At Visibility Fiction, we’re looking for short, young adult fiction with protagonists with diverse identities. We want to read stories of characters from typically underrepresented minorities including lesbian, bisexual, gay, transsexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual people, people from racial and ethnic minorities, neuro-diverse people and people with disability.
We want young adult fiction with characters who are interesting and diverse, but we are not looking for stories that are specifically about being different.
We want fun stories, with exciting plots and great characterisation.
We are interested in young adult fiction in any genre, from contemporary, to science fiction and fantasy. For us, young adult fiction means it’s aimed at a teen audience with a teen protagonist.
Stories should be between 2000 and 5000 words, in standard manuscript format. Stories should be submitted as doc or docx files. Please ensure that your name and story title are listed in your email subject and manuscript file title.
Visibility Fiction is now a paying market, thanks to the donations of our wonderful readers – all of which go to paying our authors. We now offer $10AUD for all fiction stories, with payments made via PayPal. Note: Teen writers under 18 will be paid via a gift card of their choosing (such as Amazon), due to PayPal age restrictions.
Copyright remains with the author at all times. Visibility Fiction simply asks for the non-exclusive rights to publish your story on our website.
Bonus Points:
We do accept simultaneous submissions, but let us know as soon as possible if your work has been accepted elsewhere.
Original works are preferred, but we will consider reprints. If your work is a reprint, please include any reprint information in your submission email.
NON-FICTION
If you have an article about teens and literature, visibility in literature, the importance of inclusive culture, etc., we would love to read it and share it on our blog. Equally, if you have a personal story about your own experiences surrounding inclusive culture or lack of visibility in culture, we would love to read and share that too.
We also love sharing relevant reviews of inclusive YA novels or related texts. In the case of reviews, we are happy to publish those reblogged from your own blog or Goodreads.
Pieces for the blog should be between 500 and 1500 words and submitted as doc or docx files. Please ensure that your name and article title are listed in your email subject and manuscript file title.
We are not currently offering payment for non-fiction blog posts. However, as is the case for fiction and artwork, we do offer exposure and provide authors/artists with a profile page, which can include a photo, bio, and links to personal sites and social media.
We love reading diverse YA fiction. If you’re an author with a book you’d like reviewed, send us the blurb and relevant links and we’ll let you know if we would be interested in a review copy.
According to Wikipedia, the pulp “magazines were best known for their lurid and exploitative stories and sensational cover art. Modern superhero comic books are sometimes considered descendants of ‘hero pulps’; pulp magazines often featured illustrated novel-length stories of heroic characters, such as The Shadow, Doc Savage, and The Phantom Detective.”
Pulp magazines, and the self-named pulp fiction which appeared in them was often seen as low quality, run of the mill literature. Literature for the masses.
In the context of Crimson Streets, Pulp is not a genre. It is not to be confused with Hard Boiled Detective fiction or Noir Fiction, although these themselves may be considered pulp.
Fiction
Crimson Streets is looking for fiction with a focus on action and atmosphere over characterization. Stores can fall into the adventure, aviation, detective/mystery, fantasy, hard-boiled, gangster, horror/occult, masked vigilante, noir, railroad, romance/spicy, and war genres. We publish everything that could fall under the banner of pulp with the exception of Science Fiction and Westerns. Science Fiction and Westerns are special cases and deserve their own homes. That’s not to say that stories from other genres couldn’t have Science Fiction or Western elements, after all where would Dick Tracy be without his wrist radio or a mad scientist be without his planet destroying device?
The central conceit of Crimson Streets, is that it is being published not in today’s world, but in a darker, grittier version of the 1930s or 40s. Where possible, language should reflect the time period.
We are looking for stories from 800 to 6,000 words. We are not interested in poetry, fan-fiction, or stories that fall outside of the broad umbrella of pulp. (If you think your fiction could win an award or be taught in an English class, then it’s probably not suited forCrimson Streets.) A work of fiction should be a quick read. While publishers of a more literary bent intend to be the “art house cinema” of the short fiction world, we intend to be the “action movie at the cineplex.”
