Deadline: May 2nd, 2021
Payment: $10
Theme: Atmospheric horror that is emphasizes disturbing and suggestive settings

Submissions: OPEN (Inaugural Issue)

• Submission deadline for our first issue: Sunday, May 2nd, 2021, 11:59p.

• Editorial decisions: Sunday, June 6th, 2021.

• Publication of inaugural issue: Friday, August 20th, 2021

Fiction Length: We prefer short, compressed stories that are nevertheless complete and cohesive narratives (1500 to 2500 words). These limits are firm. No more, no less.

Fiction Style: We prefer atmospheric horror that is emphasizes disturbing and suggestive settings. We prefer renderings of supernatural horror to be artfully sketchy and sublime. Documentary descriptions of monstrosity rarely works for us. We generally prefer the first person perspective. We are open to experimental narrative techniques.

Poetry Length and Form: Submit up to three short poems, no more than 500 words of verse total. We are open to both formal and free verse poetry. We have a soft spot for sonnets.

Publication, payment, and rights: Issues will be published as .pdf files. If work is selected for publication in WITCH HOUSE, authors will (1) be paid an honorarium of $10 and (2) will be asked to provide, by contract, “First North American Serial Rights.” In our opinion, this means that copyright is NOT transferred. All copyright stays with you, the writer; however, you will have sold/transferred a form of “exclusive use rights” called “First North American Serial Rights” (FNASR). This is the right to publish your unpublished work for the first time, and ONLY the first time, no more. The important thing to remember is that some professional publications may ask for FNASR upon acceptance of a specific work; you are not legally permitted to provide those for that specific work after publication in WITCH HOUSE, for you have already rendered their use to us. In other words, once you publish a work in WITCH HOUSE, that works’ associated FNASR have been sold/transferred. You CAN publish your previously published work elsewhere as a reprint but only as long as that publication does not require FNASR. This is a long way of saying that WITCH HOUSE is an amateur publication, meant for showcasing emerging talent for the consideration of professional markets (which is why we kept the word count so low). In essence: save your best work for higher paying markets!

Submit: Proofread standard manuscripts should be sent to the editor/publisher, Jason Ray Carney, at jrcarney52 [at] gmail [dot] com as .doc or .docx attachments. Include the following subject line: “WITCH HOUSE: [Last Name].” Please keep cover letters brief. A story title and a one- or two-sentence bio is sufficient.

Via: Witch House Magazine.