Deadline: August 31st, 2019
Payment: Between $0.04 and $0.08/word
Note: Reprints allowed
We will be open August 1 though August 31st.
Follow our Guidelines and you are more likely to receive a personalized response. Ignore our Guidelines and a standard rejection may quickly follow.
What Are We Looking For?
Positive stories demonstrating the triumph of the human spirit and the power of hope and humane values in overcoming the most daunting challenges.
We are interested in all SF and Fantasy genres, but no horror please.
In this reading period, we need more SF than Fantasy. Young Adult to the Literary.
No to Pollyannish and Utopian simplicity.
Yes to communities and teams working together to overcome dire challenges.
Yes to marginalized and under-represented characters as protagonists.
Yes to science and magic that solve problems, alleviate suffering, and boldly explore new possibilities.
No to corrupt, dystopian governments or evil corporations.
Tone down the violence, profanity, and sex. It’s only useful if the story demands it.
Story Length
Shorter is better!
We need works 5,000 words and under. If you submit a story over 5,000 words, it has to be amazing to get very far in the review process.
Overall, we will consider the following word counts:
Flash Fiction & Poetry: 100 – 1500 words
Short Stories: 2,000 – 7,500 words
Novelettes: 7,500 – 10,000 words.
Submission Formatting
Your story must be submitted in Word or RTF format.
Top of the First Page
Title of Story (centered)
Your By Line (centered)
No Address or other Personal Info please.
Formatting:
Font: Arial, Size 12
Double spaced
Indented paragraphs
Single spacing between sentences.
No extra line break between paragraphs
Section breaks, as needed, should be three ### symbols, centered on the page.
In the document Header, include Last Name/Title/Page #
File Naming:
When you SAVE your file, name it in the following way: FirstName-LastName-Story-Title
During the submission process, you will have the opportunity to write a cover letter, enter the word count, select genre and story type, etc.
Contracts and Payment
Our contract is based on the model provided by the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA). Copyright and story ownership remain with the author. Contract terms are negotiable within reason.
We acquire first serial print rights in North America and first world electronic rights for online publication.
Payment rates vary between $0.04 and $0.08/word, depending on the following:
Print and Online publication (6-8 cents/word)
Reprints and Online publication only (4-5 cents/word)
Word Count
Merit (We have been known to pay more for stories that made us giddy with excitement to publish them.)
Poems and micro-stories are paid at the rate of $25 to $100.
Payment is on Acceptance
Miscellaneous Notes
If you are a Forge Master (print) Dreamforge subscriber who subscribed before 3/1/19, be sure to tell us that in your cover letter. Your story will be read by the Editor-in-Chief and you will receive feedback on your story.
One submission at a time, please, but you are welcome to submit again if your story is returned.
If we offer suggestions on improving your writing or story structure, we want to see evidence that you tried to follow our advice on your next submission.
Simultaneous submissions are OK, if you let us know as soon as your story is accepted elsewhere.
Please allow 6 to 9 weeks for our review and final response. We try to be faster, but we have full-time day jobs and we can get overwhelmed. Feel free to query us at [email protected].
We will consider reprints if you can show that publication rights have reverted to you, the author.
Submission Procedures
Congratulations, you made it all the way here! It’s time to move on to our Submissions Procedure Page!
Deadline: August 18th, 2019
Payment: 8 cents/6 pence for new work, and continue to pay 6 cents/4 pence for reprints
Detective Thrillers: The thrill of the chase, the steely-eyed detective (either gentle or hard-boiled), the dark alleys and the double-cross, the unsolvable crime by a masterful criminal mind: we’re looking for chills and double twists, unexpected turns and private investigators with an eye for the unusual.
Formal Call for Submissions (2019)
We are looking for new and recent short stories. We do not require exclusivity. You hold copyright, licensing us just for this publication. We don’t mind if your story has been previously published online or in print (though we do need to know publication and date). Simultaneous submissions are fine, but you must have the right to license your story in an anthology.
Word length is most likely to be successful at 2000–4000, but we will still read stories slightly outside this range.
