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Taking Submissions: Disturbia

April 4, 2020

Deadline: April 4, 2020
Payment: 8 cents per word
Theme: Take a hard left turn from normal. Bring us your unsettling stories. If a common activity leads to violations of the laws of man or nature, your story may be perfect for this collection. Ideal genres: horror, crime

Disturbia

Take a hard left turn from normal. Bring us your unsettling stories. If a common activity leads to violations of the laws of man or nature, your story may be perfect for this collection. Ideal genres: horror, crime

Editor: Sandra Ruttan

Submission Information

Note: We will not process or respond to submissions sent to the wrong email address. Only submissions sent to [email protected] will be processed.

Note: Each story should be submitted in its own email. Do not send a submission as a response to a rejection or email query. Do not send multiple stories in the same email.

Pro Tip: Read Rigor Morbid: Lest Ye Become to get a sense of what the editor is looking for in stories. The tone is appropriate for Disturbia and Rigor Morbid 2.

We welcome submissions from diverse authors. We encourage individuals to opt to include a bio (100 words, written in third person) and author photo that can be used with the publication when submitting. 

*Diverse can refer to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or those that are specially abled

Payment

$0.08 U.S. per word

We will not publish stories that are donated — all writers must be prepared to receive payment through one of our approved payment methods. All payments to U.S. writers will be made by check. All payments to international writers will be made by Paypal to a verified Paypal address that is in the writer’s name.

Guidelines

  • Stories should be 3000 words or less
  • Stories should be attached as a .doc or .docx file
  • Text in stories should be in black ink
  • No underlined text in stories
  • Use a standard font (Times New Roman or Courier)
  • stories should be sent to the proper email address
  • submissions should be addressed to Sandra Ruttan
  • submissions should have the requested information in the subject line
  • submissions do not need to be accompanied by an email. An author bio is preferred.

Email

Send submissions to Sandra Ruttan [email protected]

Your Email Should:

  • Have a subject line that indicates the name of the submission call, the name of the story, the author’s name, the word count of the story and the genre of the story
    • Example: Disturbia – ‘This is My Story’s Title’ – by Author Name – 2725 words – horror
  • Be addressed to the editor, Sandra Ruttan
  • Include a bio (100 words, written in third person) and author photo*
  • Your bio can indicate if this is an #ownvoices story — we welcome #ownvoices submissions

Deadlines – Disturbia

Submissions will close on April 4, 2020 at 11:59 pm Eastern or when 175 submissions are received. In the event that we are approaching our submission limit for this call we will post a two-week warning with a revised deadline here. We will also update people through our newsletter.

Auto Reply

  • We use an auto reply to confirm we have received submissions
  • You should receive an auto reply that will remind you of the submission guidelines  to ensure that your submission will be processed
  • We will not process submissions that produce a ‘failure to deliver’ message when we send the auto reply (Why? It can indicate the email account is not working. We have sent more than a dozen direct emails about submissions in the past three months that have failed delivery. They continued to fail delivery after repeated attempts. The time spent processing those submissions and attempting correspondence impedes our ability to spend time on serious submissions we could potentially publish.)
  • If you notice you missed something, resend the entire submission and note in your email that you are replacing a prior submission because some material requested was not included. Please do not send separate emails with pieces of a submission.

Review Process

  • We normally review submissions in the order received, with the exception of material lacking the word count or not conforming to the submission guidelines
  • Suspected troll submissions may be eliminated before submission review begins
  • Submissions that do not state the word count will not be prioritized for review
  • Submissions with significant formatting issues that do not follow our guidelines will also not be prioritized for review
  • Stories that are not prioritized will only be reviewed if space is still available when all other submissions have been reviewed

Submissions That Will Not Be Processed

  • Stories that exceed the word count limit
  • Submissions of PDF, RTF or other document formats, or that include the story in the body of the email
  • Submissions sent via DM on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media platform
  • Submissions addressed to persons other than Sandra Ruttan
  • Stories with colored text

Multiple Submissions

Are not permitted for this open call

Simultaneous Submissions

Are permitted. Please withdraw your story ASAP if it is accepted elsewhere.

Reprints

Are not permitted for this open call at this time except by invitation

Resubmission Policy

Stories that have been rejected cannot be submitted to the same open call. They may be submitted to a different open call with a different editorial team.

Contracts

No content is guaranteed publication until an agreement is signed by both parties.

Failure to return the signed contract in a timely manner can result in a delay in publication or cancellation of publication

If edits aren’t completed within one week from the time issued it may result in a delay in publication or cancellation of publication

Forbidden Content

 

  • Absolutely no adults having sex with minors, or anyone having sex with animals. 

 

  • We will not publish works that appear to promote hate towards people based on their religion, race, gender or orientation. While we may publish a story about racism, or that has sexism or bigotry as a component, there’s a line between writing about something and endorsing it. When necessary, we will hire a sensitivity editor to review content.
  • To clarify, a story touching on racism may require a racist character that makes a racist statement. These should be used sparingly, and carefully. When the narrative is peppered with racist insults the story has gone beyond establishing that a character is racist and may read as a presentation of the author’s views. Anyone who is not prepared to work with a sensitivity reader or have this content addressed in edits should not submit to us.
  • “While we will consider stories that deal with sexual abuse, the acts should be alluded to but not detailed. We are not interested in publishing stories that would appeal to pedophiles or abusers.” – Sandra Ruttan

Policy

We will work with sensitivity readers if we feel their insight is required for a story we’re considering. If you are a writer who is not willing to complete edits and work with a sensitivity reader, if required, do not submit to us.

Disclaimer

This information is for forthcoming submission calls for three anthologies. There is no guarantee of publication. The editor reserves the right to select the stories they wish to publish. The editor will not send editorial notes and detailed explanations about the stories not selected. That is a service an editor-for-hire or a beta reader provides. When you are submitting to a publication call you are, in a manner of speaking, auditioning for a job. You either get it, or you don’t. The editor’s decision is final. We will not debate or discuss our decisions with you. We routinely post tips and writing insights at Bronzeville Bee to help writers refine their work or determine if our publications are a good fit for them. We publish fiction at Bronzeville Bee. We have published Rigor Morbid: Lest Ye Become. A good way to determine what we publish is to read what we have published.

Anti-Harassment Policy

Correspondence should be directed to the email address provided here. Do not submit stories via Facebook or other social media DM channels. Do not send a message request to an editor’s personal social media account to argue about a submission. This is harassment. The editor reserves the right to ban you from consideration for future projects if you harass them.

Via: Bronzeville Books.

Details

Date:
April 4, 2020