We may be interested in serializing longer works such as novellas, but these only accepted if complete, and then broken down for publication.
Articles
In addition to fiction, Crimson Streets will also publish a limited number of articles on topics related to the pulps. Ideas that come immediately to mind are on “Law Enforcement in the Pulp Story” or “A Guide to 1930s and 40s Slang”. Any article that would help an aspiring author of pulp stories may be of interest to us.
Submission Format
We do not accept print submissions. Every submission should be accompanied by query letter in which you briefly describe your submission in one or two paragraphs. Be sure to provide your address, phone number, and email address. Please send your submission in either a Microsoft Word (.doc) file in Rich Text Format (.rtf).
Rates
Crimson Streets is a web now/print later publication. When stories and articles are accepted, they first appear on the web site atwww.crimsonstreets.com in the new fiction feed. From time to time anthology editions of Crimson Streets will be printed that collect the stories and articles from the web site.
Our standard rate is 1 cent per word of final, edited length to be paid on posting to the new fiction feed. Payments are made by PayPal where possible. Payment is made within 30 days of acceptance and delivery of final copy.
Artwork
Art, with the exception of one-shot cartoons and covers, is commissioned specifically for each article. We maintain a file of portfolios from artists who are interested in working with us. We refer to the file when we have an article that requires illustration. The goal is to match the article with the artist whose style is best suited to the task.
We do our best to make illustrating Crimson Streets an interesting job for the artist. Rather than dictate specific illustrations, we try to provide several possible scenes from which the illustrator can choose. We also welcome illustration suggestions from the artist. Our belief is that a work you wish to create is going to be much better than one you are ordered to create.
Art should be delivered electronically via email, DropBox, Google Drive, or like service.
Cartoons
As mentioned, one-shot cartoons are the only work that we purchase straight from submissions. We pay the stunning rate of $10 for single panel cartoons under the same terms as articles and stories. Cartoons can deal with any subject linked to noir, hardboiled detective, masked vigilante, pulp adventure, or associated genres.
Covers
Admittedly, the cover is the glamour spot for artists. Covers are contracted a little differently than interior illustrations. Let us know if you are interested in being considered for cover work. Usually, we will ask to see some samples of your work and perhaps a rough sketch or two. Covers should be provocative, at least by the standards of the 1930s and 40s with a cover-much but hide-little aesthetic.
Rates
For black and white illustrations, our standard rate is $40 for full page, $20 for half-page and $10 for spot illustrations. Rates for color work are negotiable. We usually pay around $100 for cover art.
Portfolios
Please do not send us original work unless you already have a contract with us. Your portfolio should contain a representative sampling of your style or styles. The majority of the illustrations inCrimson Streets are black and white, but we do also use limited color work. Please include samples of both, though you may wish to emphasize the monochromatic pieces. We look not only for overall quality in a portfolio, but also consistency.
Rights
By sending your submission to Crimson Streets you are offering us the right to first publication of the work in any format; perpetual rights to publish the work thereafter across multiple editions, formats, and media either singularly or in combination with other works; and exclusive rights to the work for eighteen (18) months from date of first publication.
Crimson Streets
℅ Roger & Janet Carden
7120 Apple Mill Road
Efland, NC 27243
Thank you
Again, we would like to thank you for your interest. For us, working with our contributors is one of the greatest rewards of publishing a magazine. We look forward to seeing your work soon.
Payment: 6¢ per word for new fiction, and 2¢ per word for reprints and fact-based work.
Reprints Allowed
Writers Guidelines
We accept new work as well as reprints, anywhere from 1000 word flash fiction on up, but as we are just starting, shorter pieces will be favored. We have tough standards but only care about the quality of the writing, characters, plot, and ideas, not whether you’re new or established. Only submit finished work you are proud of. Commensurate with the time available, if we don’t accept your submission we’ll explain why.
We are following the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) guidelines; after one year of meeting their criteria they will retroactively qualify us as a pro site and new work printed during that year will count towards a writer’s SWFA qualifications. We pay 6¢ per word for new fiction, and 2¢ per word for reprints and fact-based work.
