (9AM EST).

To submit your work, visit us on Moksha.

When submitting, please upload your full manuscript. Our submission portal will also ask for a cover letter, where you should include a pitch and a short author bio.
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Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Reprints Allowed

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Taking Submissions: A Hero of a Different Stripe

Deadline: June 20th, 2021
Payment: Contributor’s Copy
Theme: Shine a spotlight on the background characters of a hero’s story
Note: Reprints welcome

Since its beginnings in the early 1980s, the Life, the Universe, & Everything Symposium has been a staple of the Utah and Intermountain West author and artist community. Many authors, artists, and editors have found inspiration for their careers at the feet of scores of symposium guests. Influential professors and others have mentored those planning and running the symposium, but many of these mentors have passed on.

The symposium helps students of all ages by providing greatly discounted student memberships. Hemelein Publications—in conjunction with LTUE Press—created a series of memorial benefit/charity anthologies to help the symposium continue to help these aspiring creators learn about their crafts at a reasonable cost. Author, artist, and editor proceeds from the anthology go to LTUE to help students attend for a very low cost.
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Anthology / Events / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: Fearful Fun

Deadline: July 15th, 2021
Payment: $10
Theme: Horror with a blend of fun themes

Thurston Howl Publications is now accepting submissions for its seventh volume of its HOWLERS series, Fearful Fun.

Deadline: July 15, 2021

Word count: 2,500-8,000; a little above and a little below will be acceptable

In the past, our HOWLERS series played some Gruesome Games, but we were thinking about other ways people could have fun. A carnival. A circus. An escape room. An amusement park. A haunted house attraction or corn maze. And each of these has its own history in horror. Movies like FREAKS, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and ESCAPE ROOM. The Legend of McKamey Manor. Remember those times we were all scared of killer clowns? Or the urban legend of the person who actually killed someone in a haunted house attraction? Sometimes fun just isn’t so fun, huh? Sometimes, it’s more fearful fun.

We will take preference with stories that are unique. Don’t just write another killer clown story or a basic demonic carnival story, UNLESS your story genuinely has a unique take on that trope. (more…)

Magazine / Ongoing Submissions / Pro

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Ongoing Submissions: Orion’s Belt

Payment: 8 cents per word
Theme: All stories must have significant speculative elements

The Basics

Stories should be submitted to [email protected] All stories must be under 1200 words (not including the title and byline). All stories over 1200 words will sadly be rejected automatically. All stories must contain significant speculative elements. This does not mean all sci-fi stories must have lasers and rockets. It just means a non-speculative story doesn’t become speculative if you include a single line clarifying the story takes place on Mars.

Submission Details

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Anthology / Events / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Generation X-ed (Early Listing)

Submission Window: June 20th -July 3rd, 2021
Payment: $0.01/word
Theme: Any aspect of horror that contains element(s) specific to Generation X
Note: Open only to writers of Generation X (aka born 1965-1980. A year wiggle room is okay.)

Dark Ink Books, the home of Kane Holder’s and Tom Savini’s official biographies as well as acclaimed horror anthologies Ghosts, Goblins, Murder, and Madness: Twenty Tales of Halloween and Unburied: A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction, is excited to announce its next open call for short story submissions:

 

Title: Generation X-ed

 

Specifics: (more…)

Anthology / Events / Token Payment

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Taking Submissions: Monsters, Monsters, Monsters, Monsters

Deadline: July 31st, 2021
Payment: $5.00
Theme: …Monsters!

 

We are looking for monsters, of course, be it werewolves, vampires, unspeakable creatures from the darkest depths of space or the innermost circles of hell, and any manner of earthly animals running amok. And, don’t forget the most heinous monster of them all, who just may be the sweet, unassuming neighbor who lives in the house next to yours…

PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines…  (more…)

Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events

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Taking Submissions: Angela’s Recurring Nightmares

Deadline: June 30th, 2021
Payment: Contributor’s copy
Theme: Each story must contain a character named Angela and a penguin. What? More details below!

Submission deadline is June 30, 2021.

ANGELA’S RECURRING NIGHTMARES GUIDELINES

Thank you for choosing to submit to the sixth annual Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers (GLAHW) mini-anthology.

We are looking for horror fiction, between 2,000 and 5,000 words, along with the following requirements.

1. A feature character named Angela. She can be the protagonist, antagonist, monster, victim, friend, etc. As long as she (or, I suppose they, since gender fluidity is fine) plays a significant, if not pivotal role in the story.

2. The story must contain a penguin. How you use the penguin is up to you, be creative.
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Audio / Events / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: The Other Stories #70: Post-Apocalypse II

Deadline: May 17th, 2021
Payment: $5
Theme: Post-Apocalypse

If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we’ll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week.

(Vol 70.) Post-Apocalypse II; deadline 17th May

!!!NEW SUBMISSION PROCESS!!!

SUBMIT YOUR STORIES USING THIS FORM

If, this form isn’t working, then please email your submission to [email protected] as a last resort. But please let us know why as we’re hoping to use the form going forward.

Title your email with the following syntax:

SUBMISSION | STORY TITLE | THEME | WORDCOUNT

(e.g. SUBMISSION | THE MARTIAN | SPACE | 1,982)

It is important that your story complies with our Submission Guidelines. Any stories found not to be in compliance will be immediately discarded. Click HERE for details

If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories!
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