Category: Royalties

Taking Submissions: Hidden Villains: Betrayed

Deadline: August 31st, 2023
Payment: 2 cents per word and royalties and a paperback for US authors
Theme: Bold, imaginative fantasy, horror, and sci-fi sculpted to thrill and entertain readers with the bizarre or delve into the shadows. Finish it off with a twist of betrayal!

Our 2024 edition. Submissions open on June 1, 2023.

Theme: Hidden Villains: Betrayed– Bold, imaginative fantasy, horror, and sci-fi sculpted to thrill and entertain readers with the bizarre or delve into the shadows. Finish it off with a twist of betrayal!
Betrayed- double-cross, fail, deceive, cheat, sell-out, let down, stitch up, rat out, turn traitor, rat on, expose, reveal, lay bare, stab in the back.

There is no restriction as to how you incorporate the theme into your story as long as the genre falls within Speculative Fiction, including Sci-Fi or Fantasy. We encourage you to weave the theme into an engaging story with well-developed characters and deep emotion. Suspense and thrillers are encouraged over horror for this anthology, but a great horror story will rise to the top.
Stories that contain infanticide, rape, or gratuitous gore will not be accepted.

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Taking Submissions: Heathens and Heroes

Deadline: November 1st, 2023
Payment: Royalties
Theme: Sword and Sorcery / Heroic Fantasy

Are you a fan of authors like Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, and Fritz Leiber? Are those the type of stories that you love to write? Then you’re in the right place!

We’re looking for tales of Sword and Sorcery / Heroic Fantasy that are influenced by those who established the genre. What makes a great story in this genre? Elements of romance, magic, supernatural, and of course sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures!

We’re looking for new, previously unpublished stories that take us on an adventure and leave us wanting more.

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Epic Publishing Seeks Orphaned Novels

Payment: Royalties
Theme: Speculative Fiction Novels that recently lost a publisher.

It’s come to our attention recently that several small and medium publishers have decided to close their doors, leaving the authors they once published out in the cold. Such announcements are sad for me to hear, as I’ve always felt like it was less a competition among smaller publishers than a community that we at Epic Publishing are a part of. Obviously, not all publishers feel that way, but I’ve done my best to help other publishers, as they have helped me, so why not keep paying it forward? We all love books, right? And that’s what publishing is all about: loving books and supporting others’ love of books and those who write them.

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Cemetery Gates Media Is Open For Debut Horror Novel Series

Payment: Paying $500 signing bonus + $500 advance upon publication, and a 60% (author) royalty share on physical and electronic editions of the book.
Theme: Horror

We’re looking for submissions for 40k+ word manuscripts from authors who’ve never published a novel. Paying $500 signing bonus + $500 advance upon publication, and a 60% (author) royalty share on physical and electronic editions of the book.

You’re welcome to submit (1) complete, original, and unpublished 40k+ word manuscript to [email protected] if you have at least (2) paid horror writing credits and have never published a novel. If you have novellas and short story collections in print, you’re still eligible.

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Taking Submissions: It Came from the Trailer Park: Volume 3

Deadline: July 1st, 2023
Payment: Royalties
Theme: Original creature-feature, horror-comedy with the same feel as The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead, or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.

After the success of the first two Trailer Park anthologies, we’ve decided to bring it back yet again for another go as our annual Halloween release.

Stories should be original creature-feature, horror-comedy with the same feel as The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead, or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. And of course, our heroes winning the day in all of their redneck glory. Plus as an added challenge, volume 3 will have a Rockabilly/Psychobilly/Horror Punk Flair to it. Not sure what that is? Think the band the Misfits, Elvis Presley, Stray Cats, The Reverend Horton Heat. Open up that can of worms and you’ll be heading down a rabbit hole you may not return from.

  • Genre: Horror Comedy / Creature Feature
  • Word Count: 7,000 – 10,000
  • Opening by: TBD
  • Edited by: Philip K. Booker / William Joseph Roberts
  • Anchor Author: TBD
  • Due Date: July 1, 2023

Email submissions to: threeravenspublishing @ gmail dot com with “Trailer Park” in the subject line

Payment: Stories selected for publication in the upcoming Anthology(ies), will receive a percentage of sales divided equally between the contributing authors.

