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Taking Submissions: Story Unlikely 2022 Window

May 2, 2022

Deadline: September 30th, 2022
Payment: 5 cents a word for stories up to 2,000 words. Stories above 2,000 are capped at $100 payment
Theme: Accepts ALL genres, prefers: memoir, bizarro, and speculative, humorous, strange, and thoughtful
Note: Reprints Welcome
Note: You do need to be a free subscriber to submit

Whatever happened to the art of storytelling? It’s become a lost relic, along with our identities. But here, we’re revitalizing this once great craft. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands. After all, if laughter is medicine, then Story Unlikely is therapy for broken souls.

Why submit to us?
WE PAY PROFESSIONAL RATES. It’s hard work writing good stories, and you deserve to get paid fairly for it. Or maybe you don’t, and you’re just duping us? Regardless, we pay 5 cents a word for stories up to 2,000 words. Stories above 2,000 are capped at $100 payment.NO SUBMISSION FEES. We’re not saying the other guys are getting rich off $3 per submission, but there’s something about the idea that we, as writers, have you pay you, the publisher, just for the privilege of rejecting our work with a form letter, bothers us. (Costs of running an E-zine aside) We’re going to go ahead and coin a phrase right here and now – ‘Write privilege’, get it? Of course, you do.GET YOUR WORK IN FRONT OF A LARGE AND GROWING AUDIENCE. Our aim is fixed on telling good stories, period, and because of that we have built a readership from all over the globe. Want to get your stories out to more than just dear old granny? Then you’ve come to the right place.REASONABLE TURN-AROUND TIME. If your story hasn’t been published within 90 days after being submitted (or you haven’t heard from us on the occasion of a story holdover), then it was rejected. Rejections stink – we get it – but its better than being ghosted.
What to Submit to us?
STORY LENGTH: We like stories on the shorter end. However, though rare, we’ll publish something as long as 10k, if it’s worth it. Try us, you never know.GENRE AND STYLE: Although we have our preferences (memoir, bizarro, and speculative, humorous, strange, and thoughtful, just to name a few), we are not beholden to them. Good stories don’t just come in all shapes and sizes, but in all genres, too (fiction and nonfiction). If it’s a story, send it to us.CONTENT: To put it simply, we’re looking for good stories, measured both by the quality of the writing and the skill in storytelling. Here’s what we’re NOT looking for: excessive anything. Think PG-13, R if necessary. We’re not attempting to salt the earth with more cultural dogma couched as mediocre fiction, or writers who are jockeying for the title of Most Woke. There’s enough of that already out there. You want to impress us? Write a good story. You want to get published? Write a great one.NEW STORIES AND REPRINTS: We accept previously published stories – and oh how we love a good reprint(!), as long as you, dear author, have retained full rights. For reprints, we pay 1 cent per word with a maximum payout of $50 (the story length can still be up to 10,000 words).ONE STORY PER AUTHOR PER 90 DAYS: We do not accept multiple submissions. We DO accept simultaneous submissions (IE, you can send it out somewhere else at the same time. Just inform us immediately if it is accepted.)
How to Submit to us?
BECOME A READER: Though we don’t charge for submissions, you do need to subscribe to our magazine (free) – this is how we publish our stories, and how you’ll find out if your story made the cut. Don’t worry, we send out ONE issue per month. Your sacred inbox is safe with us! (See sign-up form below)SUBMISSION PERIOD: Our standard submission period runs from February 1st through September 30th. (In between runs our contest, and we take a breather in January).BY EMAIL: Email submissions to: [email protected] in the following format:FORMATTING: We publish stories in block format, so that’s preferable, but honestly, you’ve spent enough time writing the darn thing to worry about our silly preferences on spaces and underlines and, heaven forbid, a different font.
For previously UNPUBLISHED stories:

Email title: (SUBMISSION: STORY TITLE,)
Body of email: Include TITLE, (FICTION/NONFICTION,SUB GENRE (if applicable)), FIRST 250 words of the story (rounded to the nearest sentence), author bio as you want it to appear along with your published story, your contact info, and tell us how you found Story Unlikely.
Attachment: Attach your story as a DOC or DOCX, or something else if you want to be difficult.

For previously PUBLISHED stories (reprints):
Email title: (SUBMISSION, REPRINT, STORY TITLE)

Body of email: Include TITLE, (FICTION/NONFICTION,SUB GENRE (if applicable)), FIRST 250 words of the story (rounded to the nearest sentence), author bio as you want it to appear along with your published story. Include your contact info and information on the previous publication (where and when, online or print, and previous payment, if any), and tell us how you found Story Unlikely.
Attachment: Attach your story as a DOC or DOCX, or something else if you want to be difficult.

(See below for a sample submission)

I submitted a story, now what?
Seriously, sign up for the mailer: We do NOT consider submissions from anyone who is not one of our readers – sorry, but we’re kind of inbred that way. You’re welcome to unsubscribe at any time, just be aware that doing so automatically withdraws any pending or future submissions.Wait up to 90 days: We do NOT contact you ahead of time if your story will be published – it’s like a birthday surprise, only its not your birthday. If your story was not published within the next three months, then it was rejected. There are occasions where we want to publish your story, but cannot within the 90-day period. This is generally the only time we will contact you ahead of publishing your story.Tell your friends about us: You want them to see your work, don’t you? We also want word of mouth referrals, so talk us up to your inner circle like we’re Jinko’s circa 1998.

Story Unlikely retains First North American Serial Rights upon publication (of all previously unpublished stories). The author retains all other rights to their story. (In other words, you can publish your story anywhere else after it’s been published here, we just ask that you mention that it was published in Story Unlikely first.)

Via: Story Unlikely.

Details

Date:
May 2, 2022