March 4th, 2019
Payment: 500 to 1000 words (flash fiction): $5, 1000 to 3000 words (microfiction or short stories): $10, 3000 to 5000 words (short stories): $25, 7000 to 10,000 words (novelettes): $50

We are looking for short stories about any kind of creatures you want: animals, insects, arachnids (all giant or otherwise), dinosaurs, aliens, monsters, cryptids, legends, mythical, mythological, whatever strikes your fancy. We really want you to go outside of the usual box that we see in fiction. Sure, you can have classic vampires or aliens, werewolves or unicorns, but the story needs to be new and fresh, something that hasn’t been thought of before or hasn’t been worked with a lot. The story should fit in any of the the genres of fantasy, horror, mystery, and science-fiction.

The submission period is January 4 through March 4, 2019. Short stories should be 500 to 5000 words, no more. PLEASE DON’T ASK ABOUT MORE WORDS. This is due to bandwidth and limits on our website. (If you have a story you think will fit that is over the word limit, see if you can edit your story down to fit the word count.) All stories will be published electronically only both on our website and as Kindle anthologies on May 23, 2019.

We are also looking for novelettes. We will be picking ONE novelette as the final story for each genre anthology. Novelettes should be between 7000 and 10,000 words. Your novelette should be something that really catches us, perhaps that touches our hearts, horrifies us in a new way, has a profound vision of technology or the future, or  baffles us with a twist or shocking revelation.

PAYMENT:

500 to 1000 words (flash fiction): $5

1000 to 3000 words (microfiction or short stories): $10

3000 to 5000 words (short stories): $25

7000 to 10,000 words (novelettes): $50

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

We require 500 to 5000 words as a short story only or 7000 to 10,000 words as a novelette only. WORD COUNT IS FINAL. NO LONGER OR SHORTER STORIES WILL BE CONSIDERED AND WILL BE IMMEDIATELY REJECTED. PLEASE DON’T ASK ABOUT MORE WORDS. This is due to bandwidth limits on our website. (If you have a story that you think will fit that is over the word limit, see if you can edit your story down to fit the word count.)

We are NOT looking for poetry, audio files, fan fiction, supernatural romance, straight erotica, or excessive sex, gore and violence. Elements of romance, erotica, sex, gore and/or violence are okay, since obviously there’s going to be a bit of a mess if your creature eats anyone. Any stories with extreme elements will be noted as such for our readers. If you want to understand the types of story we publish, look to OUR LIBRARY for reference.

Multiple submissions are okay as long as they are in separate genres. You can submit to all four genres, one story each, if you would like. You may submit up to two stories to the same genre ONLY IF you have one short story and one novelette for consideration.

Please use standard manuscript formatting for your story. Click here for how to format your story for submission.

Email your submission as an attachment to [email protected] with the subject CREATURES SUBMISSION – AUTHOR NAME – GENRE TYPE – STORY TYPE. Example: your horror short story would be submitted as Creatures Submission – Edgar Allan Poe – Horror – Short Story.

As this is a short submission period, reprints are okay as long as the writer has legally received rights back to their story. Simultaneous submissions are also accepted.

SUBMISSIONS CLOSE MARCH 4, NO EXCEPTIONS.

THE FINE PRINT:

Stories will be published as text only on the Tell-Tale Press website and in Kindle anthologies for sale for 99 cents on Amazon. These are the only formats they will be used for. Stories will remain online indefinitely.

Writers will retain all rights to their story and therefore can submit them to other publications or reprint them as they so desire.

Payment will be rendered via PayPal within 30 days of being published online or sooner. Please provide a valid email address for payment.

Via: Tell-Tale Press.