The Horror Tree

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Category: Semipro

Semi-Pro Rates

Flash / Ongoing Submissions / Online / Semipro

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Ongoing Submissions: Wyldblood – Flash Fiction

Payment: 1p (GBP) per word
Theme: Speculative fiction though some areas are hard sells (see below.)
Note: Other areas are open as well for short stories and whatnot but I’ve been told those will close and open depending on submission levels.

For all submissions:

  • email us at [email protected]
  • submit using standard manuscript format
  • send us Word or RTF files – no PDF please.
  • head your email SUBMISSION (category) – (story title) – (your name)
  • include your contact details in your submission.
  • add a SHORT cover note in the body of your email (longer for novels).
  • simultaneous submissions are fine (but tell us if you get placed elsewhere).
  • multiple submissions are a no-no. Don’t swamp us. Wait a decent interval between submissions.
  • we are not currently accepting reprints (except by invitation).
  • RIGHTS We are buying first worldwide serial and electronic rights with a 180 day exclusivity.
  • SHORT STORIES should be 1,000-6,000 words MAX
  • 1p (GBP) per word via paypal (approx 1.3c US)
  • initially for online publication in Wyldblood Magazine.
  • best stories may be reprinted in an anthology.
  • FLASH 300-1,000 words MAX
  • 1p (GBP) per word via paypal (approx 1.3c US)
  • initially for online publication only (Flash Fridays).
  • best stories may be reprinted in an anthology.
  • NOVELLAS AND NOVELS 40-120,000 words (flexible).
  • send us the full text and include a one page synopsis.
  • royalties only (competitive rates).
  • ebook and print.

What’s going to impress us (and what don’t we want to see)?

If you’re going to be submitting work to us, here are a few things you may want to bear in mind. We’ll be updating this list regularly, so check for our latest – we may suddenly have an urge for zombie romances (kidding – hell hasn’t frozen over yet).

  • we’ve seen many things many times so be original.
  • we’re picky buyers.
  • we can tell if you know your craft – don’t send us your first draft and make sure you’ve covered the basics. It doesn’t have to be perfect (if an author tells me they’ve never submitted a story with a typo or an obvious spelling mistake they’re lying) – but it does have to be professional.
  • zombies and vampires are a hard sell. Werewolves, though, are always welcome.
  • we’re not into gratuitous gore or erotica – don’t send us anything you wouldn’t want your kid sister to see.
  • my mother used to ask me why, since there are millions of beautiful words in the English language, did I have to use that one? Fucked if I know, but be moderate with your swearing.
  • lots of high fantasy names will send us heading for the reject button.
  • ditto lots of backstory about your fantasy universe that swamps the plot.
  • thoughtful, character based stories are our thing.
  • don’t shy away from politics or religion but anything racist or deliberately offensive will get you canned.
  • if you’re writing science fiction, we’ve got to buy in to your world building. Hand-wavey pseudo science rarely impresses.
  • no fan-fic – we’ve no desire to get sued.
  • Enthusiasm, perserverence and an obvious willingness to take feedback and respond positively go a long way with us.

Via: Wild Blood.

Events / Magazine / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Apparition Lit Magazine (Short Window!)

Deadline: August 31st, 2020
Payment: $0.03 per word, minimum of $30.00 dollars for short stories. $30 per poem
Theme: Satisfaction
Note: This call doesn’t officially open until the 15th but is going live early due to the short submission window

Apparition Lit is open for poetry and short story submissions four times a year.

  • February 15-28
  • May 15-31
  • August 15-31
  • November 15-30

Submissions received outside of posted open dates will be deleted unread.

Our themes for 2020 will be:

  • Experimentation (Submission period November 15-30, 2019 CLOSED, Published January 2020)
  • Transfiguration (Submission period February 15-29, 2020, CLOSED Published April 2020)
  • Redemption (Submission period May 15-31, 2020, CLOSED Published July 2020)
  • Satisfaction (Submission period August 15-31, 2020, CLOSED Publishing October 2020)

Our previous themes for 2019: Resistance (Published January 2019) – Ambition (Published April 2019) – Retribution (Published July 2019) – Euphoria (Published October 2019) for 2018: Apparition (Published January 2018) – Delusion (Published April 2018) – Vision (Published July 2018) – Diversion (Published October 2018)

Apparition Lit also holds monthly flash fiction contests. These stories are published online only. We accept submissions for the flash fiction contest between the 1st and 15th of each month. Stories must be under 1k words and based on the theme for that month. You can see each month’s theme, and guidelines, in the flash fiction drop down below.

For detailed submission guidelines, please see each category drop down below.