Fiction
We are looking for well written original stories in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. We’re accept both serious and humorous work. We like science fiction in all its states of matter, from solid to gaseous to plasma, i.e., from hard as steel to as insubstantial as interstellar space. If you use real existing science, please get it right.
We’re not looking for angsty romance, fanfics*, horror, hate, blood & guts, excessive violence, sex, axe-grinding, or stories that leave readers feeling they’ve had the energy and joy sucked out of them.
Fact
We are looking for fact-based articles, interesting information, reviews, and humor in any discipline that relates to the type of stories we publish or might provide inspiration and information for writers and artists.
Artwork and Other Imagery
We’re looking for storytelling through images. We want to see skillful composition, use of color, rendering of form, character, and emotions. For photo manipulations or photography using models, etc., all stock and resources used must be credited and used according to the stock provider’s rules.
We are not presently commissioning any work. We are looking only for already existing work for use on site pages or for illustrating stories. We pay $10 for the non-exclusive right to use each image, for as long as the site is online. If we publish a print collection we will pay a pro-rata share for each image used.
Just as for written works, we’re not looking for romance, fan art*, hate, horror, blood & guts, excessive violence, sex, nudity, copies of photographs, propaganda, or work that leave readers feeling they’ve had the energy and joy sucked out of them. We do not accept work using materials that required the death or mistreatment of animals.
*If the original work is still in copyright and was not commissioned or sanctioned by the creator or owner we will not accept it. Some fan art is accepted or encouraged by the copyright owners — e.g., cosplay, and these works we welcome.
An illustration of a fairy tale, myth, legend, old classic, or any work no longer in copyright would not be counted as fan art.
No simultaneous submissions, and no multiple submissions to the same genre. Please include title, medium, size, and any remarks relevant to the work’s creation.
Submit text in .doc and images as a jpg or through a link. Provide links to all stock used. For video, if possible send links, and have it available in both MP4 and WEBM formats for compatibility across all browsers.
On the submissions page, remember to check that you agree with the terms of our guidelines before you submit.
Interstellar submitters please use standard Earth formats or query in advance for other arrangements. We’d love to be the first to publish your work here on Earth!
After reading our guidelines you can enter the submissions page here
Payment: $20 for original stories
$10 for reprints
Reprints Allowed
Note: Don’t let the date in their submissions on the first issue fool you, they’re still active.
Guidelines for Outposts of Beyond
We’ll keep it simple.
Outposts of Beyond is a quarterly digest published by Alban Lake Publishing in January, April, July, and October. The first issue will be released on 1 July 2013. The format is full-sized, perfect-bound magazine, 8 1/2 by 11, color cover and b&w interior. Cover price is $8.00 unless it is a special double issue. Subscriptions are $27 for one year, $50 for two years. Magazines and subscriptions are available in our bookstore.
Outposts of Beyond publishes original science fiction and fantasy short stories, poems, art, articles, reviews, and interviews. Preferred are adventure stories, space opera, and magic opera [like space opera, but fantasy]. Also preferred are stories that take place on other worlds. Stories must have the following: characters the reader cares about, plots and subplots, and settings that draw the reader into them. Must have.
Submit your work to [email protected] In the subject line of the e-mail, put Submission plus your last name and the title of the work submitted [if poems, just put “poems.”] E.g., “Submission: Asimov Nightfall.” Submit your story or article as an rtf, doc, or docx attachment. Submit poem[s] either in the body of the e-mail or in an attachment. Submit art as a jpeg attachment.
Note: Put your contact information in the upper left corner of your manuscript AND in your e-mail. Put the approximate word count in the upper right corner of your manuscript. Contact information example is:
Edgar Montrose,
1101 Kaboom Street,
Mushroom, NY 12117
Note: If your submission does not include your contact information, Alban Lake Publishing reserves the right to delete your submission unread and without notifying you.
Stories:
Outposts of Beyond considers stories between 3,000 and 8,000 words long. We pay $20 for original stories, $10 for reprints. At most, we will publish one reprint per issue.
Poems:
Outposts of Beyond considers poems between 12 and 100 lines long. We pay $4.00 for original poems, $2.00 for reprints. At most, we will publish one reprint per issue. We do not consider scifaiku or related forms.
