| SORCEROUS SIGNALS |
| edited by Carol Hightshoe |
| Submission Guidelines |
| Welcome to Sorcerous Signals Sorcerous Signals will be a quarterly Fantasy electronic magazine. Each issue we hope to "print" 4 fantasy short stories, 2 poems and 1 flash fiction piece that meet the following guidelines: My primary guideline is simple: Write a good Fantasy story. What I am NOT looking for - erotica / slash / or other such stories. Although well written love scenes that are IMPORTANT to the story may be considered on a story-by-story basis. 1) Stories should be no longer than 10,000 words. However, tell the story - if it takes more than 10,000 words to tell the story properly so be it. Just try to cut it down if possible - but remember the story is the important part. 2) I will accept reprints as long as it has been at least 1 year since the story was previously published, rights have reverted back and you tell me where it previously appeared. 3) Please keep the graphic gore down to a minimum (only what's needed for the story). 4) Please keep the obscene language to a bare minimum (again, only what's needed for the story). 5) Humor similar to what has appeared in the "Chicks in Chain Mail"; series of Anthologies will also be considered. 6) Simultaneous Submissions will be considered IF: a) You tell me up front b) You inform me immediately if the story has been accepted elsewhere If I have too many occurrences of finding out a story was accepted somewhere else when I contact an author to tell them I would like to accept their story for Sorcerous Signals - I will no longer accept simultaneous submissions. I am partial to Sword and Sorcery style Fantasy stories, but will consider anything that fits into the fantasy genre. All stories received will be considered first for Sorcerous Signals and also for The Lorelei Signal. Please do not submit to both e-zines. FORMATTING: If you have a Fantasy story you think meets the theme of this magazine then send it to me via email in plain text as part of the message body. Even though I have decent anti virus software on my computer - if you send me an attachment you are risking me deleting your email unread. I will not respond to emails deleted for failing to properly follow the guidelines. Your work should be as professional as you can make it, as if you were presenting it to a professional magazine for publication. Do not indent. Please single space with a double space between paragraphs and use _to indicate italics_. RESPONSE TIMES: I plan on waiting until the end of each of the reading periods before reading the stories that have come in. So if you submit early in that period you will have to wait a few weeks before I start on the submissions. Each submission should also receive an acknowledge email within a few days of it being received by the editor. Response times will depend on the number of submissions being received, my personal time schedule as well as any writing deadline's I may have. However, I do hope to keep response times down to less than 2 months. I will make every effort to respond to each story with something other than a form letter. RIGHTS: Author's grant to Sorcerous Signals one-time rights to publish in electronic format. We request 6 months exclusivity, after which they are free to market the story elsewhere. Authors are also encouraged to post a short excerpt on their own website with a link to Sorcerous Signals Please note if you are not sending a reprint this does constitute first electronic (and 1st serial rights) for your story if it is accepted. Sorcerous Signals also requests non-exclusive print anthology rights for possible inclusion in an end of year Anthology issue. If an author's story is selected for this anthology they will receive $10.00. If an author's story is not selected for the Anthology covering the year their story appeared, Sorcerous Signals no longer has any claim to the anthology rights without the permission of the author. SUBMISSION: Please provide the following information in a "cover letter" at the beginning of your submission: Your name (pen name if desired) / e-mail address and web-site if you have one. Also let us know if you are open to receiving feedback from readers. If so we will provide a link to your email address with your story. If not specifically stated we will assume you do not want the feedback link. Please title your email as SORCEROUS SUBMISSION: (the title of your story) Something to be aware of, stories used in magazines such as this, are a matter personal taste. While I may not accept your story for the magazine, it does not constitute a personal rejection of you -- only that your story may not have met my personal vision for the zine. REVIEWS: Sorcerous Signals is also looking for reviews of Fantasy. Please title your email as SORCEROUS REVIEW: (the title of the story you are reviewing). There is no payment or donation button for reviews. Reviews may be submitted outside the normal reading periods. PAYMENT: We're trying an experiment. Each story will contain a PayPal donation button, so readers can show their appreciation to the author. Money received through this method will be split 60/40 between the author (60%) and the magazine (40%). Authors will be paid at the end of the quarter in which their story appeared. As issues will remain archived for a period of one year after publication, authors will again be paid when the story is removed from the archive if it generates any new revenue. Authors will receive an initial advance of $5.00 for stories and $2.00 for poems and flash (<1000 wds) fiction pieces within 30 days of receipt of signed contract. I am hoping to publish an anthology at the end of the year which will feature the best stories from each issue. A poll will be set up to allow readers to vote for their favorite stories each issue. The fan favorites will be the ones selected for the anthology along with some picks from the editor. Authors will be paid $10.00 for the rights to print their stories in the anthology. Payment will be made at the time the anthology is prepared for printing. All payments will be made through PayPal. ARTWORK: We are also looking for artwork that fits the theme of the magazine. Payment will be made the same way as the stories - with links for reader appreciation donations to be split between the magazines and the artist. Any artwork used in the anthology will be paid the same $10.00 fee. Please send samples of your work to the editor (yes, I will accept these as attachments). If I like your samples you will be offered the chance to do an illustration for an upcoming story. READING PERIODS: Sorcerous Signals is currently a quarterly magazine scheduled for publication during the following months: February / May / August & November Our reading periods will be Feb 15th - Mar 15th May 15th - June 15th Aug 15th - Sept 15th Nov 15th - Dec 15th EDITING All stories appearing in Sorcerous Signals will be edited as needed. Authors will, when I am able be given advance notice of their story being posted, before an issue goes live and have the opportunity to review the edited work along with the artwork that will appear with their story. ADVERTISING: For information on advertising in Sorcerous Signals, click here. Thank you for your interest in Sorcerous Signals and I hope to hear from you - even more I hope to receive a wonderful story from you. |
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