PAYMENT:

Apparition is a semi-pro rate magazine, paying $0.03 per word, minimum of $30.00 dollars for short stories (excluding flash contest. See details in the Flash Fiction dropdown for flash rates) and a flat fee of $30 per poem. If we accept your story, we are purchasing the right to publish the story online and in the quarterly edition. Rights will revert back to the artist after one year.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

(more…)

Events / Online / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Underland Arcana

Deadline: October 1st, 2020
Payment: $0.01 / word and potential royalties
Theme: Short fiction that veers into the numinous, the esoteric, the supernatural, and the weird

UNDERLAND ARCANA is published four times a year, and is looking for previously unpublished short fiction that veers into the numinous, the esoteric, the supernatural, and the weird. We like these stories to be mildly speculative, fantastic, mysterious, and/or horrific (if you prefer genre tags). We’re not terribly keen on stories that splash through gore, but we don’t mind the grotesque. We prefer character-driven pieces, but will pause and admire works that are exceptionally experimental in tone, style, and presentation.

We are actively interested in submissions from writers of underrepresented communities, including, but in no way limited to, writers of any gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, nationality, class, and physical or mental ability. We believe in the rich potential and diversity of humanity, and seek to have that belief reflected in the stories published in the ARCANA.

In more concrete terms: stories should be under 5k in length, but special consideration will be given to longer pieces should the writing demand such attention. Please query before sending anything novella length. Submissions should be in .doc or .rtf formation. Stories must be compatible to both an online presentation and a print publication.

Please submit your stories to [email protected], along with a brief cover letter that hits the highlights of your recent publishing adventures.

READING PERIOD:  In parallel with our publication schedule, we will only be considering submissions during one of our open reading periods. The current reading period closes on October 1st, 2020. The next reading period is scheduled to open early in 2021.

PAYMENT: Underland Arcana is paying $0.01 / word—up to 5,000 words—for publication on the website. Additional publication in other formats (ebook and collected print editions, for example) will be under a shared royalty basis.

Via: Underland Arcana.

Anthology / Audio / Events / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Curiosities

Deadline: August 31st, 2020
Payment: 4 cents per word
Theme: Speculative Fiction
Note: Reprints Welcome

OPEN 1-31 August, 2020

general session

Hello! This project is a comfortable two-headed beast at play in the curious and often dark corners of retropunk fiction. That means steampunk, dieselpunk, dreadpunk, bronzepunk, others that haven’t even been invented yet punk … but not atompunk. Sorry, space fans, we draw our line at Sputnik. About 2/3 of rejections are for “bad fit.” We buy nonexclusive rights for fiction, cover & interior art, music & sound effects usage, and narration services.

What we do:

1—Curiosities, a short story collection published two or three times a year, which is available in digital and print on demand formats, and

2—The Gallery of Curiosities, a twice monthly podcast which features stories from the publication. Not every story we buy will make it to an audio podcast release, but we do make good effort to get it there before our rights expire. We started out as a podcast, and went to print later.  Audio production is incredibly time intensive.

Short version:

-We buy original (4 cents/word) and reprint (penny/word) short stories.

-Length up to 7500 words.

-We read blind. Anonymize your manuscript before sending it to [email protected] as a docx, or rtf. Remove headers and/or footers.

-Use the format SUBMISSION: Your Story Title in the title bar of your email or it gets lost.

-Multiple? No more than 3 at a time. Send them in separate emails.

-Simultaneous? Yes. Please be prompt with a withdrawal if sold.

-If accepted, your story will be published in ebook and print-on-demand formats.

-If accepted, we will make a good faith effort to produce your story for podcast before the contract runs out, but no guarantees. The way is fraught with bear traps and wolves.

Long version:

What we’re looking for:
As an audio venue, we want stories that entertain. We want to be taken on an adventure in a time that never was, be it steampunk, gaslamp, weird tales, dreadpunk, vintage horror, new weird, mad science, fantastic cities (please!), monsters, impossible machines, clockworks, alt-history adventures, surprises, weird westerns, and things that shouldn’t work.

What we don’t want:
Serialized novels. Novel excerpts. Drabbles. Stories longer than 7500 words. Fan fiction. Sherlockians. Vulgar language used as punctuation. Horror stories that spend most of the word count telling us all the mundane little details of the contemporary protag’s lifestyle before getting to it. Cutters. JFK theories. Anything that has been on a podcast within the past 18 months. Stories outside of the “speculative fiction” genres.

What’s a hard sell:
Anything set after World War 2. Horror based in domestic violence or sexual perversion. Anything set after the mid-20th Century. Stories that take place in outer space. Horror stories with contemporary moods or settings. Excessive splatter. Stories longer than 6000 words. Anything set after the 1950s. Stories that make us wonder why they should considered as “speculative fiction”.

Payment:
4 cents a word USD for original fiction and a penny a word for reprints, with a minimum of $40 USD for stories less than 1000 words.

