GUIDELINES - Step #2

How To Submit to Any Epic Saga Anthology

I have a common set of rules about any anthologies I publish, regardless of title. Be sure to read this page through before submitting anything, because I have a low tolerance for writers who don't read the rules. I don't mind minor oversights; it's when I get stories that are so completely not what, where it's obvious the writer didn't actually read the guidelines, that annoy me.

I am EXTREMELY PICKY about proper English mechanics and usage.  I promise you that if you are not a competent writer mechanically, I will not read past the first page before rejecting you. I am a serious editor, and don't have time to go through five rewrites with people who have good stories that are lost in spelling errors, poor punctuation, bad grammar, and the like. Plus, when there are 500 submissions to be reviewed and only room for a dozen or so in the anthology, I don't have the patience to struggled through dreadful work in hopes that the story will somehow magically knock me off my feet anyway. If you have the best story EVER, it won't matter if you cannot present it professionally. It would be like sending me a car with the best souped-up engine under the hood, but the car is missing its doors, the windows are all broken, the tires are all flat, and it's a gigantic rust-bucket. Sure, it might be the best machine in the world, but if it looks like it sucks, I'm not going to turn the key.

I also appreciate a good vocabulary. You don't have to be a walking thesaurus, but I'm looking for intelligent, competently written stories that transcend the sixth-grade reading level.

I give this tip to everyone: There is no better way to spot contrived dialogue than to read it out loud. If it sounds bad, you'll know it. Another good way is to pick up any book by Stephanie Meyer and read her dialogue out loud. Better still, read it to yourself; it's so bad that you'll see what I mean, unless you're a tween who thinks she's AWESOME. Yes, I know she's sold more books than just about anybody, but quantity doesn't mean quality.

UPDATE
People seem to be ignoring this requirement. I am willing to work with writers to clean up problems, but I am not willing to go beyond page one if you've committed every grammatical offense possible. Please, edit your manuscripts, polish them until they shine, before submitting -- not just to me, but to any editor.
 

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I have a few things I insist on with stories for ANY anthologies. Most importantly, I have zero interest in slice-of-life stories. Any story you submit must have:

Protagonist. There must be at least one. He can be good, bad, or indifferent, but he should be flawed and have some motivation for working toward the resolution.

Antagonist. There must be at least one. He can be good, bad, or indifferent. It can be nature, or the protagonist working against himself, or something intangible. But the antagonist should make it challenging for the protagonist to achieve resolution.

Plot. There must be a real plot; something must happen.

Resolution. The story should accomplish something and arrive somewhere, as Mark Twain said. Your should, too. The plot must have a resolution at the end of the story. The protagonist must participate in the plot's resolution. He cannot be a bystander watching it all happen.

Change. At the end of the story, the protagonist must have grown in some way: he's learned something, he's achieved a goal (or failed to achieve it), his personality or way of thinking is changed on some fundamental level, he gains a new understanding, or whatever.

I realize that there are many definitions for "story," and many ways of writing. But if your story does not have those things, don't send it. I'm also not interested in debating my position on what a story should be. If you don't like my position, please don't submit.

BIG PET PEEVE: Nothing turns me off faster than poorly written, contrived dialogue. I won't last long reading a story with dialogue that sounds as if it were written for a B-grade movie on the Sci-Fi Channel. I offer this tip to any writer: Read your dialogue aloud. Actually, read your entire story aloud, but pay special attention to the dialogue; if it sounds campy and contrived, you'll almost certainly know it when you read it aloud. Reading the non-dialogue parts aloud doesn't hurt, either, as it helps to hear it differently than you're mentally hearing it when you read it to yourself. That's my opinion, anyway.

UPDATE
As much as bad grammar and contrived dialog makes me crazy, story structure is call for an immediate rejection from me. I absolutely insist on the above points regarding story, plot, characters, resolution, and change. If those elements are not present, I will reject out of hand. Most rejections I have issued have been for this reason.
 

