The Horror Tree

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

Category: Reprints Allowed

Audio / Events / Flat Amount / Reprints Allowed

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Taking Submissions: Nightlight Podcast

Deadline: August 30th, 2020
Payment: 3000+ words is $125, Under 3k words is $75, $50 for reprints
Theme: Horror by black authors
Note: Reprints Welcome if not previously published in audio

We will be open August 1-30, 2019.

Are you Black? It doesn’t matter what part of the world you’re from, or where you are now–as long as you’re Black and you write horror, you are welcome to submit!

Here’s what you need to know:

  • Story submissions should be no longer than 10,000 words.
  • We may occasionally do short fiction episodes for stories less than 3,000 words, so feel free to submit shorter stories–it just may be a bit longer before your story airs.
  • Please send only one submission to us at a time.
  • Simultaneous submissions (sending the same story to multiple publications) are okay.
  • We respond within 4-6 weeks. If you found another home for your work, let us know ASAP.
  • We do give personalized feedback, so long as your submission falls within our submission guidelines. If we reject your story, you can submit a different story at any time, but you’ll only get feedback for stories submitted 12 months after the rejection.
  • We pay for exclusive audio (first world) and electronic publishing rights for 6 months after the air date.
  • We also reserve the right to continue to broadcast, promote, and/or link to your story on our website/podcast, but after six months, you can publish your story in any format elsewhere.
  • We only accept reprints that have not been published in audio format previously. Just let us know your story has appeared elsewhere and where so we can credit properly.
  • We do have plans to eventually publish “Best Of” anthologies. Should we decide to include your piece, we’ll ask your permission first and you’ll be paid for inclusion.

If you have any questions, hit us up on Twitter @nightlightpod.

How We Pay

  • If we accept your story (over 3,000 words), we’ll pay you $125. We send money via Venmo and the Cash App, but can also do PayPal if you don’t have Venmo or Cash (but we super don’t want to).
  • Short fiction (less than 3,000 words) is paid at $75 per story.
  • Reprints are paid $50 per story.
  • We’ll pay you when the story is narrated, usually a few days before your episode goes live. You can offer to narrate your own story, but keep in mind we may choose another narrator if we feel sound quality or style doesn’t match our brand.

Want to Perform a Story For Us?

If you want to apply to be a narrator for NIGHTLIGHT, fill out this form. Please let us know if you are a member of another marginalized community (LGBTQIA, Muslim, Disabled, etc) so we can reach out to you for stories which feature characters in your community. Voice actors are paid $25 per episode.

Via: Night Light Podcast.

Flat Amount / Magazine / Ongoing Submissions / Reprints Allowed

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Ongoing Submissions: The Martian Wave

Payment: Original Stories: $25.00, Reprint Stories: $15.00, Flash Fiction: 1 cent/word, Poems: $5.00
Theme: SF & Fantasy original stories with plot, tension, suspense, conflict, and character development.
Note: Reprints allowed

The Martian Wave began with James Baker of ProMart Publishing back around the turn of the millennium. After his passing in September 2002, it was under the editorial stewardship of J Alan Erwine, now of Nomadic Delirium Press. In November 2019, it was handed over to Hiraeth Books.

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The Martian Wave is now published semi-annually, in March and in September, in print [and, eventually, as an eBook]. It presents original science fiction stories about the exploration and settlement of other worlds. It also presents one or two original fantasy stories along that same theme. Although it does consider darker sf/f, it does not present horror. It also presents a few original poems, again along the overall theme.

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The Martian Wave wants original stories with plot, tension, suspense, conflict, and character development. Remember, if readers do not care what happens to your main character[s], they won’t read the story. The narrative should maintain a sense of wondering what’s going to happen next; of what’s lurking just around the corner. Showing is better than telling. Frex, instead of telling the reader that it’s cold, show your character shivering, stomping feet, or having ice form on beard or hair. The inner thoughts and emotions of your character[s] are just as important.

Stories submitted to The Martian Wave should be between 4K and 8K words long. Longer or shorter stories will be considered; however, anything less than 4K will be a difficult sell. Anything 1K or less will be considered flash fiction. We will consider reprint stories, provided they adhere to the guidelines; however, they are difficult sells.

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Submit your stories as rtf or .doc attachments [NO .docx, please] to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Blame spammers].

Please submit one story at a time, and wait for the response before submitting another. We hope to keep the response time down to two months. If you haven’t heard from us in three months, please query.

