Ongoing Submissions: Dread Imaginings

Payment: 1 cent per word
Theme: Horror stories with original monsters

This is a personal project, and I’ll be surprised if these do not change as it unfolds.  That said, I try to be prompt with any updates.  For now, here’s the news:

What I’m not looking for:

  • Non-Fiction
  • Poetry
  • Artwork
  • Multiple or simultaneous submissions
  • Re-submissions of previously rejected MS (if I am interested in seeing a revision of something, I will specifically request it)
  • Reprints  


What I am looking for:

  • Stories up to 4000 words (firm), previously unpublished on paper or electronically.
  • Stories that read fast.  Don’t bog the tale down with a lot of explication.     
  • Stories set in the contemporary world, rather than historical fiction or tales set in fantasy/science fiction landscapes.   
  • Stories that present your protagonist’s encounter with the horrific, disturbing, uncanny, weird, macabre, and/or grotesque.  
  • Stories that are character-focused.  That encounter should have some impact upon your protagonist’s outlook and/or actions as the story unfolds.
  • Stories that succeed by using concrete detail to show what happens and convey why it is important, rather than trying to tell the reader why.  Resist the urge to explain.  
  • Originality.  Creature-features are welcome, but your own monsters will probably be an easier sell than vampires, zombies, werewolves, et. al.    


How I want it:

  • Please use standard MLA manuscript format, presented in twelve-point Calibri or Times New Roman
  • Send your submission as an attachment in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format to [email protected].  Documents sent in other formats will be deleted unread.
  • The subject line of your submission email should be: SUBMISSION: Your Name, “ Story Title.”
  • In the body of your email, briefly tell me about yourself and your publication history.


What I plan to do with it:

  • I pay a penny a word (US).  Payment is upon publication and only  via Paypal.
  • With that payment, I am buying first electronic rights of your previously unpublished work.   I ask that you not publish the piece elsewhere (online or on paper) during the first six months it is published with me.     
  • I plan to publish just one story a month, each and every month.
  • I plan to keep each story available on the site for a year from its original publication date.
  • Copyright and all other rights remain the property of the author.
  • I have no plan at this time to archive materials past the one-year publication period.  Any changes to this will be subject to author approval.
  • If in the future there is interest in publishing a print anthology collecting material previously published on the site, I will contact authors to discuss the acquisition of additional rights.
  • I’m not sure what response times on submissions will be, but for an initial ballpark I will shoot for a month.  I generally do not comment on rejected MS. 

Via: Dread Imaginings.

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