Observe standard manuscript format, within reason, I don't demand a long list of absolutes, but I do want the basics:

• Double-spaced
   
• Times (No Courier, or any fixed-width font, under any circumstances; you can't tell en dashes from em dashes in a fixed-width font, which drives me nuts)
   
• Name/address/phone/email/copyright/word count/etc. on page one
   
• Title/name/page number on every page. You get brownie points if you format the header with "Page # of #" so I know how many pages there are supposed to be, but it isn't required.
   
• And please, people, basic common sense. No extra spaces between paragraphs. Indent every paragraph, but don't indent it halfway across the paragraph.
   
• For scene breaks, don't use a blank line, and don't use a string of asterisks in a row. Use a single pound sign (#) on the otherwise-blank scene-break line. Really.

Electronic submissions only, in whatever file format you prefer (but I prefer Word .doc). ODF and RTF are also good. But I can likely handle anything you send.
 

UPDATE
I have been getting lots of reprint subs. Most are very, very bad, because they originally appeared on Web sites where the editorial control is severely lacking. So I am no longer accepting anything that has appeared on a Web site or in an electronic-only format. If you have something that appeared in print, I will look at it. NO MORE ONLINE STUFF. Sorry; I'm just wading through way too many stories that are just plain bad. It's easy for online editors to accept anything they receive, because it costs them nothing to accept and "publish." It may make you happy to have 100 credits in your repertoire, but if almost all of them are online credits, that should give you the idea that maybe your writing isn't all that strong. Of course, it could mean you only submit to online venues. And perhaps your 100 online credits are beautifully written and I'm being unfair. But I won't know, as I'm looking at anything previously published online.

UPDATE
Several folks are trying to sneak online stuff by me, not telling me it has appeared online. I check. If I find it online, I won't consider it. And if you're not reading these guidelines and trying to sneak them by me, I won't likely consider anything else you send in the future.
 

UPDATE
I was going to do this through Lulu.com, but it looks like I'll be using Ingram's Lightning Source instead. Lulu has a very large profit cut, and to publish with ISBNs, the cover price has to be way too high. I'm not trying to get rich; just trying to produce stuff that people can afford to buy, and that they will buy.
 

As previously noted, I am very particular about good mechanics in writing. It is entirely feasible that I will go through the slush pile and reject, out of hand, every story that has Page One full of bad grammar, poor spelling, young-child vocabulary, and contrived dialogue. So if you receive an email prior to the deadline, it probably isn't good.
 

I will contract for first rights, to cover everything from North American to British to worldwide to electronic to reprint rights. All rights return to you immediately upon publication, although I will ask for an exclusivity period, probably a year as a general rule, after which you can sell the story elsewhere.
 

All authors will receive a pro-rata share of profits from an anthology. As a general rule, I'll be awarding all contributing writers and artists a share of the profits, divvied appropriately. This may mean everyone gets equal shares. For instance, if a particular anthology's word count runs from 1,000 words to 10,000 words, it may mean that the writer who has a 1,000-word story accepted will get less money than the writer who has a 10,000-word story accepted. I'll spell out details the in the specific contracts. When I accept stories, I'll offer the pro-rate terms that you may accept or reject. It is likely that pro-rata shares will expire after a time (a year, two years, etc.), when I will likely reduce the cost of the anthology so that there isn't much money being made but copies will still be available for sale. If this sounds like I get to keep making money and contributors don't, you're right. It's not unfair; in fact, it's more fair this way. If you got paid a flat $50 for a story and the publisher went on to make thousands of dollars, that wouldn't be as fair as if you made hundreds or thousands of dollars during the contract period.

Also, there will be no wondering whether you're getting your fair share. I'll be turning the money matters over to an independent Chartered Financial Consultant who will handle payments and send tax forms out.
 

Ready to Submit?
If all of this is okay, you're ready to submit!

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Submission Guidelines for Other Anthologies:
Atheist Tales ~ Bushed! ~ Maine Tales ~ Salacious Tales ~ Green Sox & Red Monsters ~ Star Dreck