Taking Submissions: Short Story Substack November 2024 Window (Early Listing)
Short Story SubstackSubmission Window: November 1st - 30th, 2024 Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue Theme: Any genre, short story Mission = Revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful. Payout = Base Pay of $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Wait, you mean if this substack gets thousands of subscribers, the winner would get thousands of dollars? Yes! The New Yorker pays roughly $7,500 per story and I sincerely hope to go way past that. What does the timeline look like? Submit stories by the end of the month, winner to be announced on the 15th. There is ONE story that wins and receives the full payout. Where do I send submissions? [email protected] What are the rules for submitting? 1. No Fees 2. Send in Microsoft Word or Google Doc form 3. Any genre 4. 6- 10,000 words. Yes, just 6 words, like Hemingway's famous 6-word story "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." 5. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute. 6. Acknowledge Distribution Rights on this Substack - You can still sell your story elsewhere but we need to be able to save and publish it here. The goal is to create a library for subscribers. 7. Only the winner will be published and rights will only transfer for the winning story. What do I get for subscribing? One beautiful story every month. The complete library. The joy of supporting artists and doing something interesting. What if I can’t pay right now? That’s ok! If you publish a blurb about this site on your website, blog, or social media, I will send you one full story of your choosing. Best of all, it is...
Taking Submissions: Flashpoint Science Fiction 2024 Drabble Open Window
Flash Point Science FictionSubmission Window: November 1st - 30th, 2024 Payment: $0.02 per word Theme: Science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between that are exactly 100 words Note: Reprints Welcome Story Guidelines Flash Point Science Fiction wants speculative fiction stories from 100 to 1,000 words in length (For Drabbles: Exactly 100-words!). Send us your science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between, so long as it’s short. We here at FPSF are partial to flash fiction and want to see the flash market grow. So as much as it pains us, please take your 10,000 word tour de force elsewhere. We’re not looking for the next Brandon Sanderson. (Unless you are, in fact, Brandon Sanderson, in which case we’d be delighted!) What we’re looking for: -Fantasy (all kinds—epic, adventure, contemporary, urban, grimdark, fairy tale, magical realism, myths and legends, etc.) -Science Fiction (all kinds—hard, space opera, military, near future, science fantasy, cyberpunk, dystopian, etc.) -Slipstream (make it as weird as you want, so long as it works) -Seasonal (we love stories with holiday and/or seasonal themes, but please submit AT LEAST 3 months in advance of the relevant occasion) -Anything that makes us laugh, cry, think, or smile. What we aren’t looking for: -Horror—it can be spooky or menacing, but we’re not a horror market, so the fright factor should not be the primary appeal. DARK fantasy and sci-fi, however, are welcome. -Literary fiction—this is a genre market, so there needs to be an SF&F element, however slight. -Gratuitous sex or violence—we’re big fans of Love Death + Robots, but don’t be that guy. -Fanfic—original concepts only, please. We know there was a lot going on in Hobbiton while Frodo was away, but that’s not our property and it’s not yours either. -Stories previously published in a different language. Submission Specs In terms...
Taking Submissions: Stories To Take To Your Grave #3 High Seas Edition
Undertaker BooksSubmission Window: November 1st - 30th, 2024 Payment: $25 and a contributors copy Theme: Stories of pirates, sea monsters, deserted islands, the Bermuda Triangle, and anything else taking place on or in the world’s oceans. Undertaker Books is putting out the call for horror tales from the high seas! We’re looking for stories of pirates, sea monsters, deserted islands, the Bermuda Triangle, and anything else taking place on or in the world’s oceans. From the ice floes of the Arctic to the nuclear wasteland of Bikini Atoll, the seven seas are your canvas for amazing horror! This collection of stories is part of our Stories to Take To Your Grave series, and we’ve made some changes to how we’re doing it. Individual stories will be released once a month, then be compiled into an anthology at the end of the year! Theme: Horror Stories of all subgenres that take place on the High Seas. Word Count: 2,000-4,000 Editor: D.L. Winchester Simultaneous submissions are accepted. One submission per writer. No reprints. No translations. Payment: $25 and a paperback copy of the anthology. Submission: By email to [email protected]. Please submit as a .doc or .docx file, and make the subject of your email HIGH SEAS – (Story Title) – (Author Last Name). Modern Shunn format is encouraged, but not required. Call Open: November 1-30, 2024 Publication: One story published each month in 2025, then compiled into an anthology published in January 2026. Via: Undertaker Books.