Art:
Outposts of Beyond considers color cover art and interior art. We pay $20 for cover art, $6 for interior illustrations. We prefer art that suggests a story, rather than “portrait” art. It’s often best if the artist has a gallery we can browse; just send us the link, and we’ll check it out and get back to you.
Articles:
Outposts of Beyond considers articles, which includes reviews and interviews as well as essays having something to do with science, science fiction, or fantasy. We are not interested in summaries, or copies of information from the Internet. Pick a topic–sciencey, or fantasy, or movie, or book, or person [interview]–and tell us what you think about it. Go into detail. If appropriate, cite examples. Note: if you are doing a review, state your position on it. If you disliked something, say so. Be fair, but be accurate. Also note: reviews of movies need to be timely.
We consider articles between 1,500 and 8,000 words long. We pay $10 for original articles.
There you have it. Again, we must insist on guideline compliance. Now, let’s see whatcha got.
Payment: Exact rate may differ between issues until feasible model is found. Payment at this time is $20 per article.
The unofficial theme of the magazine is “Why Horror?”
We are looking for non-fiction articles about the genre written by the people who generally think most about it.
Interested contributors must submit a short proposal to the editors outlining the proposed topic. It needn’t be long, just so long as it communicates the topic and the goals of the essay. This will help prevent repetition, or work on something that ultimately does not fit the journal’s intentions.
When imagining ideas for the journal, please keep in mind the idea of ‘timelessness’. In other words, material that would date the journal isn’t encouraged, unless a strong case can be made for it. The hope/goal of the journal is to have its issues remain releveant in perpetuity.
The sorts of articles we envision/encourage:
• analysis of specific authors and how their work illuminates the genre as a whole
• discussions of movements like Splatterpunk and New Weird
• essays on the different facets of horror (i.e. Nightmare Horror, Folk Horror)
• interviews with authors and editors about the genre and how it works, and its goals
• observational essays by writers and critics about how they view horror and what horror means to them
Essentially, we want to read a series of meditations on the genre, on what it means, on its history and its future. We want to see analysis from across the spectrum. We want this to be a premiere venue for horror and weird scholarship.
WORD COUNT: 1,000 words or more
PAYMENT: “Thinking Horror” is a paying market. Exact rate may differ between issues until feasible model is found. Payment at this time is $20 per article.
SUGGESTIONS: The editors would like to hear your ideas, but if you need help, any of the below would make for fascinating reading (where appropriate to issue theme):
“A Thousand Black Eyes: The Masculinity of Horror in the Work of Cornell Woolrich.”
“I Don’t Care if I’m Here Tomorrow: Exploring the Relationship Between Nihilism and Homosocial Concepts of Family in Post-Aids America Through the Work of Poppy Z. Brite.”
“Blood Splattered Black Denim: Examining the Liminal Between the Contemporary Literatures of Crime and Horror.”
“Bones, Bodies, and Clock Hands: Defining Depravity As Context Within A Longing for Place and The Socioeconomic Legacy of Jeffrey Dahmer in Joyce Carol Oates’ ‘Zombie’ and Poppy Z. Brite’s ‘Exquisite Corpse.’”
“When They Do I’ll Be Right Behind You: Phobophobia and Phobophila in the Work of Ramsey Campbell.”
“All the Dark You Can Stand: Nyctophobia and Nyctophilia in the Work of Laird Barron”
“Every Little Thing Is Wrong/Wronged: Perception and the Rejection of an Authentic Reality in the Work of Terry Lamsley.”
“Under Skin(s)- Cities of Bone and Muscle: Shifting Physicality as Manifestation of Queer Impulse in the Early Work of Clive Barker.”
“What Burns Never Returns: The Spenserian Sublime and the Fable Structure in Simon Strantzas’ ‘These Last Embers.’”
“We’ll See What We See: Animism, Animal Imagery, and the World Invisible in the Works of Peter Straub.”
“Beyond the Past and the Past Beyond: The Intersection and Overlap of the Spectral and the Weird in Fritz Leiber’s ‘Our Lady of Darkness.’”
