Events

Submission Window: August 15th - 31st, 2023 Payment: $0.05 per word for fiction, $50 per poem Theme: Reclamation Apparition Lit is open for poetry and short story submissions four times a year. February 15-28 (March 1-7 BIPOC creators only) May 15-31 (June 1-7 BIPOC creators only) August 15-31 (September 1-7 BIPOC creators only) November 15-30 (December 1-7 BIPOC creators only) Submissions received outside of posted open dates will be deleted unread. Please note that we will not accept AI-generated content submissions. This includes stories or poetry that are written or co-written by AI. We will only accept previously unpublished, complete stories between 1000-5000 words. If the story is complete with an extra hundred words, then it will still be considered. Any stories over 5,100 words, excerpted from a larger work, or incorrectly formatted, will automatically be rejected. Apparition is a semi-pro magazine, paying $0.05 per word, a minimum of $50.00 USD (excluding flash contest). If we accept your story, we are purchasing the right to publish the story online and in the quarterly edition. Rights will revert back to the artist after one year. We are now accepting submissions through Moksha. Please follow the guidelines below when submitting your work: Format the story using the Shunn manuscript  — you do not need to include your physical address or phone number. Please only use Times New Roman or Arial font in your document. Name the file using the story title and your last name, i.e. THE SWAMP EXCHANGE_Barker. This helps us find your story in the submissions list. Provide a brief cover letter that includes your full name, the title of the short story, word count, and any relevant publications. Please do not include a synopsis. All acceptances and rejections will be emailed by the 15th day of the following month after submissions close. We currently do not have the available time...

Submission Window: Payment: 1 cent per word for fiction, $5 for poetry, 1 cent per word for non-fiction, $35 for cover art Theme: Speculative fiction It's our goal to publish diverse voices from around the world, and to do that, we are actively seeking stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces by authors from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in the science fiction and fantasy canon. Our submission cycle is therefore split into two categories, where every other month is explicitly reserved for submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. The interposing six months remain open to everyone. Guidelines for Fiction We are seeking stories in the English language up to 6,000 words by writers from around the world. We favor submisions that have not been published before (including on your own website), though we do accept a limited number of reprints not currently appearing anywhere online. For our two issues focused on the climate crisis, we're particularly interested in publishing stories from people displaced by or threatened by the climate emergency (see our themes below). For our other four issues, we're open to a wide variety of stories across the SFF and weird spectra. We pay 1¢ per word for fiction, and we try to respond to all submissions within ten weeks. We will also accept a limited number of previously published stories, so please indicate on the form if your submission is a reprint. All submissions must use the Shunn manuscript format (we prefer Courier New) and be either .rtf, .doc, or .docx. We like stories that are subtle in their telling and stick with us long after we've finished. We're more likely to buy stories that balance a sense of wonder with a bold plot and emotional depth. Meditative stories that...

Submission Window: August 1st - 31st, 2023 (Listing early so you can start writing.) Payment: 10 cents per word and a contributors copy Theme: Why doesn't your character just leave the scary situation that they find themselves in? Why Didn’t You Just Leave submission call (August 2023) Nadia Bulkin and Julia Rios are excited to read your submissions for Why Didn’t You Just Leave, an anthology of original horror short fiction. It’s the question asked of any story about a haunting: why didn’t you just leave? If accounts of people who have stayed in haunted houses are any indication, it’s never that simple. There are a lot of reasons why people don’t just leave scary situations, and we’d like to see smart, spooky stories that reflect the complexity behind that question. A link to our Moksha submissions portal will appear here on August 1, 2023. What we’re looking for: Stories that focus on all the possible reasons why people don’t just leave haunted places – including finances, family, legal restrictions, health, etc. Stories about “ordinary” people and places (including apartments, workplaces, schools, military bases, hospitals, churches, etc.)  as well as extraordinary situations. Our editorial team is BIPOC and queer, and we especially encourage submissions from writers of marginalized and traditionally-underrepresented groups. Timeline This anthology will be funded via Kickstarter in summer 2023. Our submissions period will be open from August 1 – August 31, 2023. Acceptances will go out in September 2023, with edits to follow in the fall. We anticipate publication in spring of 2024. Word count 500 – 5,000 words. Simultaneous submissions are fine – just let us know if your story gets accepted elsewhere. Multiple submissions are fine – maximum 3 per author. No reprints, please – we’re looking for original fiction only. Formatting: Format your story in...

