Splickety fills gaps in the modern reader’s day with concise, poignant fiction under 1,000 words. We want stories that hit fast and strike hard––stories that, no matter the genre, can cut through the day’s troubles and grip readers with short attention spans. The most basic way to improve your chances of getting published with us is to adhere to the following submission guidelines:
LENGTH:
- Your well-edited story should be between 300 and 1,000 words long and it should fit one of our scheduled Upcoming Themes.
- Each magazine will feature one Nano-fiction story of 100 words or less in our Nano Corner. If you can write a complete story in 100 or fewer words that fits with one of our magazine’s themes, send it to us.
- HINT: Due to design and layout restrictions, we can only publish a few stories longer than 700 words per issue. If you want to increase your chances of getting published with us, send us stories that are 700 words or less!
In other words, we acquire for each issue approximately 12 stories, with the breakdown as follows:
701 – 1,000 word stories — 2-3 stories acquired
500 – 700 word stories — 8-10 stories acquired
< 100 words — 1 story acquired
FLASH FICTION RESOURCE & SAMPLE ISSUE: The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction is the best place to learn the fundamentals and intricacies of flash fiction if you’re new to the genre. Also, we encourage you to download (for free) and read our fourth issue of Splickety Magazine so you can get a feel for how a well-written flash fiction story should flow.
WE DO NOT PUBLISH:
- Previously published flash fiction
- Scenes/excerpts/synopses from novels
- Excessive violence, profanity, or erotica in any form. Splickety publishes from an open-minded worldview, but we do have our limits.
- Conversely, we don’t want thinly-veiled stories that preach from a soapbox of any sort, whether it be political, religious, or otherwise.
How to Submit to Us
- Familiarize yourself with our imprints (each magazine imprint publishes different genres).
- Review our upcoming themes and be sure you have a story that fits one of them. Otherwise, your submission may get lost in our slush pile.
- Review our requirements for manuscript and email formatting.
- We only accept submissions via email, unless other arrangements have been made. Send your story as an email attachment (NOT in the body of the email) to Josh Smith at [email protected]. IMPORTANT: Add @splickety.com to your allowed senders list, or our reply may go to your junk/spam email folder.
For multiple submissions, please send separate emails.
We primarily accept original, unpublished work by freelance writers, but we will also entertain submissions from artists, graphic designers, and photographers. Email [email protected] to inquire about art and photo submissions.
RESPONSE TIME: We review submissions during the weeks surrounding each issue’s submission deadline. Because our themes are posted far in advance of these deadlines, it is possible that you may not get a response (other than our standard “we received your submission”) for several months after you submit a story. Please note the submission deadline for the issue you are targeting and expect to hear from us within a few weeks after that date.
If Your Story is Acquired
RIGHTS: Splickety retains the rights to your story for six months from publication date and reserve the right to reprint the same issue in which your story appears in perpetuity, but after that six month period ends you have full rights to your story again. Other terms are delineated in our contract, which we will send to you upon acquisition of your story.
PAYMENT: We pay our authors $0.02 per word via PayPal, and you will receive one complimentary print copy of the magazine. Additional copies may be purchased at-cost, and author payments may be applied toward the purchase of additional copies.
AUTHOR BIO & PHOTO: If your story is selected for publication, you will need to send as an attachment a high-resolution headshot (at least 300 dpi .jpg or .tif file). Your headshot should be professional—no “selfies,” props, or excessive shadows. Any related artwork, photo(s) (also high-resolution .jpg or .png files) should also be attached to the email. You must own the rights to all images you send to us, including those of your headshots.
Before You Submit
Double check to make sure you’re fulfilling all guidelines. If you don’t, we won’t read your story until you resend it in the prescribed format.
Please see our story Submission Deadline page for upcoming issue deadlines. Remember, your story should fit one of our Upcoming Themes.
Should we select one of your works for publication, we will notify you via email. If you don’t hear from us within 6-8 weeks after the submission deadline for the issue you were targeting, feel free to follow up on your submission.
Thank you for your interest in our publications. Please contact us with any questions or submissions at [email protected].
