Call for Submissions
Submissions for Strange Love are now closed.
Thank you to the few hundred writers who submitted pieces--we’re seeing some great stuff.
Update: March 1, 2011
We’ve been delayed in making our final selections. We’re notifying folks as quickly as we are able, but we don’t expect to complete our notification process until April. Apologies for the delay; please let us know if your piece is accepted by another publication in the meantime.
--valerie
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Theme
Love is strange. Discuss.
The theme is open to interpretation, but note that we tend to prefer sarcasm over sap. Pieces that are quirky, dark, witty, or cringe-worthy generally get our attention.
As for what counts as “love,” anything that involves connection, passion, or obsession works well. A woman’s love for gambling -- sure. A cat’s love for the ‘nip -- fine. As for what counts as “strange,” that’s up to you.
R-rated stories are fine, but if you start crossing over into X-rated territory, we’ll probably ask for your characters to keep it in their pants.
We’ve published a sample story excerpt to get you in the mood.
Deadline
We will accept submissions through January 5th, 2011.
Any submissions received from now until the deadline will be folded into our committee review. We’ll notify folks of the results in late January.
Compensation
The prize for winning story submissions will be determined by the first six months’ sales; more books sold means higher cash awards.
There is a guaranteed minimum of $10 for contributors published in the collection, which will be awarded as an advance just prior to the publication date.
We can’t guarantee the number of sales, but our goal is to get you paid and coming back with great submissions. We use the magic of a marketing budget to help make that happen.
We never charge a submission, review, or publication fee for contributors. Ever.
Our Books
To see what our books look like (and they are pretty fabulous, frankly), download a free sample of our recently published book My First Time. Amazon provides free Kindle software for your PC/Mac.
This will also give you an idea of the kinds of pieces we’ve accepted in the past—do take a look before submitting.
Length and Genre
Works in any genre are eligible, but fair warning that fiction and poetry tend to score the best in our reviews. Personal remembrances must be exceptional to make it in.
- Submissions may be up to 3000 words
- Shorter works are encouraged
- Flash fiction and poetry will absolutely be considered
Format and Submission
Submit pieces to submissions@softcopypublishing.com. Include the words “strange love” in the subject line.
Submissions should be attached to the email as a .txt, .doc or .docx. Please avoid sending .rtf files.
Name your file with words in the title plus your last name. Please don’t send us files named “strangelove.doc” or “softcopy.doc”. It makes it hard to tell them apart. ;)
Please use a 12 pt font, double-space, and include page numbers. Don’t include your name on any page but the first, as we black out author’s names for our review process.
On the first page, please include:
- Author’s Name
- Email Address
- Postal Address
- Title
- Genre (Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Poetry)
- Word Count
- How you learned about us
Selection
Inclusion in the collection is at the discretion of SoftCopy. Submission does not guarantee inclusion. Some pieces may be solicited by invitation.
Rights
Works should be original and previously unpublished.
By submitting, contributors agree to grant SoftCopy Publishing:
- First digital publication rights and exclusive digital publication rights for a period of six months from the publication date of the anthology
- Non-exclusive digital publication rights thereafter
Thank you, and good luck!
Valerie Nygaard, SoftCopy Publishing
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