Submission Window: August 1-31st, 2023 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 on the...

Deadline: August 31st, 2023 Payment: 10 cents per word Theme: Stories that are ghoulish or "fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky" We are…blown away by this cover, and we can’t wait to fill it with a bunch of gnarly stories. That’s where you come in. What we are after: short stories that fit our personal definition of the word GHOULISH, which is “fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky.” Note that we said fun, not funny. Comedic stories are definitely allowed, but it’s not all we’re looking to receive. We want stories that remind us why we love the horror genre. We want to have a perverted little smile across our face while reading. Make us slobber like idiots. Turn us into the Sickos.jpeg meme. We are also interested in non-fiction about the horror genre. GUIDELINES: Deadline: August 31, 2023 (11:59 PM CST) Word count: 5,000 max (short stories); 3,000 max (non-fiction) Payment: 10c per word Simultaneous Submissions: Yes Multiple Submissions: No (Please only submit one story per open call. If we reject you, do not resubmit until we reopen for the next issue.) Reprints: No AI Submissions: No. Please note if you are caught sending us an AI story, you will be blacklisted from ever publishing with us in the future. Don’t do it. How to submit: Send all stories & essays to ghoulishsubmissions @ gmail dot com with – – in the subject line. Please do not copy/paste the story in the body of the email. We prefer Word doc attachments if possible. All inquiries can also be directed to the same address. As you wait, feel free to come hang out in the GHOULISH discord. Thank you and good luck, ghouls! Via: Ghoulish Books.

Deadline: August 31st, 2023 Payment: 10 cents per word for the magazine (free to submit) $3,000 for the contest (fee to submit.) Theme: Write a story involving Sunken Secrets, and a jewel. Note: Elegant Literature has a magazine that is free to submit to and a contest that there are fees to submit to. We're obviously hyping the magazine portion as we don't believe in fees but want to include all of the details for those who are interested. Plunge into the abyss. Embrace the cold, unfathomable depths. What secrets lie beneath these waves? Descend, deeper still, until the sunlight becomes a distant memory… Shipwrecks, submersibles, and silence. Ancient secrets in watery graves. Strong currents pull you through cities cloaked in coral, where unknown creatures lurk in the shadows. Siren songs echo in the deep. A mermaid’s melody—Poseidon’s puzzle. Down here, far from tides and tempests, the world above is a lifetime away. Or is it what you’ve anchored deep within yourself, a buried truth? The pressure turns your own thoughts to monsters. Claustrophobia, drowning, the unknowable void. The frozen sea of an icy moon, the magic at the bottom of a Faerie pool, the treasure lost in quicksand. There’s life below, so dive into the abyss or the subconscious. Sunken Secrets are ready to be revealed… can you handle them? This contest invites you to explore Sunken Secrets, whatever that means to you. Elegant Literature is the first short fiction magazine to pay professional rates but not accept submissions from pros. Our mission is to help new writers earn their first publishing credits—and their first dollar—from writing stories. To date, we have published 165 new authors across 21 issues, and put over $100,000 into the hands of writers around the globe. It’s free to submit to the magazine, and...

