HOW TO SUBMIT SHORT STORIES:
All short story submissions for the SylverMoon Chronicles anthology should be made through our online submission form. This helps us keep track of the submissions we receive as efficiently as possible. Please don't email or direct mail us anything, as it won't reach the right people.
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:
We are open for short story submissions throughout the year, and include stories in the genres of Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, and Science-Fiction.
The SylverMoon Chronicles anthologies contain a range of short stories from both new and established authors. We strongly recommend reading one of our anthologies before submitting: every publisher has different tastes, and if you take the time to discover what we publish, you'll find it much easier to decide what to send us. Our free sampler, The Four Horsemen of the SylverMoon, is a great place to start. Get your own copy HERE.
We want engaging stories that entertain and welcome the reader into your world – wherever that world is!
Please note that we DO NOT consider novel excerpts. Stories with illustrations or photographs (no color) will be assessed on an individual basis.
Every SylverMoon Chronicles volume has three sections:
1. Continuations - Serials that have appeared in our anthology before
2. New Material - Brand new & exciting worlds
3. Themed Material - Stories that incorporate a particular theme chosen for each volume.
THEME:
For our 2022 SylverMoon Chronicles: Volume X, the theme is – X Marks the Spot
Treasure... Danger... The beginning of a journey... Places & moments in time, marked to tell us that HERE is something important. What is the X in your world? Your imagination? Tell us your tales, Travelers.
WORD COUNT:
We are able to consider stories that are between 1,000 and 20,000 words in length; please do not send anything longer or shorter than this. (Most of the stories we publish are between about 2,000 and 7,000 words.)
COMPENSATION:
We are unable to financially compensate writers up-front at this time. All contributing authors are eligible for a percentage of the profits from the anthology they are included in. Additionally, all authors will receive a complementary digital copy of the anthology, and a hard copy upon request.
DEADLINES:
We accept submissions year-round. However, the deadline for consideration in a particular year’s anthology is October 31st of the previous year.
INTERNATIONAL SUBMISSIONS AND TRANSLATIONS:
Although we're based in the US, we accept short story submissions from authors all over the English-speaking world. (If submitting a translation, please make a note in the document of the story detailing who is making the submission, and who owns the rights to both the story and the translation.)
RIGHTS:
We ask for first serial rights on any story we publish. This means that the story should not have appeared anywhere else, either in print or online. (This includes publication on an author's own website.) When we publish a story, we ask for a brief period of exclusivity (usually six months), and the right to keep the story in print as part of the anthology. We don't ask for website/online rights, or place any limits on what you can do with your story after the exclusivity period.
FILE FORMAT:
Please submit your short story in .docx, or .doc format.
SUBMISSION FEE:
We do NOT charge authors any submission fees.
MULTIPLE AND SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS:
It is absolutely acceptable to send us more than one story at a time. In fact, we love to see two or even three. Please don't send more than three, though, and please ALWAYS submit them through the form one at a time, and not together in one document.
We do understand if you want to submit to more than one outlet at a time. However, please let us know if a story you've submitted to us has been accepted elsewhere!
RESPONSE TIMES:
We aim to reply to all submissions within three weeks, although we will sometimes go slightly over this during busy periods or holidays.
If you're waiting for a reply from us, please keep an eye on your junk mail folder, as our replies do sometimes make their way there. If you submitted more than four weeks ago, and have not heard back from us, please check your junk mail folder again. If there's nothing there, email us at: confederacyofthequill@gmail.com . Please include your name, story name, and date of submission in any email.