Poetry submitted to The Martian Wave should be from about ten to a hundred lines. Please submit no more than three poems at a time, and wait for the response before submitting more. Again, we hope to keep the response time down to two months. If you haven’t heard from us in three months, please query.

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Submit your poems as rtf or .doc attachments [NO .docx, please] or IBOE to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Blame spammers].

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The Martian Wave also considers articles related to the exploration and settlement of other worlds. Articles include essays and reviews, as well as writing tips. Word count should be around 1K words, up to a loose 5K words. Please submit one article at a time, and wait for the response before submitting another. Yet again, we hope to keep the response time down to two months. If you haven’t heard from us in three months, please query.

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Submit your articles as rtf or .doc attachments [NO .docx, please] to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Boil spammers; inexpensive vegetable oil works best].

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The Martian Wave is not considering cover art at this time.

Payment is made upon publication by check or Paypal as follows:

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  • Original Stories: $25.00

  • Reprint Stories: $15.00

  • Flash Fiction: 1 cent/word

  • Poems: $5.00

  • Articles: $20.00

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NOTE: If you live outside the United States, you will be paid via Paypal, or must make some other arrangement with the editor.

All submissions must include contact information. This means:

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  • Name [yours, not necessarily your byline name]

  • Address [street, city, country, and zip code or equivalent]

  • e-mail address

  • Paypal address

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If your address changes before the publication date, please let us know.

Queries should be sent to sdpshowcase at yahoo dot com [you must recombine this address for it to work. Sorry for the inconvenience. Grill spammers; the grillwork of a 1950 Buick or a 1953 Packard works best].

Via: Hiraeth Publishing.

Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Flat Amount / Reprints Allowed

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Taking Submissions: Strange Aeon: 2020

Deadline: August 31st, 2020
Payment: $20 and contributors copy
Theme: Lovecraftian Tales

The guidelines are simple. The working anthology title is Strange Aeon: 2020 (Lovecraftian Tales). That alone tells you most of what you need to know. I want good, solid Lovecraftian stories. I specifically say Lovecraftian rather than Cthulu because I’d like stories across the entire Mythos including additions by the original group of Mythos authors like Robert Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. [1] Likewise, specific Mythos references are not as important as getting the right style and tone. For example, I would happily take Smith’s Seed From the Sepulcher over a Deep One tale. This style preference also applies to gore and sex: think early Weird Tales. Having said that, science fiction horror is strongly encouraged; this is not an anthology of period pieces. For this anthology I’m asking for non-exclusive rights and will happily take reprints. Simply tell me the publication history so that I can give proper copyright acknowledgement. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are acceptable (please do so in a professional manner.)

Though I am not especially interested in non-fiction or poetry, I will consider it. At most only one non-fiction piece and one work of (long) poetry will be used.

I’m not overly concerned about length. 2,500 to 10,000 words is preferable but I also know from personal experience that horror doesn’t always lend itself to a strict word count. I don’t care about submission formatting as long as it’s legible, clean copy. Electronically, I need the story either in the body of an email or an as RTF file. Please submit to the email address mkeatonauthor (at) gmail (dot) com with the word Submission in the header. The goal is a final book with about ten stories averaging 5,000 words apiece.

I be receiving submissions no later than the end of August (or until the anthology is filled.) I will update these guidelines and notify any already accepted authors if the release date has to be pushed back. All submission received before the end of August should have final confirmation of acceptance or rejection by the following week. [2]

What’s in it for the author? There will be a token payment of $20 and a compensatory copy for the author; but the really useful part is that each contributor gets a bio to promote their own stuff. (I would like to avoid a specific word limit on bios; please respect the reader and the fact that every additional page raises the cover price and I reserve the right to edit bios for space.) Copyright will be retained by the author. Payment will be upon acceptance with comp copy to follow release of the anthology. If, due to unforeseen circumstances, the anthology is cancelled, the author is, of course, to keep the $20. [3]

Important Notes:
1] Authors new to working in the Mythos may find this a bit confusing. Let me be clear: do not use characters, creatures, book names, or anything else from modern authors. Modern authors are under copyright. Lovecraft and the other members of his original “circle” are largely under public domain. Please, do not accidentally infringe on anyone’s copyright. Always check first. In addition, gaming rules and supplements are also copyrighted works and should not be used. If in doubt, only use Lovecraft’s own work as a source just to be on the safe side. Better yet, create your own. This is always important when writing but especially in the murky pseudo-shared world of the Mythos where the lines are more difficult to see. If you questions have or concerns about this, a quick internet search should tell you what you need to know.

