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Taking Submissions: Scare Street

July 25, 2020

Deadline: July 25th, 2020
Payment: $10
Theme: Stories that are dark, literary; we are looking for the creepy, the weird and the unsettling
Note: Reprints accepted

Scare Street is accepting submissions for short horror stories with a focus on ghosts, the supernatural, paranormal, monsters, and dark tales.

Short stories must be 3,000-7,000 words and will be included in a collection totaling 50,000 to 65,000 words.  These stories will be published in e-book, paperback and audiobook formats.

WHO ARE WE?
Scare Street is a horror publishing company dedicated in helping fellow horror lovers experience sleepless nights. We’ve been around since September 2015 and have published 180+ e-book and paperback titles along with 110+ audiobooks (and counting!).

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

Get visibility from thousands of horror readers. We will promote your work on our email list (23,000+ active subscribers), Facebook Page (17,000+ followers), Facebook Group (7,000+ members), Pinterest (600k+ monthly views) and the rest of our social media channels.

Work with an experienced publisher. We’ve been publishing high quality manuscripts, non-stop for 4 years. We’ve worked out the kinks and know what it takes to bring stories to the masses, operationally. And marketing, too (see the point on visibility).

Distribution in e-book, print and audiobook formats. You’ll also receive a complimentary digital e-book and audiobook formats when they’re published. Note: These cannot be distributed without written permission.

Non-exclusive rights. Keep your rights and sell your work again! We’re looking to purchase non-exclusive license so you’re free to continually distribute your story and/or sell your stories to other publishers.

We accept reprints. Dust off your old horror stories. We’ll happily bring them back from the dead.

Jump to the top of our queue. Stories willing to be offered for a 6 month to a 1-year e-book exclusivity period will jump to the top of our submissions pile. These can be reprints as long as they’re not available anywhere else in digital format. Although payment will be the same $10 for every 1,000 words prorated, immediate preference and review is given to these stories.

Straightforward payment. We pay $10 for every 1,000 words prorated, $50 for every 5,000 words prorated, and so on. There’s no waiting for royalties to trickle in, or confusion over whether you’ll get paid and for what amount.

No queue – drastically increase your chances of being published! Despite 180+ published titles, this is actually the first time we’re opening up for submissions. That means we don’t have a submissions review queue at the moment, so do NOT hesitate on applying!
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WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

  • Short stories with 3,000-7,000 words

  • All submissions must be in English

  • We go for stories that are dark, literary; we are looking for the creepy, the weird and the unsettling
  • Stories with clever, but logical twists at the end

  • New ideas and unusual writing styles, but without falling into traps of contrivance and cliché

  • Stories showing more of the action rather than just telling the reader what happens

  • Believable dialogues and minimal use of dialects/slang
  • Up to a 2 story submissions max per author per submission period. Additional stories will be left unread

WHAT WE’RE NOT LOOKING FOR

  • Shorts with a lot of spelling and grammar errors

  • Stories that are not horror, dark fantasy or some form of disturbing fiction

  • Fan fiction
  • Sex is fine, but total erotica and torture are not

  • Stories that include intolerance of a person or group’s race, religion, nationality, physical or mental ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation

  • ​Gratuitous gore and violence with no purpose – blood and guts are fine as long as there’s something deeper

  • ​Stories that glorify, minimize, or inaccurately represent child abuse, animal abuse, or sexual assault
  • Extreme use of foul language. Use of foul language must be minimal as it loses its punch if over-used

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DEADLINE
Submissions will be accepted from June 24, 2020 through July 25, 2020, 11:59PM PST. Most submissions will receive a response within 30 days after the submission deadline, although it could take more time for consideration purposes. Feel free to send a query to [email protected] if you haven’t heard anything in 60 days.

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT

  • 12 pt. Courier New or Times New Roman font Double spaced

  • Include author’s name, title, and word count on the first page. Follow traditional Shunn format: www.shunn.net/format

  • ​Indicate the end of manuscript with three stars (***)
  • Submission must be in Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx)
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SIMULTANEOUS / MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS
Simultaneous submissions (submitting the same stories to other publishers at the same time) are allowed. If you have submitted an unpublished work AND are opting for exclusivity, please let us know as soon as possible if submission is accepted or published by another publisher. If we select your story AND you’ve opted for exclusivity, please remove the work from consideration elsewhere immediately.
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RESPONSE TIME
Author will be notified once story has been accepted or rejected via email. If accepted, we’ll be in touch with contract and publication details. Most submissions will receive a response within 30 days after the submission deadline (July 25, 2020), although it could take more time for consideration purposes. Feel free to ask if you haven’t heard anything in 60 days at [email protected] with the subject line “Awaiting Response: [Your Submission Title]”
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HOW TO APPLY
Please fill out the Google Form by clicking the button below:

Google Form

DO NOT email us your submission. We will only consider submissions through the Google Form link above. Each author can only submit up to two stories within the submission period.

Via: Scare Street.

Details

Date:
July 25, 2020