Submit stories for ‘Detective Thrillers’ and ‘A Dying Planet’ by email to [email protected]
Fees, Copyright and Other Terms
From these two titles onwards, we will pay 8 cents/6 pence for new work, and continue to pay 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. This will bring us into line with the new qualifying rates for SWFA.
We would prefer to pay via PAYPAL because bank charges to the US and Canada in particular can be crippling for all concerned.
Payment for the chosen stories will be made within 30 days of the final advertised publication date (see our website flametreepublishing.com for details), although some may be paid earlier than that.
Submission does not imply the right to publication. Each story will be read and assessed by the selection panel.
Please submit in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats, double spaced, with your name and email address in the footer or header of each page.
We will aim to read each story and confirm its status within 3 months of the submission deadline.
The anthologies will be published worldwide, available online and to bookstores worldwide, in print and ebook formats.
You can submit more than one story, and to each collection.
The selection will be made by our group of life-long, in-house enthusiasts: Nick Wells (Publisher), Josie Mitchell, Gillian Whitaker, Cat Taylor and Taylor Bentley.
A Word about the SFWA
To confirm, we are an SFWA qualifying market, so being published by us will help your status with them of course, but also with other readers and writers.
About Flame Tree Publishing
Now over 25 years old we started in 1992, covering a wide range of art and culture titles, with a strong vein of highly-illustrated Gothic and Fantasy books, notebooks and art calendars. Our Gothic Dreams books include Necronomicon, Steampunk, Dystopia, our large format titles Gothic Art, Fantasy Art and Dragon Art are sumptuous, and we publish gothic fiction reprints by Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and more, in our Flame Tree 451 imprint. 2017 and 2018 also saw the publication of our Astounding Illustrated History of Science Fictionand The Astounding Illustrated History of Fantasy and Horror.
Our anthologies are designed to be read in print. They look and feel fantastic. You’ll feel proud to hand them to your friends, family, colleagues – so do send us your story!
Thank you, and good luck. We look forward to reading your tales of imagination.
Deadline: August 18th, 2019
Payment: 8 cents/6 pence for new work, and continue to pay 6 cents/4 pence for reprints
A Dying Planet: Resources running low, the population exploding, the planet is in danger: are we masters of our own destruction, or have we been invaded by aliens bent on mass extinction? Is this a pattern across the entire universe, or just our small sector of cosmic life? New stories needed to explore themes of a dying planet.
Formal Call for Submissions (2019)
We are looking for new and recent short stories. We do not require exclusivity. You hold copyright, licensing us just for this publication. We don’t mind if your story has been previously published online or in print (though we do need to know publication and date). Simultaneous submissions are fine, but you must have the right to license your story in an anthology.
Word length is most likely to be successful at 2000–4000, but we will still read stories slightly outside this range.
Submit stories for ‘Detective Thrillers’ and ‘A Dying Planet’ by email to [email protected]
Fees, Copyright and Other Terms
From these two titles onwards, we will pay 8 cents/6 pence for new work, and continue to pay 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. This will bring us into line with the new qualifying rates for SWFA.
We would prefer to pay via PAYPAL because bank charges to the US and Canada in particular can be crippling for all concerned.
Payment for the chosen stories will be made within 30 days of the final advertised publication date (see our website flametreepublishing.com for details), although some may be paid earlier than that.
Submission does not imply the right to publication. Each story will be read and assessed by the selection panel.
Please submit in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats, double spaced, with your name and email address in the footer or header of each page.
We will aim to read each story and confirm its status within 3 months of the submission deadline.
The anthologies will be published worldwide, available online and to bookstores worldwide, in print and ebook formats.
You can submit more than one story, and to each collection.
The selection will be made by our group of life-long, in-house enthusiasts: Nick Wells (Publisher), Josie Mitchell, Gillian Whitaker, Cat Taylor and Taylor Bentley.
A Word about the SFWA
To confirm, we are an SFWA qualifying market, so being published by us will help your status with them of course, but also with other readers and writers.