Taking Submissions: Future States of Stars
Owl CrateDeadline: November 30th, 2024 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Stories in the dystopian sci-fi genre with a Black Mirror or Twilight Zone vibe. Authors are encouraged to explore themes of the near-to-far future of states, whether set here on Earth, in space, or in other dimensions. Future States of Stars is set to be a captivating sci-fi/dystopian fiction anthology tailored for the Upper YA (18+), New Adult, and Adult audiences. Following the success of our previous and soon-to-be-published anthology, Monsters In Masquerade, which featured the works of three New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, along with a blend of established voices and fresh talent, we are thrilled to continue with the second installment of The Darkset Chronicles. With our dedicated in-house team of creatives, including some of the best editors and content awareness readers in the business, as well as talented graphic designers and readers, we are crafting a collection that will bring you thrilling new stories from the most beloved subgenres of science fiction. We are excited to once again offer YOU, our incredible community members, the chance to have your work featured alongside acclaimed bestselling authors in this eagerly anticipated anthology! Requirements and Theme Suggestions Submissions for Future States should be complete at 8.5k words or less and fall within the New Adult to Adult age range. We are specifically seeking stories in the dystopian sci-fi genre with a Black Mirror or Twilight Zone vibe. Authors are encouraged to explore themes of the near-to-far future of states, whether set here on Earth, in space, or in other dimensions. Consider exploring dystopian themes such as authoritarian regimes, environmental collapse, surveillance societies, loss of individual freedoms, or the impact of advanced technology on humanity. Writers must be the age of majority in their country to submit, and we welcome submissions from authors globally. How To Submit If...
Taking Submissions: Fantasy Is a Drag!
Deadline: December 1st, 2024 Payment: $50 and royalties Theme: Fantasy stories that are, first and foremost, drag Note: For authors with a real connection to the drag community (see below for details) Fantasy Is a Drag! is a drag anthology. We’re looking for original, previously unpublished, fantasy stories that are, first and foremost, drag. This is an anthology where those of us in the drag community can gather and tell the stories that we’d never be able to publish anywhere else. Stories up to 10,000 words will be considered. Publication date is sometime in 2025. Submission Deadline: December 1, 2024 What we don’t want: • Stories by straight people who think drag performers are cute, funny, scary, etc. and have no real connection to the drag community or drag rhetoric. (We, of course, are cute, funny, scary, etc., but there’s an ineffable deeper element that those of us who are drag get and others don’t.) • Stories by LGBT+ people who think drag performers are cute, funny, scary, etc. and have no real connection to the drag community or drag rhetoric. (Or, if you think of people who do drag as “them” and not “us,” I’d prefer if you let “us” have a room of our own.) • Stories by members of the drag community that were written for the straights and have nothing drag about them at all. You may certainly send us your drag stories that were written for the straights or your stories that are written for us in the drag community. But they must be drag stories not just by someone who does drag. • Look, I don’t have the money to take on Disney, Warner, the Tolkien estate, or J.K. Rowling. If it’s set in someone else’s intellectual property, I can’t use it. The day I have the money...
Taking Submissions: Tales from the Nightside
Three Ravens Publishing P.O. Box 851, Chickamauga, GA, United StatesDeadline: December 1st, 2024 Payment: Royalties Theme: Ride along with illegal street teams and see the criminal underbelly of the Autoduelling world Genre: Car Wars GameLit Fiction Theme: Ride along with illegal street teams and see the criminal underbelly of the Autoduelling world. Concept: We’re looking for stories about illegal racers, races, and the dirty dealings that happen outside of the arenas. We want plenty of high-intensity action and carnage possible, backed by compelling character-driven stories. Word Count: 5,000 – 10,000 (standard word count) Opening Essay by: TBD Edited by: William Joseph Roberts Anchor Author: TBD Due Date: December 1, 2024 Email Submissions to: [email protected] with “Nightside” in the subject line Payment: Stories selected for publication in the upcoming Anthology(ies), will receive a percentage of sales divided equally between the contributing authors. We are looking for amazing stories from any genre that are fun to read and will take us on an adventure of epic proportions. Please download our standards template by clicking here ***NOTE*** We publish genre fiction with aspects of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. If your work does not include one of these aspects, we are less likely to pick up the title unless it is of exceptional quality. What we are NOT currently accepting: Poetry Single-author collections of short stories. Hard and fast rules of what not to send: Fan-fiction: Just simply don’t. It will be immediately deleted or tossed into the recycle bin. Gratuitous Sexuality: (i.e. smut, softcore porn) (Please, we know that there is a market out there for stories in this genre, but it’s not for us. Contact our affiliate, Tanglewood press for submissions in this genre at tanglewoodromance (at) gmail.com Gratuitous Abuse/Violence: While we at Three Ravens Publishing understand that graphic situations can alter or otherwise move the plot forward in ways that the...
Taking Submissions: Inanimate Things: Volume Two
Burial BooksDeadline: December 1st, 2024 Payment: $10 and a contributors copy Theme: Inantimate objects that are living nanimate Things: Volume Two. With the success of Volume One, we decided to do it again! We are looking for horror short stories between 1500 and 6,000 words in length (can go over a little bit, we aren’t too particular. Just not shorter than 1500 words) about inanimate things that are living. It could be a doll, the dead flesh of zombies, or your Ford F-150. The story needs to involve this subject in some way…and be scary too. Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $10 along with a copy of the anthology once it’s completed. Rights: First Print and Electronic Publication rights, the non-exclusive rights to include the story in a print, audiobook, and digital book, and a one-year (12 month) period of exclusivity from the date of publication. All other rights remain entirely with the author. OTHER STUFF: No poetry or reprints. No novel extracts. Authors are welcome to submit more than one story for the anthology (no more than two per author though) but please submit them in separate emails. Submission Deadline: December 1, 2024. Expected Publication Date: April 15, 2025. Email submissions to [email protected] with a story either: 1) attached in Microsoft Word; or 2) with the entire story pasted inside the body of the email. Either one is fine. We try to reply and let you know if we are not using your submission within 4 weeks…but if you do not hear from within four weeks from submission (check your Spam folder) then we did not accept it. Please put EXACTLY the following in the subject line: ATTN: SUBMISSION FOR INANIMATE THINGS. Via: Burial Books.