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Taking Submissions: Space Brides, LLC

Deadline: June 30th, 2023
Payment: $15 and equal share of 50% royalties split between authors
Theme: Romantic Science Fiction that deals with… Space Brides, full details found below

Tired of those lonely dark nights? No one in your settlement suitable?

We are here to help! We will assist you in finding the bride or husband to keep you company, raise your children, and be your partner building a dream together.

Contact us directly and give us your specifications. Success guaranteed.

Looking to settle off world? We have husbands and wives searching for you. Have children who need a second parent? They’re more than welcome.

Any children must be declared before the contract is signed and approved by the potential spouse/partner. This includes those seeking our services off world or anyone traveling. Failure to do so will require the child’s travel to be paid for by the party who did not declare the minor before being allowed to meet the contractor. If either party does not approve the child, then another candidate will be sought up to three times.

Onsite ministers at no charge available for immediate marriage or up to six months after your future spouse’s arrival. After that there will be an extra fee for our services, or you may hold a private ceremony with the official of your choice. Copy of marriage agreement/document required to be sent directly to us. This is to advertise our success rate and encourage others to use our services.

If the imported spouse is not suitable after a two-week trial period, it is the contractor’s responsibility to find another potential candidate and annul the marriage, if there has been one. There will be no refund of the charged fee if this occurs.

Spouses sought for all legal adults and in all age brackets.

Our offices are available on Earth, Mars, the Asteroids, Titan, Io, and Triton.

Helpful staff will guide you through the steps and make certain all legalities conform to local ordinances.

Contact or walk into any of our offices 24/7. We are here to help you find that special someone and start a new future!

Other conditions apply. Please ask for more information before contract is drawn up and signed.

Contract signature required and once signed can’t be withdrawn.

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Early Details On PitDark May 2023

Pitch Date: May 25th, 2023
Prizes: A book contract from a publisher; contracts vary between publishers. Generally royalties with the possibility of an advance.
Themes: Darker literature (horror, or other forms of fiction that are dark or are mixed genres.

Welcome to #PitDark, the only Twitter pitching contest for dark literature!

#PitDark is the first and only Twitter pitch event to highlight literature of a “darker” nature. Importantly, this is not limited to horror works; however, any pitched manuscript must contain an element of horror or darker writing. Examples of such categories include pure horror novels, dark fantasy, murder mysteries, psychological horror stories, non-fiction works about darker subjects, etc. MG, YA, NA, and adult age categories are welcome.

The next #PitDark will take place on May 25, 2023.

You can find the agents and publishers that participated in previous #PitDark events here.

Please follow the @PitDark_ Twitter account for up-to-date information about the event.

The Basics

The contest will happen on Twitter under a common hashtag (#PitDark). During a 12-hour window on the chosen day, authors with completed manuscripts who are seeking representation or publication can tweet a pitch for their books (at most, once per hour).

Agents and publishers will make requests by marking pitches as a like on Twitter. If your tweet is liked, please follow the agent or publisher’s submission guidelines.

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Taking Submissions: The Dance

Deadline: August 1st, 2023
Payment: Royalties: one (1%) per cent of net sales
Theme: “Life is the dance between choice and chance.”

“Life is the dance between choice and chance.

How did you come to the point in life where you now find yourself? Two factors were likely in play: choice and chance.

The choices you make are clearly a factor in shaping your life. For example: a woman in one universe elopes with her high school sweetheart, but they are too young to make the marriage work and divorce at any early age; in a second universe, she marries him after they graduate from university and happily becomes a stay-at-home mom; in a third universe, she doesn’t marry him and pursues a successful career. Making different choices about the same life goal can lead to very different lives.

It’s also true, though, that chance, forces that are out of our control, shapes the choices that are available to us. This may be because of the choices of others which directly affect us, or it may because of the society into which we are born. For instance: a black man sleeps in his car in the drive-thru lane of a fast food restaurant. In one universe, two white cops are sent to deal with him; forty-five minutes later, one of them has shot him dead. In a second universe, one of the white cops and a psychiatrist are sent to deal with him; after a tense confrontation, he is arrested and his car impounded. In a third universe, the psychiatrist and a social worker droid are sent to deal with him; he is sent home to sleep it off and told he can pick up his impounded car the next day. The different outcomes are a product of chance, the different structures of the societies in which the main character finds himself.

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