About Flame Tree Publishing
Now over 25 years old we started in 1992, covering a wide range of art and culture titles, with a strong vein of highly-illustrated Gothic and Fantasy books, notebooks and art calendars. Our Gothic Dreams books include Necronomicon, Steampunk, Dystopia, our large format titles Gothic Art, Fantasy Art and Dragon Art are sumptuous, and we publish gothic fiction reprints by Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and more, in our Flame Tree 451 imprint. 2017 and 2018 also saw the publication of our Astounding Illustrated History of Science Fictionand The Astounding Illustrated History of Fantasy and Horror.
Our anthologies are designed to be read in print. They look and feel fantastic. You’ll feel proud to hand them to your friends, family, colleagues – so do send us your story!
Thank you, and good luck. We look forward to reading your tales of imagination.
Deadline: September 30th, 2019
Payment: $.06 per word for the first 9,999 words, with payment capped at $599 for stories longer than 10,000 words,
Note: Reprints allowed at $.02 per word for the first 10,000 words, with payment capped at $200 for stories longer than 10,000
Thank you for your interest in submitting to Deep Magic. What you first need to understand is that we aim to be the dominant magazine for clean fantasy and sci-fi stories. It’s our tag-line. If you can tell a gripping story that doesn’t rely on sex, swearing, and graphic violence—you’ve come to the right place. If not, there are plenty of other magazines and venues out there. Move along. Move along (Jedi hand wave). Please consider reading Deep Magic to get an idea of the type of stories we publish. You can read our inaugural issue for only $.99. We are keeping the June 2016 issue at this special price so authors can check out our style without breaking the bank.
Deep Magic is a quarterly electronic magazine that publishes clean short fiction in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Our issues are also filled with author interviews, art features, book reviews and tips for writers. Most of our non-fiction pieces are invitation only to industry professionals and Deep Magic staff, but if you have a fantastic piece, please send it our way. Not all the authors we feature write exclusively clean fiction. We don’t judge. But everything you find inside Deep Magic will be.
– The Deep Magic Team
It may be helpful to read the following articles before submitting to help you understand what types of stories we’re looking for:
“Without publications like Deep Magic, there would be no venues for such stories, and the world would be a more barren place.”–T.E. Bradford
We currently pay for short fiction work only and do so at the following rates:
Payment Terms
For first world-wide rights, we pay $.06 per word for the first 9,999 words, with payment capped at $599 for stories longer than 10,000 words. For re-printed stories that are not currently available elsewhere on the internet for free, we pay $.02 per word for the first 10,000 words, with payment capped at $200 for stories longer than 10,000 words. We use Paypal for our authors.
Additional Guidelines
Word Count Limits: 1,000 to 40,000; but note that we cap payment at 10,000 words. Format: We accept submissions in standard manuscript format, saved as .docx, .doc, or .rtf files. Information to Include: At the top of your submission, state your name (and pseudonym if you wish to be published under one), email address, mailing address, the story title, and word count. Response Time: We strive to respond to submissions within ten to twelve weeks, but our times may fluctuate. Please do not inquire within the first six months. Multiple and Simultaneous Submissions: No and No. Please only submit one story to us at a time; and we do not accept simultaneous submissions. We Do Not Publish the Following
Stories with graphic violence
Stories with mature sexual themes
Stories with profanity or vulgarity. We want a broad, family-friendly audience; think original Lord of the Rings trilogy or Star Wars.
Stories featuring or glorifying illegal drug use
Stories with graphic child abuse or glorifying child abuse in any way
Stories not within the Fantasy and Science Fiction Genres. It’s got to have some magic or cool technology in it!
Deadline: July 31st, 2019
Payment: 10 cents per word
David Steffen is the editor, who you may also know from using the Submission Grinder writing tool or reading the Long List Anthology series. Diabolical Plots is a SFWA-qualifying market, so if you have a personal goal to join SFWA, making a sale here would help you toward that goal.
FICTION
OVERVIEW
Genres: science fiction, fantasy, horror (everything must have speculative element, even horror).
Word count: 3500 words or less. This is a firm limit. If you submit a longer story, it will be rejected unread and that will count as a submission. Do not query to ask permission to submit something longer–the answer will be no.
Pay rate: 10 cents per word (more than the minimum professional rate as deemed by SFWA)
Multiple submissions: A total of TWO submissions per author during this submission window. You don’t have to wait for one response to send the second one–you can just send both whenever you want during the window.
