Submission Guidelines

We are currently accepting submissions ONLY for Horrific Scribes. We are NOT yet accepting submissions for standalone publications such as novellas and novels (please see our plan for such things).

That said, Horrific Scribes is open for submissions! Horrific Scribes will soon be an expanding online archive of dark short fiction (and some poetry) by various authors who share the Horrific Scribblings imprint’s dedication to the provocative, scary, and strange. We’re looking for dark fiction, mostly horror (all subgenres, bloodless to extreme, nothing off limits as long as there really is a good story and it’s not driven by hate, e.g. racism, homophobia, etc.) but also the horror-adjacent, e.g. dark fantasy and dark sci-fi but also surreal and experimental work with dark edges. However you’d classify it, it should be unconventional, challenging, and worth thinking about.

To get the sticky part out of the way, we pay $25 for an accepted submission. A goal of publisher Horrific Scribblings (described in the aforementioned plan) is to start publishing anthologies that pay a proper $.08/word, but unless something very, very unlikely happens with our early publications, this project is going to create debt. So, for now, it’s $25 for an accepted submission. You’re certainly worth more!

So, what goes into a submission?

Submissions are via email, and the subject line should include the author’s name and the story’s title: “Author Name, ‘Story Title'”. The body of the email should be like a cover letter. You can address it to Horrific Scribes, L. Andrew Cooper, Andrew, whatever–we/I don’t care much as long as you know how to write. Explain any relevant credentials and past publications and provide a brief description of the submission, enough to situate it in terms of genre and form and whet the appetite, not a complete synopsis (don’t spoil it). Include the word count. Feel free to include any biographical notes of interest.

Attach your submission as a single file, .doc, .docx, or .rtf ONLY. Other file formats might be deleted unread.

What should be in your attached file? Most likely, an original (no reprints, no AI), well-polished short story that fits the above description. Stories may range from 1,500 to 5,000 words. Pay is the same regardless of length. Some wiggle room is allowed, but stories significantly outside the stated length range may be deleted unread. Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please let us know if your submission is accepted elsewhere so we can delete it. Multiple submissions are not okay: one submission per author at a time, please.

You may include a small group of short poems or a couple of mid-length poems in a single submission. Prose fiction is what Horrific Scribes emphasizes, but good dark poetry is good dark poetry.

What are your chances? We plan to accept 1-3 submissions per month, assuming we get submissions that fit with our goals, during an open submission period. Submissions will stay open unless/until we’re overwhelmed.

When will you hear back? This endeavor is new, so this answer is cloudy. Soon if submission volume is low. We’ll try to update you if submission volume makes response time look like it might be more than a month. Watch our Facebook page for updates: https://www.facebook.com/horrificscribblings

We don’t offer feedback on submissions. We are already questioning our sanity for making the time commitment involved in reading submissions; having to stop to write feedback on each one would make the project as a whole unrealistic. Sorry.

So where do you submit? [email protected]