Submission Guidelines
The term “Work” as used below shall refer to your short story.
SEEKING SHORT MYSTERY FICTION WRITERS
We are looking for quality writing and encourage new writers, including those not previously published. All short stories submitted will be given consideration. We are seeking writers from anywhere in the world, but stories must be in the English language.
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
Short Mystery Stories.
Stories should be between 500 and 5000 words. Various genres are acceptable, including detective, amateur-sleuth, crime, suspense, legal thriller, cozy, etc., as long as there is a crime or mystery element.
WE ARE NOT INTERESTED
WE ARE NOT INTERESTED in fantasy, dark fantasy, sci-fi, erotica, horror, romance or poetry. No pornography or explicit sex; no excessive violence, gore or obscenity; no subject matter which we consider to be offensive. Strong language is okay, but avoid vulgar extremes.
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED STORIES
Previously published material will be considered if the writer can provide proof of the right to publish the material elsewhere. Please provide the year of prior publication as well as the market in which it appeared.
EXCERPTS
An excerpt from a longer work may be considered for publication provided that it stands alone as a short story. The writer must provide proof of the right to publish the excerpt.
HOW TO SUBMIT SHORT STORIES
Stories MUST BE PASTED INTO AN E-MAIL and sent to OrchardPressMystery@gmail.com. DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS when submitting your story for consideration. Submission e-mails containing attachments will NOT be opened.
Please include the story title in the e-mail subject line, following the word “Submission.” Example: “Submission: Story Title”. Be sure to include the following information: name, mailing address, and e-mail address of the author. If you are using a pseudonym, please clearly indicate both your actual name and pseudonym.
ACCEPTANCE FOR PUBLICATION
If your story is accepted for publication, you will THEN be requested to submit it as a MS Word doc, single-spaced with double spacing between paragraphs, left justification, Courier New or Times New Roman font size 12 preferred, with no headers or footers or page numbers. and contain the name, mailing address, and e-mail address of the author at the top of the first page, followed by the name of the story. If you are using a pseudonym, please clearly indicate both your actual name and pseudonym.
Upon request, please also send a short bio and a photo (head shot) in a format suitable for the Web (JGP, BMP, TIF). You may include the URL to your website if you have one, and/or an e-mail address.
You must provide an e-mail address that is connected to a PayPal account in order to receive payment. See PAYMENT FOR WORK below for details.
EDITING
We reserve the right to edit the Work for publication. We shall also have the option of including an author bio and/or photo (head shot), if furnished by you, or to remove either of them at any time. Please DO NOT send photos until asked.
PLEASE, check your Work for proper grammar, punctuation and spelling before submitting.
FEEDBACK FROM READERS
We will give you the option of including your e-mail address with publication of your story or poem, but reserve the right to discontinue this option at any time.
COPYRIGHT AND AUTHORSHIP CREDIT
Copyright notice and authorship credit in your name (or in your pseudonym if you so indicate) shall accompany our publication of the Work.
RIGHTS GRANTED
You hereby grant us the rights for the full term of copyright (including all extensions thereof), in the English language throughout the world: (1) to display, publish, distribute and transmit the Work via the Internet on or from our website presently known as “Orchard Press Mystery”(www.orchardpressmystery.com) and/or any successor online site, and (2) to permit our readers to download, copy and print copies of the Work for personal use.
Our rights in the Work shall be non-exclusive, and all rights not expressly granted to us are reserved exclusively to you.
PUBLICATION OF WORK
We shall have no obligation to publish the Work, and if we publish the Work we shall have the right to discontinue its publication at any time. We will generally remove your Work from our site at your request, but shall have no obligation to do so.
WARRANTY OF AUTHORSHIP
You warrant the originality and your authorship and ownership of the Work, that its publication will not infringe on any copyright, proprietary right, or other right, and that it does not defame or invade the privacy of any person.
PAYMENT FOR WORK
Stories are selected as First Place, Second Place or Third Place stories each month. We offer payment of USD $100, $50, or $25 respectively each month that stories are published. If stories of sufficient quality are not received in a given month, we reserve the right not to publish a story or stories or to award payment. We reserve the right not to publish any story for any reason. We reserve the right to discontinue offering payment at any time.
Payment will be made via PayPal. You must have a PayPal account in order to receive payment. Payment will not be made via check or via any other method.
RESPONSE TIME
We try to respond to all submissions within two or three weeks.
PUBLICATION DATE
We will notify you as soon as possible when your story will be published. Please be patient with us, as we have a small staff and a lot of submissions to consider.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
By submitting your story, you agree to all of the terms and conditions contained on this page.