Simultaneous submissions: No. We understand we are tying up your story while you wait, and so we strive to respond as quickly as possible. While each year might be different, last year the maximum wait time to get a first response (a rejection or a hold notice) was 14 days. The maximum overall wait time if someone submitted on the first day and was held, was about 6 weeks.
Reprint submissions: No. That means you should not submit anything that has been published in any format, blog, e-zine, print, podcast, anything. Sharing stories with other authors in login-protected critique sites like Baen’s Bar or Critters is fine.
Resubmits: No. Do not send a story you’ve submitted to us before, whether it’s been revised or not.
Estimated Resolution Time: 30 days after end of submission window. I will send initial responses to stories as I read them, which will either be hold notices or rejections. Hold notices I’ll keep until after the slush window to winnow down to the final selection.
ABOUT ANONYMITY: We have followed a very strict anonymity policy in the past that has meant that stories that were not fully anonymized were immediately disqualified. After some discussion with people in publishing, we have decided to keep the preference for anonymity, but not have such dire consequences if it’s broken. Please try to keep your name out of the story and the story notes boxes. But if you forget, your story will not be disqualified for it. So, please keep it in mind, but don’t sweat it too much. If you query, we prefer that you ask about the submission ID if you have it, and your email address if you don’t, but again, making a mistake is not a disqualifying act.
ABOUT STORY NOTES: We no longer ask for a cover letter on submission, but we do ask if there’s anything you’d like us to know as we read the story. You can tell us it’s a translation in that box. If the story is tied to something of your personal experience, this would be a good place to mention it, if that’s something you want us to keep in mind. For instance, if your protagonist uses a wheelchair and you use a wheelchair, and if you’d like us to be aware of this when reading, you can mention it here. You are never required to enter anything in this box, and it won’t be held against your submission if you don’t.
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Speculative fiction–science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Everything should have a speculative element–that includes horror. Feel free to mix in other genres at will–a fantasy mystery or a science fiction romance.
And yes, we really mean it has to have a speculative element. If you submit a serial killer story with only mundane elements, even though that could be a horror story it’s not a speculative horror story and it will be rejected regardless of quality.
Things that we tend to really like:
Weird fiction
Sense of wonder
Strong character and plot arcs
Strong worldbuilding, hinting at more to see around the edges of the story
Philosophical food-for-thought
Straightforward, easily readable style
Religion, where the story does not try to convert the reader, nor does the story demonize religion
Platonic friendship between men and women (more…)
We have no formula for fiction. We are looking for stories that will appeal to science fiction and fantasy readers. The SF element may be slight, but it should be present. We prefer character-oriented stories. We receive a lot of fantasy fiction, but never enough science fiction or humor. Do not query for fiction; submit the entire manuscript. We publish fiction up to 25,000 words in length. Please read the magazine before submitting. A sample copy (print edition) is available for $7.00 in the US and $17.50 elsewhere (to NJ address below).
• We do not accept simultaneous submissions. Please prepare your submission according to standard guidelines, which you can find here: www.sfwa.org/2008/11/manuscript-preparation/ . If you’re mailing your manuscript, put your name on each page, and enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Writers are encouraged to submit their work electronically.
• We prefer not to see more than one submission from a writer at a time.
• Allow 8 weeks for a response.
• Payment is 7-12 cents per word on acceptance. We buy first North American and foreign serial rights and an option on anthology rights. All other rights are retained by the author.
• Our columns and non-fiction articles are assigned in-house. We do not accept freelance submissions in those areas.
• Since we use so little art—just six covers a year, no interiors—we have no separate artist’s guidelines. Please send art samples to Gordon Van Gelder at the address below.
• Send cartoon queries as well as orders for sample copies to Gordon Van Gelder, Fantasy & Science Fiction, P.O. Box 3447, Hoboken, NJ 07030.
• Send story submissions to C.C. Finlay – Editor, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, P.O. Box 8420, Surprise, AZ 85374. You can submit stories to him online at ccfinlay.moksha.io/publication/fsf.