“Your Son Consumed, Your Daughter Drowned: The Rhetoric of Paternal Death Anxiety in the Work of Tim Lebbon.”
All submissions are OPEN. Please read these guidelines carefully before submitting – they have recently changed
Capricious publishes short speculative fiction and essays about speculative fiction and related topics. Read on for more details about what we’re looking for and how to submit.
Fiction
We err towards the literary/experimental/slipstream side of speculative fiction, but appreciate a strong plot as much as anyone. We welcome stories told in second person, with unusual tenses, or other less common language choices
We publish both themed and unthemed issues. We are always open to stories that do not fit into our current themes, but are currently particularly looking for stories that include or are centered around the following:
We do not have deadlines for these themes – they will be removed from these guidelines once the issue has been filled – but we will always welcome stories on these topics for our unthemed issues.
We actively welcome stories written by people from marginalised groups, and representations of characters from such groups. We are very happy to publish stories using gender neutral pronouns.
Stories should be around 3000-5000 words (we’re flexible with works close to this range, but don’t send us flash or your latest novel).
Payment is a flat US$50 made by Paypal.
How to submit
No reprints or simultaneous submissions. Multiple submissions are welcome but please submit each work separately.
Please present your work in a clear, easy to read format and submit in .doc, .docx or .rtf format. Calibri or Times New Roman are preferable to Courier, but we won’t be basing any decisions on font unless you choose something truly ridiculous.
A cover letter isn’t required, but some basic autobiographical information or a link to your website would be appreciated. If you do write a cover letter you can address it to “Hi Andi”, “Dear Editor”, “Hey there”, “Dear Mx Buchanan” or some variant of the above.
Our response times are currently between one day and four weeks – please don’t read anything into how long it takes us to respond, it’s mostly just chance. In some cases we may hold your submission for further consideration; we will let you know if this is the case. If you haven’t heard from us after four weeks, feel free to query [email protected], but please do not submit to this address.
Please use our Submissions Form to submit your work. We appreciate it if you log your submission at Duotrope or The Grinder, and we’ll occasionally tweet submissions stats as well.
Non-fiction
We’re looking for essays and articles of around 3-5000 words relating to aspects of speculative fiction. We’re especially interested in in-depth discussions of a theme across a number of works of fiction, explorations of the work of under-recognised marginalised authors and well crafted personal essays on the relationship between the essay author’s experiences and a work or works of speculative fiction. Discussions of disability and non-normative bodies in speculative fiction are particularly welcome. We want to see personal and/or critical enagagement with the topic rather than simple biographical or other descriptive articles.
We’re unlikely to be interested in stories of your own writing journey or articles detailing recent controversies in fandom. These have their place, and can be very valuable, but as a general rule they’re not for us. We’re not interested in reviews or “how to write” articles.
If you have an idea you’d like to pitch, or a blog post or similar you’d like to rework into an essay, please feel free to email us at [email protected] While we’re unlikely to commit to works on this basis, we will be able to give you an indication of if it’s a good fit for us. (Please note this applies to non-fiction only – please submit fiction as above.)
How to submit
No reprints or simultaneous submissions. Multiple submissions are welcome but please submit each work separately.
Please present your work in a clear, easy to read format and submit in .doc, .docx or .rtf format. Calibri or Times New Roman are preferable to Courier, but we won’t be basing any decisions on font unless you choose something truly ridiculous.
A cover letter isn’t required, but some basic autobiographical information or a link to your website would be appreciated. If you do write a cover letter you can address it to “Hi Andi”, “Dear Editor”, “Hey there”, “Dear Mx Buchanan” or some variant of the above.
Our response times are currently between one day and four weeks – please don’t read anything into how long it takes us to respond, it’s mostly just chance. In some cases we may hold your submission for further consideration; we will let you know if this is the case. If you haven’t heard from us after four weeks, feel free to query [email protected], but please do not submit to this address.
Please use our Submissions Form to submit your work. We appreciate it if you log your submission at Duotrope or The Grinder, and we’ll occasionally tweet submissions stats as well.