2] This is not a plug for Amazon. My intent is to be as transparent as possible about the process, quality of the final product, and anything else involved that might be a consideration for you as an author.

3] Since any publication, the first time, in any form, is by definition a use of First Rights, if you sell an unpublished work, even on a non-exclusive contract, then you have used your First Rights. And once First Rights (North American, World, Print, E-, or whatever other form they may be) are used, it’s all reprints from there and most places are no longer interested. I would love to see your work but I don’t want you to lose out on another market because of confusion about the rights. As noted earlier, for this project, I am very, very interested in reprints for this project. One of the goals of this project is to help writers and readers with this specific genre interest discover each other. For this, reprints work very well.

Via: M. Keaton.

Anthology / Events / Reprints Allowed / Royalties

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Taking Submissions: Shadows Over Avalon

Deadline: October 1st, 2020
Payment: 5% of the gross profit will be paid for each accepted story. These payments will be issued to you at quarterly intervals. Stories under 1,500 words will only receive 4% of the gross profit.
Theme: Cthulhu Mythos stories set in the Arthurian world.
Note: Reprints welcome

“They were the pointed Saxon minuscules of the eighth or ninth century A.D., and brought with them memories of an uncouth time when under a fresh Christian veneer ancient faiths and ancient rites stirred stealthily, and the pale moon of Britain looked sometimes on strange deeds in the Roman ruins of Caerleon and Hexham, and by the towers along Hadrian’s crumbling wall.”

—H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

 

The stars are right over Camelot. Despite Merlin’s arts, and the goodness of the land, the stars are right.

Dread things rise up from the sea, worse than any Saxon. The ground grows cursed with strange colors. Strange cults proliferate through Logres.

Shadows rise over Avalon.

WHAT WE WANT

Cthulhu Mythos stories set in the Arthurian world.

THE ARTHURIAN

“Arthur’s Kingdom, the Realm of Logres, the model of chivalry and right striving against the barbarism and evil which surrounded it and, at length, engulfed it” (Roger Lancelyn Green).

We do, of course, want stories about the primary characters of the Arthurian world: Arthur, Merlin, Morgan, and the others. But we’re also interested in stories focusing on the less well-known personalities. In particular, we’d love stories about Bleys, Bors, Bertilak the Green Knight, Galahad, Kay, Palamedes, and Percival.

When and where is the Arthurian world? Logres and its capitol, Camelot, are centered somewhere either in Wales or southern Britain—and extend up toward what we would today recognize as Scotland. It is somewhere roughly between 400-600 A.D. The cultural and technological level can either be period appropriate, or consistent with later romances which brought Logres up to the level of a c. 1100s society (despite the surrounding world remaining in the cultural and political state of roughly five hundred years prior). Logres was a leading, cosmopolitan nation populated with people from across the known world. (more…)

Anthology / Events / Flat Amount / Reprints Allowed

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Taking Submissions: The Cryptid Chronicles

Deadline: August 25th, 2020
Payment: $5 for anything under 5000 words. $10 for anything over 5000 words.
Theme: New tales of cryptid legends
Note: Reprints welcome

For generations, stories of mythological beasts have captivated the imaginations and nightmares of cultures all around the world. From Bigfoot to the Ahool, from the Chupacabra to the Giant Squid, we want your most creative cryptid stories. Whether on land or at sea, chill us to the bone with your wild imaginations. So many cryptid legends exist across the world and maybe you have a local cryptid you want the world to explore, like the Beast of Bray Road or the Loveland Frogman. Feel free to make it scary, gory, dark, or if you so desire, throw us a curveball and provide us with a scary monster that truly has a heart of gold. The only limit is your imagination…and that it must feature a cryptid, of course! 

Submission Deadline:  August 25th, 2020 

Word Count: 2,000 – 8,500. A little over or under is fine.

Payment: $5 for anything under 5000 words.                    

                   $10 for anything over 5000 words.

Important Bits

  • Include a bio or greeting with your email. We don’t need a lot, but at least let us know who you are.
  • Please send all submissions as a .docx or .rtf attachment with the subject line of your email as: DBND –  CryptidChronicles  – Story Title 
  • Stories sent after the submission deadline will be rejected unread.
  • Multiple submissions welcome.
  • Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please keep us updated on the status if your story is picked up elsewhere.
  • No extra lines between paragraphs.
  • Reprints will be considered.
  • Don’t sit on your submission! If we reach the word count for the anthology, we will close submissions early.

Send submissions to: [email protected] 

Via: DBND Publishing.

