Submission Guidelines 

This is a personal project, and I’ll be surprised if these do not change as it unfolds.  That said, I try to be prompt with any updates.  For now, here's the news:  
 
What I'm not looking for:

• Non-Fiction
• Poetry
• Artwork
• Multiple or simultaneous submissions
• Re-submissions of previously rejected MS (if I am interested in seeing a revision of something, I will specifically request it)
• Reprints  

 
What I am looking for:

• Stories up to 4000 words (firm), previously unpublished on paper or electronically.
• Stories that read fast.  Don’t bog the tale down with a lot of explication.     
• Stories set in the contemporary world, rather than historical fiction or tales set in fantasy/science fiction landscapes.   
• Stories that present your protagonist’s encounter with the horrific, disturbing, uncanny, weird, macabre, and/or grotesque.  
• Stories that are character-focused.  That encounter should have some impact upon your protagonist’s outlook and/or actions as the story unfolds.
• Stories that succeed by using concrete detail to show what happens and convey why it is important, rather than trying to tell the reader why.  Resist the urge to explain.  
• Originality.  Creature-features are welcome, but your own monsters will probably be an easier sell than vampires, zombies, werewolves, et. al.    

 
How I want it:

• Please use standard MLA manuscript format, presented in twelve-point Calibri or Times New Roman
• Send your submission as an attachment in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format to dreadsubmissions@gmail.com.  Documents sent in other formats will be deleted unread.
• The subject line of your submission email should be: SUBMISSION: Your Name, “ Story Title.”
• In the body of your email, briefly tell me about yourself and your publication history.

 
What I plan to do with it:

• I pay a penny a word (US).  Payment is upon publication and only  via Paypal.
• With that payment, I am buying first electronic rights of your previously unpublished work.   I ask that you not publish the piece elsewhere (online or on paper) during the first six months it is published with me.     
• I plan to publish just one story a month, each and every month.
• I plan to keep each story available on the site for a year from its original publication date.
• Copyright and all other rights remain the property of the author.
• I have no plan at this time to archive materials past the one-year publication period.  Any changes to this will be subject to author approval.
• If in the future there is interest in publishing a print anthology collecting material previously published on the site, I will contact authors to discuss the acquisition of additional rights.
• I’m not sure what response times on submissions will be, but for an initial ballpark I will shoot for a month.  I generally do not comment on rejected MS.