Limited markets to sub to!

Just popping in to let you guys know that Lightspeed Magazine is open to fantasy submissions from the 8th to the 15th. You can sub via Moksha here. (They have their guidelines available at the above link, as well.)

For anyone here aged 15 to 19

Gabino Iglesias is working with a few different small presses to throw together a YA horror anthology specifically oriented toward publishing YA horror by YA authors. 1.5k to 3k. Deadline: June 1st. Payment is a $100 sholarship. Full details here.

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I'll add that Dreamforge Anvil is on Kickstarter and one of the rewards is a webinar by Wulf Moon (I've already signed up)!

“NAIL YOUR OPENING: How Driving to the Story Creates Accidents.” This webinar is part of author Wulf Moon’s award-winning SUPER SECRETS Workshops. 1.5 hours, and it is indeed a workshop, there will be a writing exercise, plus time for questions and discussion. 100% of the pledge amount goes toward paying hopeful writers for their stories in DreamForge Anvil. The 2020 Critter Awards named Wulf Best Author, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story, Best Writers’ Workshop, and Best Writers’ Resource of 2020.

This update was in his latest Wulf Pack e-mail (are you signed up?).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sc ... write-them

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I'll add that Dreamforge Anvil is on Kickstarter and one of the rewards is a webinar by Wulf Moon (I've already signed up)!

“NAIL YOUR OPENING: How Driving to the Story Creates Accidents.” This webinar is part of author Wulf Moon’s award-winning SUPER SECRETS Workshops. 1.5 hours, and it is indeed a workshop, there will be a writing exercise, plus time for questions and discussion. 100% of the pledge amount goes toward paying hopeful writers for their stories in DreamForge Anvil. The 2020 Critter Awards named Wulf Best Author, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story, Best Writers’ Workshop, and Best Writers’ Resource of 2020.

This update was in his latest Wulf Pack e-mail (are you signed up?).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sc ... write-them

Thanks for sharing, Dustin! And thanks for joining my Wulf Pack Club at driftweave.com! There's a cool prize in every box! (Well, in each club letter : ).

Here's the other cool thing those signing up for my DreamForge workshop don't know about. When you take one of my paid workshops, you get an invitation into my private Wulf Pack Club Discord chat group. It's the only way to get in. You can have live discussions with me there about any questions on story, marketing, even your WotF submission! It's free to workshop members right now, and there are many accomplished writers in it to give you a helping hand. A word at the right time can make all the difference! So can having quick access to someone that might have the answer you seek. When you add up all the subscriptions, digital back issues, and the Best Of print book included with this, it really is like getting the workshop for free. And 100% of the pledge goes to paying hopeful writers for their stories. Scot Noel, a WotF Vol. 6 winner, guarantees that. I'm thinking those hopeful writers will be some of you . . . but only if they fund. They are $1200 short with just over a week to go. If they don't fund, Scot says they'll run out of funds to buy stories this summer. And that's sad if that happens, because they built a beautiful magazine, and dedicated the space this year to helping aspiring writers get published. It's a noble cause, just like WotF, but they don't have the funding WotF does. This is a passion project of Scot and Jane's. They do it because they love positive SF and those that create it.

We have a lot of members here. We care about our industry. We all are doing our best to improve our craft and share our visions with the world. So is DreamForge. Help them help YOU. Even pledging for a subscription will help, and through the Kickstarter, it's only $10 for a year, six issues! That's normally $17. I've been commissioned to write SUPER SECRETS articles on writing for them as well, and as you all know, many have used these Secrets to help them get published, even to win this contest. Well, the articles I'm doing for DreamForge are SUPER-DUPERCHARGED. They are the expanded SUPER SECRETS I am writing for the books being published this year. YOU get advanced access to them through DreamForge. But only if they fund.

Thank all of you considering how to support this important Kickstarter. Thank you for supporting DreamForge Anvil. Even sharing on your social media helps! We all have the power to bring forth light!

https://bit.ly/DFKicks

A quick update on DreamForge Anvil Magazine. They received 500 submissions on their submissions call before they closed. I hope many of you submitted stories, as their mission this year is to publish aspiring writers. May the Force be with you!

The best way to target a market is to read their issues and discern what the editor's tastes are. Their Kickstarter is offering a year's online subscription for only $10, which is regularly $17. Support the markets you submit to. It will ensure they will be there for you and for others, and will allow them to keep sharing your stories with the world. They also did a workshop bundle over the weekend. It's an incredible price for three workshops, and includes one of my Super Secrets Workshops that have helped so many here get published and even win this contest! These are online and covid free! 100% of the pledged funds goes to paying aspiring writers for their stories. They are only $200 away from reaching their goal, but as you know with Kickstarters, you either hit it or you get nothing. Six days left to help them! Thank you to all that help this nonprofit magazine, run by a WotF winner, to keep bringing the world fresh new speculative fiction stories! Maybe even yours . . . but only if they fund. Cheers!

https://bit.ly/DFKicks

I subbed my Q2 SHM from last year. We'll see!