Anthology / Events / Flat Amount / Reprints Allowed

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Taking Submissions: Dogbumps Academy of Wayward Wixards

Deadline: November 1st, 2020
Payment: $10
Theme: A school of magic that accepts, promotes, and celebrates diversity. We want characters of racial, disability, gender, and sexuality diversity in this anthology. It doesn’t matter where your Dogbumps location is, and you can name the teachers and schoolmaster what you will.
Note: Reprints welcome

Editor: Jonathan W. Thurston

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

“Welcome to Dogbumps Academy of Wayward Wixards. We have locations across the globe and maybe even multiple in your country. We take in all types: Latinx, trans, disabled, lesbian, black, gay, etc. We are pleased to have you enrolled at our school and even more pleased to give you, whom society has deemed ‘lesser,’ a place where you can be celebrated just as you are.”

Wayward (adj):  difficult to control or predict because of unusual or perverse behavior

Hell no, we won’t be controlled. Or silenced.

It’s time for a school of magic that accepts, promotes, and celebrates diversity. We want characters of racial, disability, gender, and sexuality diversity in this anthology. It doesn’t matter where your Dogbumps location is, and you can name the teachers and schoolmaster what you will.

The genre or type of narrative is completely up to you. Whether spell students are trying to research a forgotten curse or the alchemy instructor is exploring polyamory with two non-witches outside the school, it’s up to you!

The rating of this anthology can go up to R, but nothing X or higher. So basically, no explicitly described sexual scenes although sex can happen. We don’t want this to be an erotic book.

Also, watch that you don’t use any copyrighted characters, names, places, spells, or ideas in your story!

World notes:

  1. The school is called Dogbumps Academy of Wayward Witches and Wizards.
  2. The school only caters to minorities in one form or fashion.
  3. The Grand Mixter of the whole Academy is Grand Mixter Silva Greaves.
  4. The four houses of Dogbumps are Danimane (red and black with a wolf), Sorafeng (green and yellow with a weasel), Azenhuff (blue and pink with a unicorn), and Mallemaw (orange and purple with a bull)
  5. Houses are assigned the first year, but people can switch houses any time and as much as they want after. The houses do not have specific characteristics officially, but your school might have similar students naturally grouping together in a house so that a house might have a stereotype at your specific location.
  6. The stories might take place in the present. No historical works (for this volume anyway).
  7. People get their acceptance letter to Dogbumps when they reach age 18, and it goes on for four to seven years, depending on what kind of degree the student wants. It’s meant to be a form of college rather than high school.

We will NOT accept:

Racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, or any other discrimination presented in a positive light.

Pedophilia presented in a positive light.

Rape, torture, dubious consent, forced seduction presented in a positive light.

Snuff or Necrophilia presented in a positive light.

Bestiality presented in a positive light.

If you are in doubt, ASK. Better to ask then to get a straight up rejection! If you are unsure, just shoot me an email at [email protected]. (restrictions borrowed from Voice: https://t.co/MWykJ6RY36)

You can submit up to three stories, but we will only accept one per author (if any).

Reprints are fine, but you have to own full permission of the work in order for us to consider it.

We will not accept simultaneous submissions.

Payment: Authors will receive 10 USD per story.

We will inform all authors regarding decisions within a week or two after the deadline.

Via: Thurston Howl Publications’s Submittable.

Audio / Flat Amount / Ongoing Submissions / Reprints Allowed

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Ongoing Submissions: The Night’s End Podcast

Payment: $5
Theme: Spooky stories
Note: Reprints Welcome

If you think that your writing has the ability to spook the pants off our listeners, then you are just
who we are looking for!
If your story is accepted, our team will work hard to transform your piece into an auditory
experience never to forget.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
o Stories must be 2,000 – 3,000 words (10% tolerance +/-).
o Submission must be in a Word document – Calibri font, size 12.
o Include a 1-2 sentence logline for your story at the beginning of the document.
o Title your email with the following format: SUBMISSION – STORY TITLE – WORDCOUNT (e.g.
SUBMISSION – THE WINDING ROAD – 1,999).
o Name and an email address are at the beginning of the document.
o By submitting your story to us, you are confirming that you are the original creator of the
story.
o Previously published stories are welcome, however this must be stated in the document. By
submitting your story to us, you are confirming that your story is now free of all exclusivity
publishing rights.
o You will be allowed to place one call-to-action for your own work at the end of the episode
(eg. website address, book release, social media address). Please ensure to include this on
your document.
o Payment per accepted story is $5 USD via Paypal. All rights remain with the author.