Deadline: September 1st, 2023 Payment: $25 for art, 8 cents per word for fiction Theme: Stories that contain significant speculative elements. The Basics Stories should be submitted to [email protected]. All stories must be under 1200 words (not including the title and byline). All stories over 1200 words will sadly be rejected automatically. All stories must contain significant speculative elements. This does not mean all sci-fi stories must have lasers and rockets. It just means a non-speculative story doesn’t become speculative if you include a single line clarifying the story takes place on Mars. When to Submit Because of the time needed to evaluate submissions and prepare stories for publication, Orion’s Belt has a limited submission window. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause to you. Stories submitted outside the submission window will not be deleted, but they will not be read until the submission window re-opens. Our current submission window opened March 1st. This submission window will remain open until September 1st. Art Submissions Art submissions are currently open. We’re looking for cover art for issues of our magazine. Payment is a flat $25. The art should fit the ethos of this magazine and thus should feature speculative elements, but there are otherwise no major restrictions on what we’re looking for. If you have artwork you would like us to consider, submit it to us with a subject line that’s some variation on the basic format of “Art Submission - Artwork Name (Artist’s Name).” All art submissions should be directed to [email protected]. Keep in mind that we tend to take significantly longer to respond to art submissions than to story submissions, though we will eventually respond to every submission. For examples of what we’re looking for, check the cover art of Flash Fiction Online or Uncanny Magazine, though keep...

Deadline: September 1st, 2023 Payment: 5 cents per word for original and 1 cent per word for reprints Theme: speculative elements and involve the strangeness of the fey folk and their interactions with mortals. Deadline is September 1, 2023 Stories must have speculative elements and involve the strangeness of the fey folk and their interactions with mortals. Please be aware there is a difference between fairy tales and tales with fairies. If you have not read So Fey... why are you even submitting to us? Stories do not need to be romantic; endings do not have to be happy. But any work that punishes an individual for being queer will not be accepted. When in doubt, query us. Stories should be 2,500 to 10,000 words. Standard formatting please (Times New Roman 12, double space, etc). Payment for original fiction will be 5 cents a word for one-time print and digital rights. Payment for reprints is a bit more than 1 cent a word. Additionally, contributors will receive two copies of the finished book. Publication will be sometime in 2024. Via: Lethe Press Books.

Submission Window: September 1st-2nd, 2023 Payment: 8 cents per word for original, 2 cents for reprints, For artwork: $10 for the non-exclusive right to use each image, for as long as the site is online.  If we publish a print collection we will pay a pro-rata share for each image used. Theme: Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form, and from around the world. Note: Reprints welcome     Submissions Schedule We have a new submissions schedule as of June 1, 2020: The first and second day of every month, 12 am of the 1st to 12 am of the 3rd, E.S.T. Only one submission per person. For reading impaired individuals, our submissions manager and ‘forget password’ have a captcha compatible with screen readers. We pay 8¢ per word for new fiction, 2¢ per word for fiction reprints, 2 – 6¢ per word for new fact-based work, 1- 4¢ per word for reprinted fact articles. For new poetry, we pay $1 a line, reprints would be 50¢ a line, up to 40 lines. We’ll look at longer poems but that would be a hard sell, and words over 40 lines would be paid at 6¢ per word. We began The Kepler Award to recognize and encourage writers of excellent science fiction and fantasy stories that creatively extrapolate on known science in constructive and exciting ways. You can learn about The Kepler Award here. You can read a copy of our standard contract here.   It can be varied as needed to include the rights of translators, voice actors, etc. Writers Guidelines We accept new work as well as reprints, prose and poetry, anywhere from 1000 word flash fiction on up, but all else being equal, shorter pieces...

Deadline: September 2nd, 2023 Payment: $10 and a contributors copy Theme: A throwback to old-school lit mags Welcome to the Unstamatic Newsprint Issue, Vol. 2! The Newsprint project is a throwback to old-school lit mags that were, once upon a time, printed in newspaper format and distributed on the streets, guerrilla style. We’re bringing it back.What we’re looking for: Prose of 500 words or fewer Poetry of 25 lines or fewer Visual art of any sort (but bonus if it’s small/can be scaled down to fit the margins) We’re primarily interested in unpublished pieces, though we may consider exceptional previously published works, so long as you currently hold the rights. Submissions close Sept. 2, 2023 Unstamatic pays $10 USD per accepted piece, plus a complimentary contributor copy. The Newsprint Issue will be available first as a physical publication for order, and later as a downloadable digital publication. We hope to have the Newsprint Issue Vol. 2 in our hands by October 2023, though this is a tentative timeline subject to change. We ask for first publication rights, and upon publication all rights revert back to you. If you want to know more about what you’re getting into, hit up our store page for a free download of Vol. 1. Via: Unstamatic.