SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

UPDATE, 2013: Microstory A Week is no longer accepting submissions.  The site may be accepting them in the future, and for that reason I'm keeping the guidelines up.  In the meantime,  happy writing. =)

GENERAL GUIDELINES

Polished fiction stories only -- no poetry, please.

Word limit: 700 words or less. Flasher-length works (e.g., 200 word stories) are welcome, also.

Email submissions only, please, with the word SUBMISSION at the start of the email title line.

Send manuscripts to this address: arterialgush@yahoo.com.

One story per submission, please. Please don’t submit another story until you’ve heard back about the previous one. I’m also a working writer, so I’ll get back to you A.S.A.P. about your work, within two weeks (probably less).

If you’re submitting a simultaneous piece, please let me know.

I accept previously published works, as long as they're not currently published on the Net. If submitting a previously published piece, please include its publishing history in the submission email.

Novel excerpts are acceptable, as long as they work as stand-alone pieces.

If you want to be published under another name, let me know.

Authors retain the copyrights to their works. All I ask is that work published here is allowed to remain on the site, and that it remains “exclusive” here during the week I publish it. Also, if you republish the work elsewhere, please acknowledge that it was published here first.

Please be sure to include this statement in your email: “I am the sole author of this story. No one else holds the copyright to this work.”



COMPENSATION

There is no financial compensation for authors whose work appear here. (If I could pay people, I would!) What this site is about is exposure for writers, who, in addition to publishing their stories, may submit a 75-word bio and an author-related link or two.



STYLE, GENRES, ALL THAT JAZZ:

I’m open to any story subject and style, as long as it’s story and not just an extended scene (i.e., there must be a plot, some semblance of characterization and motivation, and a conflict/problem to resolve, etc. ). In short: I don’t care about genre (for the most part), I care about quality, and an adherence to the submission guidelines.

Caveat: I am not a fan of religious-inspirational or Hallmark-flavored work. Nor do I want sexually explicit works here – I’m going for a hard-“R” rating (at the most extreme) on this site. That said, sex may be a present element in submitted works, as long as it’s an integral part of the story.

Any rejection notes will be constructive in tone, and, time permitting, be accompanied with a reason why I’m not accepting the work in play.


FORMATTING

Include story in body of Rich Text email – no attachments, please.

No paragraph-start indentions. Double-space between paragraph breaks, and space your lines at 1.15.

If there are italics or bold-face words in your story be sure to make that clear.

ANY SUBMISSIONS THAT DO NOT FOLLOW THESE GUIDELINES WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY REJECTED.


PUBLISHING SCHEDULE

I will publish one story per week, each Wednesday. This will be a first-come, first-serve gig, so get to it. I look forward to reading your work. :)