How do I submit?
Send your story in an email or email attachment to [email protected] with SUBMISSION: Story Title in the subject line, because that is how I search for things. Always send a new story after a rejection with a new subject line. Continuing a thread is a good way to get the next one lost.

Manuscripts will be sent as docx or rtf attachments that are formatted without headers. Headers have been known to mess up the document when converted. To protect your privacy, put your personal details in the cover letter, not the manuscript. Or just wait until it is asked for. Seriously, don’t volunteer your details on the Internet— it’s where the crazy people live. Make sure all commentary has been removed from your manuscript, as it will (surprise!) persist when I convert it to a Google Document file, which is the format in which we read.

I think long cover letters are unnecessary for this format. I am amused by haiku, and will reciprocate. If the story is a reprint, tell where it has been.

You’ll get a quick reply to let you know it did not get lost If you do not get a rejection within a week, then your story made it past first round and went on to the short list.

How do I get paid?
PayPal or SL Lindens.

What about Rights?
We are purchasing non-exclusive audio, print, electronic, and archiving rights to your short story. You retain all other rights. The podcasts will be archived online for perpetual free download under a Creative Commons 4.0 International Attribution NonCommercial No-Derivs license.

Are you going to publish a print magazine or post my story for online reading?
We will not be posting the text of your story where it could be freely available online. Stories are published in Curiosities two or three times a year, which is available in retail print-on-demand and ebook formats.  We sort accepted stories by broad themes as suggested by the whims of the slush pile, so you may not automatically get into the next issue. You will get representative contributor copies of the issue that contains your story.

How long will it take to get my story to air?
Audio production is extremely time intensive, and it is a challenge to pair the right voice for each story. Not all stories will make it to broadcast. If we don’t make it happen within 24 months, our rights expire.

Is there a contract?
Yes.

What is steampunk?
That’s something you’ll have to find your own definition for. And when you find it, own it. For me, it is an artistic protest about the future we got.

My story has already been published. Can I still submit it?
Yes, as long as you are not violating any terms of your previous contract. We do want to know if it is a reprint, and where it has been. Say so in your cover letter.

You rejected my story. Can I submit another one?
Absolutely! We rejected your story, not you.

You rejected my story. Can I work on it some more and resubmit it?
Only if we said that we would read it again in the rejection letter.

I have more questions.
[email protected]

Via: The Gallery Of Curiousities

Anthology / Events / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Blue Light Special

Deadline: September 15th, 2020
Payment: 1 cent per word
Theme: Modern folktales with a LGBTQ experience

Correct manuscript format. 12 pt Times New Roman, Calibri, or Courier New font, double-spaced, First page has name, address and email address in the upper left corner and word count in the upper right corner. Reference the Shunn format at https://www.shunn.net/format/story/. NOT USING THE CORRECT FORMAT WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE REJECTION.

1000 to 5000 words ONLY. Shorter or longer pieces will result in immediate rejection.

Document types: doc, docx, pdf, or rtf documents only.

Include an author bio in your cover letter, including any social media links.

All stories must contain some LGBTQ element. We prefer LGBTQ authors, however all stories that fit the submission criteria will be considered.

Include the title and a 100-word description of the underlying folktale you are using for your story. A link to the story in addition to the requirements is acceptable, though not necessary.

Correct grammar, syntax and punctuation.

English language stories only. Stories translated into English by a professional translator are also allowed.

Electronic submissions only, via the form on this website.

No multiple submissions and no simultaneous submissions.

WE WILL NOT ACCEPT extreme horror, fan fiction, erotica, graphic sex, manga-type stories, standard romance except in the context of the original folktale, overtly political pieces, or morals that are degrading to any person or persons of any type.

Submissions will be read within three months from the date submitted. You will receive an acceptance or rejection email within that time. QUERIES ABOUT YOUR STORY WILL NOT BE ANSWERED.

Due to volume of submissions, we won’t be able to explain to you why a story won’t work for our anthology other than basic issues such as wrong manuscript format or grammar problems.

Payment will be 1 cent/word. Payment will be rendered before publication.

Use the form on this website to submit your stories.

Submissions open on July 20, 2020 and close on September 15, 2020.

Via: Blue Light Special.

Magazine / Ongoing Submissions / Semipro

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Ongoing Submissions: Legendary Tales

Payment: $.01 per word up to 7,500 words
Theme: strong character-driven speculative fiction stories

What Are We Looking For?

We are looking for new original short stories in the speculative fiction genres:

Science Fiction
Fantasy
Horror
Paranormal
Supernatural

In general, we are interested in strong character-driven stories. We do not want stories that have explicit sex or violence, rapists, or child abusers.

Original Short Fiction

Submissions must be between 1,000-7,500 words.

Stories must be in English.

Payment for original fiction is $.01 per word up to 7,500 words.

Submit your work in Shunn Standard Manuscript Format.