Which reminds me, I have to dust off the Submission Grinder and log that one in.

DreamForge funded yesterday, which means another year for them, and this year their entire focus is on publishing aspiring writers, which means writers like YOU! They have a push goal now to produce not just digital, but a print issue again, what they are famous for. I’ve still got openings in my donated workshop, and it’s being recorded for posterity. Title is “Nail Your Opening: How Driving to the Story Creates Accidents.” But hurry! There’s just a few days left to support!

Thank you to all that already have supported DreamForge. Be sure to put that in your cover letters when you submit them stories when they open once again. As other editors have told me, it does help you get noticed. You helped keep them alive, and they always appreciate that.

Cheers!

https://bit.ly/DFKicks

Constelación Magazine (up to 6.4k; 8 cents/word; closes 4/1/21; theme is "Beyond the Stars / Más allá de las estrellas.")
Darkness Blooms, a Dread Machine anthology (2k-10k; 8 cents/word + 1 hard-copy and two paperback contributor copies; theme involves identity, security, and community; heavy preference for sci-fi, fantasy [especially sword and sorcery] a hard sell.)
Escape Pod (1.5-6k; 8 cents/word; closes 5/31/21; sci-fi.)
Midnight Beyond the Stars (2.5-6k; 6 cents/word; closes 4/30/21; sci-fi; looking for original alien horror stories with a The Thing/Alien/The Blob/Critters/Night of the Creeps kind of vibe.)
Nightmare Magazine (1.5-7.5k; 8 cents/word; closes 3/20/21; horror/dark fantasy; do not submit stories previously rejected by Lightspeed.)
Podcastle (up to 6k; 8 cents/word; closes 3/31/21; fantasy.)

Okay, twins started potty training this week so I don't have as much time for this thread as I'd like. HOWEVER! Stewart C. Baker posted an excellent list on Twitter of venues that are/will be open this month. Check it out.

https://twitter.com/stewartcbaker/status/1377690764726038529?s=19

Just a quick reminder that Cemetary Gates Media has an open submissions call for teens ages 15 to 19! Generation Dread is a horror anthology being edited by Gabino Iglesias.

Guidelines:

-Word Count 1500 to 3000 words

-Deadline: June 1, 2021

-Payment: $100 scholarship

-Rules: Only topics featured in YA books, no racial slurs.

-Ages: All writers between 15-19 years of age are encouraged to submit.

For further details (including where to send your submissions), click on the link above.  

One that I'd add here is the recently-reopened Fantasy Magazine. Formerly edited by Cat Rambo and others, it got rolled up into Lightspeed some years ago after John Joseph Adams took over, but in November 2020 it reopened again as its own independent publication. It remains part of JJA's publications, but with new and distinct editorial leadership.

They're currently open to subs in the first week of each month, which is technically regular, but I personally suspect that will be a temporary state of affairs -- once their backlog fills up, it may well start opening on the more periodic cycles that Lightspeed and Nightmare follow, and you can already see their response times stretching, so I'd personally strike while the iron's hot if you can.

It's currently scheduled to open to subs again in the first week of June, though, so if you have anything gathering dust that might be worth submitting, it's one to keep in mind. Pro rates at 8c/word, stories up to 7500 words (with 5000 words and under preferred).'

https://adamant.moksha.io/publication/fantasy/guidelines

Looking for good flash markets to sub to. I’m probably going with Daily Science Fiction for my first, but most of what else Submission Grinder shows me are major publishers like Apex and SF&F that have pretty long turn around times. Any smaller pro flash markets that you recommend?

Posted by: @lost_bard

Looking for good flash markets to sub to. I’m probably going with Daily Science Fiction for my first, but most of what else Submission Grinder shows me are major publishers like Apex and SF&F that have pretty long turn around times. Any smaller pro flash markets that you recommend?

I've submitted a number of times to Flash Fiction Online. Nothing published yet, but a few nice personal responses. They're a good group.

@lost_bard As for smaller ones, I'd recommend Brilliant Flash Fiction and Flash Point SF. And I came across Flash Frog just recently and subbed a story that is still under consideration, so I'm sure about them (but they pay 25 bucks so what the hell!). About the other two, only rejections so far for me, but I think it's worth a try when your piece has been rejected at least ten times by bigger markets.

