Submission Guidelines
We're on the hunt for brave new short stories: comedy, adventure, sci-fi, romance, historical fiction, horror -- your favorite fiction genre is welcome here.
If you're an established author or new voice, join us. We're thrilled to offer competitive rates for published stories.
You won't actually be sending us your story here. We ask some questions that help us get to know you and your voice, then we check out your stuff and if it seems right, we'll contact you and ask for your story.
Cool?
Here's Some Information On The Situation
Frequency
We publish 4 stories in every issue, and 12 issues a year.
Pay
Writers should be paid for great writing, and we're in the business of employing great writers, regardless of how fancy they may be.
We pay $1000 for published stories, delivered within 30 days of your story being published.
Story Guidelines
Your story should not be previously or currently published on any public website in its entirety.
It should be a self-contained work, not chapters excerpted from a longer work.
It should also be an original work, not previously published in other formats or publications.
Publishing Rights
We retain exclusive rights to your story for 90 days, and non-exclusive rights forever.
We also retain the right to publish in other Fog Horn mediums such as a "Best Of" or Annual Anthology or something similar in the future.
Lastly, we retain the right to submit your story and for it to be published as part of award contests.
Format, Word Limit and Language
We greatly prefer completed stories, or at least polished drafts. We rarely commission pitches.
We publish short stories, so your word limit should be no less than 1200 words, and no more than 8500. Brief, but impactful.
We currently publish in the English language only.
Genres
The Fog Horn is open to all fiction genres.
Regarding Writing
Your story should be well-written. Language, grammar and spelling are all essential trademarks of great writing.
We're digital-only, but respect the tradition of the printed page. Your content should be convenient and easy to read. Endless paragraphs or typographical black magic is not cool.
What About Sexy Stuff? Or Scary Stuff? Or Sexy Scary Stuff?
Taking a page from the fabulous Clarkesworld Magazine: "There are no barriers as to levels of profanity, gore, or sexuality allowed, but high amounts of profanity, gore, and sexuality are generally used poorly. Be sure to use them well if you do use them."
Once You've Submitted
We're grateful and excited to be on the receiving end of a boat load of submissions. So, in general, hold your pants.
If you haven't heard from us in 30 days, please consider it a pass.
But, also:
- Don't send revisions unless they've been requested
- Don't re-submit stories that've been rejected. Please don't. It doesn't look good. Keep writing.
- Don't submit another story for one month after receiving a rejection. But keep writing.
- Don't argue with rejection. It is what it is, we've all been there. It sucks. Keep writing.
Thanks for reading to the bottom. Onwards and upwards!