You can send through submissions through Moksha

Reprints

We do not accept unsolicited reprints.

Rights and Rules

No simultaneous submissions.

We try to respond to all submissions within 30 days.

Via: Legendary Tales.

Anthology / Events / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Slashertorte: An Anthology of Cake Horror

Deadline: November 1st, 2020
Payment: $0.01/word
Theme: The darker side of baked goods

​Sliced Up Press is looking for short stories involving cake for its debut horror fiction anthology, Slashertorte: An Anthology of Cake Horror, edited by Ben Walker.

Delicious as cake might be, we want you to bring out the darker side of baked goods and give us something scary, disturbing or just plain wrong.

What we’re looking for:

  • All submissions must be in the horror genre. While bizarro, splatterpunk and extreme horror are welcomed, we will not consider stories involving rape or bestiality.
  • We are especially interested in stories from under-represented groups in horror i.e. women, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors.
  • All submissions must be original. We will not accept reprints, or stories published elsewhere including on blogs, social media etc.
  • No reworked pizza stories please.
  • Submit your best work in standard manuscript format, as an MS Word .doc or .docx attachment.
  • Authors may submit one story maximum for consideration. Do not re-send rejected stories.
  • No simultaneous submissions.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES & TERMS:

Please email submissions to [email protected] using the following format in the email subject line:

Submission: [author’s name] – [story title] – [word count]. (so your email should look like this: Submission: Joe Bloggs – Cake or Death – 1,500 words)

In the body of the email, please include an author bio of 3-4 sentences maximum.

Payment: $0.01/word

Length: 2,000 words maximum – longer pieces will not be considered.

Deadline for submissions: 1st November 2020, or until filled

Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by 30th November 2020 at the latest.

If you have not heard back by the closing date of 30th November 2020, your story has been rejected. If you do receive a rejection, it will be a form letter – we will not critique your story.

Please do not email to enquire after your submission, unless you want to withdraw your story.

No exclusivity will be sought. Authors retain all rights to their works after publication.

Via: Sliced Up Press.

Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Flat Amount / Semipro

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Taking Submissions: Consumed

Deadline: August 15th, 2020
Payment: $20 for the first 3,000 words, then a 1/2 cent per word + print contributor’s copy
Theme: The Wendigo

Hunger.

Insatiable hunger.

Hunger that changes you…consumes you…turning you into a nightmare version of what you once were.

Denver Horror Collective is looking for stories of the Wendigo. The point of view could be a person becoming the Wendigo, from a Wendigo, pursued by a Wendigo, or a witness to a Wendigo-esque situation unfolding.

Submissions may cover cannibalism, lust, plague, war, anxiety, greed, power, or any topic a person or animal could become obsessed with. Read the Wiki on the Wendigo at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo, then feel free to think outside the box and let your imagination run wild.

Submissions do not have to have characters turn into a literal Wendigo. Character(s) must go through some sort of a transformation due to the “hunger.” You do not have to use the term Wendigo. We just ask that authors use the core concept of the Wendigo as inspiration for their story.

Please take a moment to read the KEY NOTES and all submission information below to ensure your story content and format fall within guidelines.

DEADLINE: August 15, midnight

WORD COUNT: 3,000-12,000 words (lower limit firm, query for longer)

PAYMENT: $20 for the first 3,000 words, then a 1/2 cent per word + print contributor’s copy

REPRINTS: No

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: No

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: No (if you have more than one idea, you’re welcome to query as to which concept we would be more interested in)

FORMAT:
-Use the Shunn format ( https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/ ) with the following caveats:
-12-point Times New Roman, Courier New, or Arial font
-Use paragraph formatting for paragraph indents. Do not manually tab or space in.
-No headers, footers, or page numbers

SUBMISSION:
-Submit in DOC, DOCX, or RTF format
-Submit as an attachment, not in the body of the email.
-Include “Submission,” “Story Title,” “Author Name,” and “Word Count” to nearest 100 words in the subject line. (EX: Submission Last Plate by Jane Doe 3,300 words)
-The body of the e-mail should include an introduction, any publication information you would like to include, and a bio up to 250 words.
-E-mail submissions to [email protected]

KEY NOTES:
-First or third person only
-Past-tense only
-No pedophilia
-No rape in a positive light
-Graphic scenes should be used to move the story, scene, or character forward, and not be included just for shock value.
-Accepted submissions will be hand edited and uploaded to Dropbox in PDF format for the author to access.

TIPS
-Do not capitalize entire words in dialogue or to show excitement/yelling. Let your description and/or punctuation do the work for you.
-Ellipses signify an extended pause or trailing off. Em dashes signify interruption.
-If you’re unsure, ask questions. Please place the words “Submission Question” in your email subject line and query [email protected]

Via: Denver Horror Collective.

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