Taking Submissions: The Other Stories #105
The Other StoriesDeadline: December 1st, 2024 Payment: 15GBP Theme: Found Footage (Vol 105) FOUND FOOTAGE, 1st December 2024 Bring us stories from lost tapes, forgotten diaries, old film, banned video games, or wherever else you might find strange echoes in lost media. If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories! If accepted, we'll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week. *** WHEN WILL I HEAR IF MY STORY HAS BEEN ACCEPTED OR NOT? We carefully review every single submission that comes through our door. If you’ve submitted a story to us, please be patient. We WILL let you know if your submission has or hasn’t been successful. Having said that, if you haven’t heard anything up to twelve weeks after the deadline has passed, feel free to ping us an email to check in on it. Submission Guidelines • Stories must be 2,000 (10% tolerance +/-) • Save stories in a Word document - Times New Roman font, size 12 • Include a 1-2 sentence log line for your story at the end of the document • Ensure that your name and an email address are somewhere on the document • Stories must fit an upcoming theme • By submitting your story to us, you are confirming that you are the original creator of the story • We will consider entrants whose work has been entered and published elsewhere, however please ensure you state where and when your story has been used elsewhere on the document • You will be allowed to place one call-to-action for your own work at...
Taking Submissions: Sundog Literature 2024 Window #2
Sun Dog LiteratureDeadline: December 1st, 2024 Payment: $50 Theme: Writing that attempts to salvage something pure from the collision of warmth and cold, that says what it can about the world it finds itself in. Schedule We publish two issues a year, September 1 and March 1. We accept general submissions for poetry, nonfiction, and fiction between two reading periods, and the first 300 submissions to each are free. We also run a collaborative writing contest in August. We also accept visual art all year. General Submissions: March 1 – May 1 General Submissions: October 1 – December 1 Collaboration Contest: July 15 – August 31 Payment We are thrilled to finally be able to say that, starting with issue 17, we will be able to offer our contributors a small payment of $50 upon publication. A Note on Our Aesthetic We believe there is beauty in scars on smooth skin, in the small fissures where things begin to break apart. Sundogs are not the sun itself but phantom stars appearing on the horizon, illusions produced by the play of the sun’s heat with crystals of ice. They shed their light all the same. Many are tinged with color. We look for this same quality in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. We want writing that attempts to salvage something pure from the collision of warmth and cold, that says what it can about the world it finds itself in. We seek a diversity of voices speaking from visceral, lived experience. We like truth we can stare at until our eyes water, words so carefully chosen we want to reread them as soon as we have finished. Practical Matters We are grateful to be a part of a literary community that is taking action against systemic racism. We will also be donating submission fees from our current...
Taking Submissions: Between Dystopias: The Passage To Caribbean Pantheology
Oghenechovwe Donald EkpekiDeadline: December 1st, 2024 Payment: $.08 per word up to 1,000 words; $.01 per word for longer submissions; $50 flat rate for poems, essays, articles and reviews. Theme: Speculative Fiction of Caribbean Pantheology (see description below) by Caribbean people or anyone with ancestral or migratory ties to the region OD Ekpeki Presents is accepting submissions of fiction, poetry, essays, articles and reviews till December 2024 for The Passage To Caribbean Pantheology, a speculative fiction anthology, edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Tonya Liburd, E.G. Condé and Fabrice Guerrier. Publication date is in 2025. The anthology will be co-published by OD Ekpeki Presents and MV Media, run by Milton Davis. Call: We define Caribbean Pantheology as stories spoken, sung, or written that evoke the wonder, horror, and joy of the Caribbean experience. Caribbean Pantheology will receive, read, translate and publish stories in all varieties of English (including Creole and Spanglish), Spanish, and French that engage with the diverse spiritual traditions of creators living in the Caribbean or its many diasporas. Between myth and legend, the fantastical and the speculative, the supernatural and the real, we seek stories that defy genre boundaries (fantasy, magical realism, surreal, the weird, speculative, science fiction) and the colonial borders that have long divided our islands into “Anglophone”, “Francophone”, and “Hispanophone” communities. Like the Caribbean, our pantheology is a meshwork of continents, deities, and languages, forged in the violence of colonialism, chattel slavery, and indentured labor. More than our scars, we Caribbean people are foundries of creativity and revolution. Like the maroon refuges built by our ancestors, we are spun from Indigenous (Garifuna, Guanahatabey, Kalinago, Taíno), African, Asian, and European traces. As such, we welcome stories that confront the spiritual wounds of our pasts, celebrate the rich traditions of our present, and imagine our flourishing futures. Send us your archipelagic tales of Soucouyants...