Also, a life hack: the group that publishes Fantasy Magazine (that also has Lightspeed and Nightmare), let's you submit two stories at the same time: a short-story and a flash-fiction piece.

Thanks @morgan-broadhead and @alexvss! I'll check them out.

I nearly missed this one, but Fantasy Magazine is open to submissions from zero to 7,500 words, and will be open through April 7th. They will have two more windows this year, from July 1st-7th, and again from October 1st-7th. 

If you're a BIPOC author, then they're open for the whole of 2022! But for those who are not, these are the windows open for you to catch. My notes had mistakenly reported that they would only be reopening to flash fiction for this window--but it turns out, they're actually open to flash or short fiction, as well as poetry, for all of their windows this year.

Posted by: @doctorjest

I nearly missed this one, but Fantasy Magazine is open to submissions from zero to 7,500 words, and will be open through April 7th. They will have two more windows this year, from July 1st-7th, and again from October 1st-7th. 

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll of course read the submission guidelines and peruse recent submissions, but for those of us who don't have all the markets memorized and categorized, can you summarize what type of story they like? What's the vibe of selected submissions?

Posted by: @joebenet

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll of course read the submission guidelines and peruse recent submissions, but for those of us who don't have all the markets memorized and categorized, can you summarize what type of story they like? What's the vibe of selected submissions?

Honestly, my take on that is not very well studied, but I'll give what I can. I read through some, and they have a broad range of perspectives, settings (including urban fantasy, so they run the gamut pretty much), and cultural influences. Based on that, which is very limited, it looks to me like they just want good fiction that can be reasonably classified as fantasy; and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they would consider science fantasy under their banner. 

This one's just a fun little one -- 

It Was All A Dream: An Anthology of Bad Horror Tropes Done Right - The Submission Grinder (diabolicalplots.com)

3 cents per word, so on the lower side than we might normally be hunting for, but it's a fun little experimental market--pick a trope that doesn't work, or which fails frequently, then analyze why it doesn't work, and find a way to use that same trope in a way that actually produces an effective horror story. It's the kind of market I would have passed along to one of my friends, as it would likely suit him well, but I figured I'd also post it here for awareness (although it certainly doesn't fit the general bill). 

Open until the end of April, for anyone who either has a fitting piece, or who's looking for something to experiment with as a warm-up for Q3.

@doctorjest 

As luck would have it, the story I was thinking about submitting to "It Was All a Dream" was just rejected by Apex today. I'll send this one in and see what they think. Thanks for the tip!

Posted by: @doctorjest

I nearly missed this one, but Fantasy Magazine is open to submissions from zero to 7,500 words, and will be open through April 7th. They will have two more windows this year, from July 1st-7th, and again from October 1st-7th. 

Thank you so much for mentioning this. I just submitted a re-edited and much polished former HM. I intended to paste my sales copy here, but the piece is so much better now I need to seriously consider resubmitting to WotF in the future.

Likewise, thanks to whoever recommended The 10% Solution, and of course Ken Rand for writing it. Very helpful.

@joebenet Joe, I knew the late Ken Rand, a dynamo of enthusiasm for our industry. We often chatted at SF cons, always showing up at the same ones. I recommended this book in the Super Secrets Workshop here, and many have enjoyed its simple, straightforward advice. Glad you are, too. Ken was a good man.

P.S. My friend Patrick Swenson at Fairwood Press reprinted this book, for anyone that’s interested. On sale for $7.99 right now. I have a signed original chapbook; this one’s much fancier.  LINK

Posted by: @wulfmoon

@joebenet Joe, I knew the late Ken Rand, a dynamo of enthusiasm for our industry. We often chatted at SF cons, always showing up at the same ones. I recommended this book in the Super Secrets Workshop here, and many have enjoyed its simple, straightforward advice. Glad you are, too. Ken was a good man.

P.S. My friend Patrick Swenson at Fairwood Press reprinted this book, for anyone that’s interested. On sale for $7.99 right now. I have a signed original chapbook; this one’s much fancier.  LINK

I've just ordered myself a copy of this. It's one of those books I've been meaning to pick up, but just never quite got around to. I'll look forward to giving it a read!

@wulfmoon Thanks for the link! Ordered myself a copy  

Sorry I haven't updated this in awhile, BUT, I've heard tell of some calls opening up/open for a limited time that people might be interested in!

The deadline for Troubadours and Space Princesses has been extended to April 30th! It's a charity anthology, so no pay for this one, BUT it's dedicated to Dave.

