Deadline: February 14th, 2022
Payment: $150 upfront payment; 40% royalties
Theme: General Horror, prefers Weird, Cosmic (though generally not the Cthulhu Mythos), Folk, and Body Horror.
Note: Send in pitches only
Note: I dropped the ball on this and meant to post on February 1st, my apologies.

**This is a pitch call. Please do not submit full story manuscripts (more info on this below)**

*Open February 1 – February 14. Submissions sent before or after will be deleted unread.*

Background/About: Dread Stone Press is seeking novelette length horror stories for an as yet untitled “Novelette Split Book Series”. Each book in the series will contain two novelette length stories from different authors. The goal is to provide an outlet for that “hard-to-sell” length of story, as well as give more individual exposure to authors in a multi-author setting. Remember Split Albums/EPs that the music industry used to do? Kind of like that.

The initial plan is to release two of these books this year to gauge interest and measure success. If they prove worthwhile, the series will continue into next year with more books released. One author has already been invited and will appear in Volume 1 of the Split Series. So, this call will be selecting three additional stories. All of that said, if you don’t have anything ready right now, don’t fret! There will *most likely* be another pitch call for this series later in 2022.

Theme: No specific theme required; consider this a general horror call. However, subgenres I (Alex) like to read: Weird, Cosmic (though generally not the Cthulhu Mythos), Folk, and Body Horror.

Length: 10,000 – 20,000 words will be considered, though stories closer to 15,000 words preferred.

Author Compensation: $150 upfront payment; 40% royalties (Meaning each book’s royalties will be 40/40/20 with the two featured authors getting the larger share, DSP getting 20%); royalties earned immediately upon publication (i.e. NOT paid against advance) and distributed quarterly.

Publication: Paperback and ebook

Rights: First English language rights for print, electronic, and web. Twelve (12) month exclusivity after publication. Non-exclusive rights thereafter.

Original stories ONLY. No reprints. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but NO multiple submissions.

How to Submit: **This is a Pitch Call** To go with your brief cover letter, include a pitch (~one paragraph/2-4 sentences) for your story in the body of the email. As a Word document attachment, include the first ~1000 words of your novelette. Please, for everyone’s sake, do not pitch unless you already have a complete manuscript that has been critiqued/edited/proofed. You will not be submitting the full manuscript, but if it is requested there is an expectation for a quick (<1 week) turnaround.

Email your submission to [email protected] with “SPLIT – [Story Title] – [Author Name]” in the subject line.

Other Considerations: Only three stories will be selected from this open call (to go with the one story invited), and how each set of two stories pair together will be a large factor in the decision. I hope to have all rejections and full manuscript requests sent out by the end of February.

Via: Dread Stone Press.