Deadline: February 28th, 2022
Payment: £25
Theme: All forms of horror, ideally stories that take place outside of suburban America

We are now officially open for submissions to our second anthology and our first young adult horror anthology, titled Nerve-Janglers: Thirteen Tales of Terror. We will be seeking horror fiction of all forms and flavours, all sub-genres and themes, that specifically fall into the category of teen-grade young adult fiction. These will be published as part of a new and ongoing YA horror imprint from Night Terror Novels Publishing, titled Nerve-Janglers. Our cover art will be finalised and uploaded to this page in the near future.

If this has piqued your interest, please scroll down for the full details!

What are We Looking For?

We are looking for original and unpublished fictional stories that run the gamut of the horror genre and all its assorted sub-genres—we’re open to it all, so long as it has a strong horror twist flowing through its veins. Since the Nerve-Janglers series is aiming to offer varied slices of horror, you can really go wild as far as settings, storylines and themes go. We are especially keen to read stories that take place outside of suburban America (though they are still welcome too, of course!), and would love to read stories featuring LGBTQIA+ characters. The only concrete rules for consideration are that the story must fall within the classification of teen-grade young adult fiction and must adhere to our guidelines detailed below.

As this is a young adult anthology, it is important for all submitting authors to understand what teen-grade YA fiction does and doesn’t include. Your best bet for a successful submission is to know the genre and what we are aiming for here, or to be familiar with the YA horror franchises we are paying homage to—including Goosebumps, Fear Street, Point Horror and Shivers. Please also refer to the Wikipedia page on the genre if you are still unsure what this constitutes, or whether your story would be suitable. And as always, if your story is blatantly racist or homophobic it will be instantly rejected. We also encourage submissions from female, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors, as we’re striving to offer a range of experiences and perspectives in this series.

The anthology will be edited, and the stories selected, by J. D. Keown. He can be found on both Instagram and Twitter @JDKAuthor, and we can be found on Instagram @nightterrornovels. All updates and announcements regarding this project will be posted on each of those accounts, so give us a follow if you want to get the latest news.

The window to submit will run from the 1st November, 2021 (1/11/2021) to the 28th February, 2022 (28/02/2022). In total, we are going to be selecting thirteen stories for inclusion in this anthology. See below for all relevant guidelines and details, and please read them carefully before submitting.

Title: Nerve-Janglers: Thirteen Tales of Terror

Payment: Flat rate of £25 via PayPal upon acceptance, and a digital e-Book contributor copy upon release.

Guidelines (please read carefully):

• .doc, .docx or .odt formats preferred. No .pdfs, please.
• Single OR Double-spaced, 12pt font, preferably Times New Roman, though provided the text is clearly legible, the font doesn’t matter too much. Please format indentation for paragraphs, don’t just use the spacebar or tab keys. See Shunn’s guidelines for reference on how your manuscript should look.
• Document should contain the story title, the author’s preferred pen name, and the story’s word count, but ideally should NOT contain any headers or footers.
• Original work only, please. No reprints, no stories published elsewhere (such as on personal blogs, social medias, or other websites). Simultaneous submissions are more than welcome, but please inform us as soon as possible if your story is accepted elsewhere.
• The rights Night Terror Novels Publishing are seeking is first print rights and exclusivity rights for three (3) months after the original date of publication. After those three months have elapsed, authors are free to reprint the story elsewhere.
• Authors may submit up to two (2) works of short fiction at any one time for consideration. If your story is rejected, feel free to resubmit with another.
• Your story must fall within the classification of teen-grade young adult fiction.

Word Count: Between 2,500 and 10,000 words. Stories slightly shorter or longer will also be considered, but ideally the word count will fall within this range.

Submissions Open: From 1st November, 2021 (1/11/2021).

Submissions Close: 28th February, 2022 (28/02/2021). All authors will be sent an email of acknowledgement of their submission, and we will be aiming to notify everyone of either acceptance or rejection within one month of the closing date. If you have not heard from us by then, please feel free to chase us up via the email address below.

Anticipated Release Date: TBD, 2022.

Please send all submissions in an attached document to our email address, [email protected], with the following subject line:

[your name] – [story title] – [approx. word count]

(an example email: Submission for Thirteen Tales: My Name – My Story – 4,000 words)

In the body of the email, please also include a brief third-person author bio, ideally three to four sentences long, which may include up to two links to either your social media accounts or personal websites.

And that’s pretty much it. We cannot wait to read your submissions, and best of luck to you all!

Via: Night Terror Novels.