Please send all submissions to:
[email protected]

Via: The Night’s End.

Anthology / Contributor's Copy / Events / Reprints Allowed

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Taking Submissions: Demonic Anthologies Volume IV

Deadline: May 31st, 2020
Payment: Contributors Copy
Theme: Public Domain with a twist (see below.)
Note: Reprints welcome
Note: My apologies on the short window, just hit my inbox.

Demonic Classics: Once Upon A Debacle

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The Pitch:

Demonic Classics is quite the challenge this time around. We are looking for Authors and Writers who want to add a dark humor twist to a fanfiction angle installment. Whether you intend to retell the whole story in a shortened format or dive deep into a famous scene and unravel it from within, we want your story to be inspired by a Public Domain literary work. We expect irony, a laugh, an ‘Oh no’, and some satirical twists to unfold. This year we are looking for stories between 2,000 to 5,000 words. Do not limit yourself to the list below, but feel free to email us if you need a title checked. Gutenberg.org is a great resource for doing so!

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What stories fall into this category? Here’s a sampling:

  • Pride and Prejudice

  • The Raven

  • Moby Dick

  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

  • Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

  • Tale of Two Cities

  • Great Expectations

  • War of Worlds

  • Christmas Carol

  • Ulysses

  • Picture of Dorian Grey

  • Little Women

  • Anne of Green Gables

  • Count of Monte Cristo

  • Wuthering Heights

  • Treasure Island

  • Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  • Scarlet Letter

  • Time Machine

  • Find more here: http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top

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CURRENTLY TAKEN

  • Alice in Wonderland

  • Dracula

  • Nutcracker

  • MacBeth

  • Much to do about nothing – Shakespeare

  • Odyssey

  • Peter Pan

  • Beowulf

  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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Deadline

MAY 31st 2020 at Midnight EST

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Publications

September 2020

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Rights, Usage, Compensation?

You retain rights to the work. I am simply approving it to be added with your permission to publish it in my collection for both eBook and Paperback. We are perfectly fine if its been published before, online some place, or even if you are submitting it to others. It’s your Story and a piece you feel deserves to live in a tome on a reader’s shelf. Unfortunately, I do not have the financial means to compensate you for your work, though I hope in the future I never have to say this again. In the meantime, all authors get to purchase books at a discount and keep 100% of the profit made when selling the paperbacks in person. We also send all authors a contributors copy on us.

We will be exclusively on Amazon.com in the first 90 days in order to take advantage of marketing opportunities. Paperbacks will be created and details of how Authors can get copies will be disclosed within the final group when pricing is known. We also promise some awesome chapter header designs for each author as a way to express our gratitude along with access to some stellar memes, banners, and marketing files for you to be able to push the book.

This is our way to give back to the community and give authors, new and old, a chance to grow and reach new readers. This book is meant to be a fun writing activity as well as a fun read that promises simply, a good time!

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Submission Guidelines

  • Word Count: 2,000 to 5,000 (MAX Story Acceptance set for 25)

  • Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt, Double Line-Spaced, no double spaces between sentences

  • File Types: DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT, PDF

  • Formatting:

    • 1″ Margins all around

    • Justified body

    • Headers on page 2 and beyond with “TITLE / LAST NAME / PAGE#” aligned on Right

    • First page Left Corner: YOUR NAME, EMAIL

    • First page Right Corner: “Word Count: #”

    • First Page Center: TITLE

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And if that’s too complicated I have included here an uploadable WORD DOC for your convenience: CLICK HERE TO UPLOAD FILE! 

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Where Do I Submit?

So you’ve read as far as here huh? Before you scroll further, make sure you’ve edited and polished your work the best you can! Be sure that you read the word count range and formatted your work to reflect my requests! Why? Because this will be my first means of declining submissions and I don’t want to have to do that to anyone’s work. I expect some grammar and quirky editing spoofs, but if I can’t comfortably read through the story, then I have to also decline said work. SO, PLEASE! Take a moment and give it one last look before you submit! THANK YOU! Now that we’ve gotten the disclaimer out of the way, here’s where and how to submit:

  • Subject Line:   “BGP QUERY: TITLE HERE by YOUR NAME”

  • Write me an email! Say hello, introduce yourself, and add a short one liner (or two) blurb of what your story is about!

  • Attach File: Once more, DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT, and PDF File Formats are all I will accept. Anything else will be declined. Forgot to attach your file? Resend it! No need to panic!

  • Email:    BattleGoddessPro(at)gmail(dot)com

Via: Valerie Willis.

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