Strange Horizons has a Southeast Asian Special that's taking submissions until April 30th. (Please note, this is a limited demographic call, for Southeast Asian writers living in Southeast Asia as well as the diaspora.) 8 cents/word, 2k to 7k.

Dark Matter Magazine will be opening from Monday, April 25th until May 1st (they'll close at 11:59pm CST). 8 cents/word, up to 5k.

Militha Review has an open submissions call for Planet Democracy, a special Hopepunk issue of science fiction (and fantasy) devoted to positive and powerful character-driven stories that imagine an open and inclusive tech-empowered democratic future for all people, species and countries on Earth. 8 cents/word for the first 5k (maximum pay per author: $500, if the length of your work exceeds their budget), preferred wordcount 3k to 7.5k. 

Air and Nothingness Press will be taking subs for a new anthology called The Librarian from May 1st to June 30th. 8 cents/word (plus a copy of the book and 40% off the purchase price of any extra copies), 1k to 3k words. AaNP makes beautiful books, folks. Definitely worth trying for, if you're interested in the theme.

#

There's also an anthology I found that I wanted to mention but also give some caveats about? Because I like the idea of it on paper, but have personally had a difficult experience with the publisher in the past. The anthology in question is Sovereign: An Anthology of Black Fantasy Fiction. (This is a limited demographic market--authors from Africa and the African diaspora.) They pay 8 cents/word for the first 1k, and 1 cent/word after that.

HOWEVER.

I feel it's important to note that I sold a story to a previous magazine run by the same publisher (the company name has changed, but the editor and submission guidelines are the same), and my story got locked up with the publisher for over two years in total without getting published. The contract was payable after publication, and if I hadn't put an exit clause into my contract there wouldn't have been an exit clause in my contract (I'm glad I put it in). The magazine's publication date kept getting delayed further and further, and eventually I hit a point where I felt the need to ask for my story back.

Please note that I am not trying to badmouth this editor, this publisher, or this anthology--the editor is a wonderful person, my request to get my story back was handled most graciously, and it's entirely possible that none of the difficulties I experienced with the previous magazine will transpire with this anthology. I just want people to be aware of potential concerns. Also, if you do submit to them and get an acceptance, I recommend reading the contract carefully to make sure everything is to your liking. (To be fair, I recommend reading every publishing contract carefully, because contracts can be amended and it's always important to know what you're in for. If anyone here gets a short story contract you want another set of eyes on, shoot me an email and I'll do my best to get back to you in a timely manner! I've seen enough of them at this point to have a decent idea of what does and doesn't work well.)

@disgruntledpeony 

I checked out the Dark Matter link. It said submissions were closed? Any idea when they will open up? I signed up to receive email notifications. Hopefully, they don't send a bunch of spam

NM I re reread and found it ? 

 Monday, April 25th until May 1st 

Posted by: @zappey1

@disgruntledpeony 

I checked out the Dark Matter link. It said submissions were closed? Any idea when they will open up? I signed up to receive email notifications. Hopefully, they don't send a bunch of spam

 

NM I re reread and found it ? 

 Monday, April 25th until May 1st 

No worries! There's a lot of info in that post, it's easy to miss some.  

Posted by: @wulfmoon

P.S. My friend Patrick Swenson at Fairwood Press reprinted this book, for anyone that’s interested. On sale for $7.99 right now. I have a signed original chapbook; this one’s much fancier.  LINK

I'm going to follow up to this, because I kept hearing about this book here, thinking that it sounded interesting but somehow not critical, and I waited a long time (years) before actually buying it.

Since it arrived, which was about a week and a half ago, I've gone through and applied its steps just one time to just one of my stories (and I'm not even complete with all the steps yet), and I already feel like I got more than my money's worth, just by applying it to this one story. The prose of the story is more vibrant, the length is shorter, and the emotional distance in the final writing is closer. It's such a simple toolkit, but it feels so damn effective to me. It nails itself right into what I consider to me by biggest problem spot with my stories, which is that gap between thinking I'm done and submitting--I often submit too soon, and though I knew that, I never quite knew what to do about it. But this book slots right into that gap, like it was designed to fix me.

It sits right alongside Strunk & White for me now, being one of those little books that is worth so much more than its size would ever suggest. Sincere thanks to Wulf, and many others besides, for having recommended this book for so long. I only wish I'd picked it up sooner!

@doctorjest Glad it helped! Simple tips, easy to apply, yielding far more than the 10% you remove from your manuscript. Ken and I ran in the same circles, so we’d see one another at every convention. He’s no longer with us, but I’m happy his advice is still helping writers like you. Cheers!