Sunday Ten

Ten Things About Submission Opportunities

Blood Bound Books has an open call for their Night Terrors III anthology (scroll down on guidelines page): "As with all great trilogies, the third one always changes something we thought we knew. And now it’s up to you to help us forge this new direction. While this third installment will continue to plague readers with restless nights and sweat-soaked sheets, we’re now offering 5 cents a word for your best nightmare-inducing tales. As always, this anthology is open to the wide gamut of horror and all its subcategories. Remember, evil has no boundaries and neither do we! Science fiction and dark fantasy will also be considered as long as stories contain strong elements of horror. Third person stories are strongly preferred, but we’ll read first person as long as they are extremely well done or the POV is integral to the plot. Stories may take place in any setting or time period, as long as it’s well written, powerful, and original. Most importantly, scare us. We want to be haunted by your story long after we put it down. Gore and sex are acceptable, as long as it serves a purpose." Length: 750-5000 words; Payment: 5¢/word. No reprints, electronic submission only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: January 1st, 2013.

Author M.R. Jordan is holding a story contest which includes a critique: "Any Genre. 3500 words or fewer. I'll pick three stories to put on my blog but there is only one cash prize of $50.00. I'll pay second and third place winners a token flat rate of $5.00 for first world rights, non-exclusive. Remember, I'm not a business. My blog is not a magazine. However, I do get a couple hundred visitors a month so the exposure is pretty good. Also, the contest is free. Submissions close on January 5th." See blog post here for more details.

Journalstone Publishing is holding its 3rd annual Horror publishing contest: "Get your HORROR novel published and earn a $2,000 advance against future royalties. If you are not familiar with the last two year’s winnesr please check out That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley which won in 2011 and Twice Shy by Patrick Freivald and The Devil of Echo Lake, both of which tied for 1st place in 2012." Genre: "Horror only. Nothing else counts in this contest." Length: 75K or more, Payment: "The winner will receive a $2,000 advance against future royalties and have his/her novel published by JournalStone." The publisher also notes this on payment: "Scared about not winning? Second prize gets a $500 advance and a published novel. Yes, you have to sign a contract first. Third place gets a $200 advance and for the last time, also gets a published novel. Not one of the top three? No worries, you might still be good enough to get your novel published, you will just have to earn your money on the royalties. We only have so much to give out for free." I don't see any notations on reprints so you might query on those; see guidelines for more details. Deadline: "All submissions must be received no later than 11 p.m. Pacific time April 1, 2013."

Nihilist SF e-zine is currently accepting submissions: "We accept science fiction short stories 2,000-10,000 words. The absence of any moral message is preferred. We do not accept work that has been published elsewhere. We do not accept simultaneous submissions – if you’ve submitted a story to someone else, wait until you hear back before submitting to us." Payment: "We pay $5 per story on publication via PayPal." Electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details.

On Spec, the Canadian magazine of the fantastic, is now open for submissions: "The ON SPEC editors are looking for original, unpublished speculative fiction (SF) and poetry -- fantasy, horror, ghost stories, fairy stories, magic realism, etc. Our mandate is to give our readers the best SF we can find, regardless of the author's nationality, and we have published authors from Canada, the U.S., Britain, New Zealand, South America, and more. In order to qualify for grants, we do have to maintain 80% Canadian content, which means it may take longer (an issue or two) for a non-Canadian work to appear in the magazine than a Canadian work bought at the same time." Length: "Short stories (max. 6000 words), short short stories (under 1000 words) or poetry (max. 100 lines)"; Payment: "CA$200 +2 copies; poem/flash=CA$50 +1 copy". No reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Reading period ends January 15th, 2013.

Red Adept Publishing is looking for quality novel-length genre fiction, and they look at everything except nonfiction, reprints, or "Erotica and Elementary to Middle Grade books." Length: minimum 25K; Payment: "We pay 50% royalties (net from distribution channels) to authors." Electronic submission only, see guidelines for more details.

Reuts Publications is accepting novel submissions: "We don’t limit ourselves within genres, but we do ask for stories to be fiction only and geared towards Young Adult and New Adult audiences. Our team is fond of the following genres and their sub categories: paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, horror and romance." Length: "Over 50,000 words. REUTS does not accept submissions for short stories, anthologies, children’s books or poetry. This may change in the future, so keep checking back." Payment: "Print=40% royalty; eBook=50%." Query on reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details.

Suddenly Lost in Words is looking for "the best in writing for young adults (13+) from both established and up-and-coming writers. Any genre. We pay professional rates. Selected works will appear in eBook releases to be sold through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR: Original writing not previously published. Short stories, memoirs, and longer works that can be serialized. Writing that is free from gore, porn, profanity, racism, preaching, and politics." Length "3000 words or less. This is a firm limit." Payment: "5 cents per word for First Worldwide Electronic Rights and First Serial Rights. Payment is made upon publication. All minor authors (less than 18 years old) will require a parent or guardian to sign with them upon story acceptance." See market post at AbsoluteWrite.com here for more details.

World Weaver Press has an open call for A Winter's Enchantment, the tentative title for an upcoming anthology of themed novellas that will also be published as individual titles: "We’re looking for winter romances with a speculative element — supernatural or paranormal beings, magic, doors to other worlds, inexplicable serendipity, etc. — at the novella length. Stories must have a winter element. Preference for stories where the winter holidays play an important role in the story: Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s, Chinese New Year, Thanksgiving, winter solstice, yule, other winter holidays (real or invented). Will consider contemporary or historical settings as well as second-world fantasy settings (sometimes called “high fantasy” or fairy tale realms). No fan fiction. We have no specific guidelines on “heat level.” But whether or not characters tumble into the bedroom, these stories should be primarily romances with HEAs or implied HEAs; if you want to get explicit between the sheets, go for it! — but stories need to be more plot than sex. This is not an erotica anthology. Stories should focus on the couple: m/f, m/m, f/f will be considered — no group or menage romances." Length: 20-45K; Payment: "Writer will receive royalty on both anthology (% split among contributors) and individual publication (39%)" No reprints,electronic submission only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: December 31st, 2012.

Writerswhorock.com is looking for Christmas stories: "We are looking for short stories with Christmas and what it represents as a theme, i.e. family, memories, giving, grief, unfulfilled expectations, cold weather, anticipating the New Year. We are mostly looking for fiction, however if you have a compelling first person, true life story to tell, please send it along. The story can be humorous, romantic (R-rated okay) religious, satire, with characters that are spirits, ghosts, angels, Christ-like figures, the faithful, and nonbelievers (no zombies or vampires, please). For example, you can tell a story about Christmas from an atheist’s point of view or from a very, very old person’s perspective. The most celebrated example of a Christmas tale is Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” but to the other extreme the movie “Home Alone” also featured Christmas in all its hilarity. Our rule of thumb is the story doesn’t have to be realistic, but it has to be believable and relatable. Story must have a beginning, middle and an ending and the main character or characters must undergo a transformation of some sort, even if the change comes in the form of an epiphany." Length: "Story should be no more than 2000 words." Payment: "We pay $50 upon acceptance via PayPal." See the market post at AbsoluteWrite.com here for more details.