Fiction Submission Guidelines:
Submission Formatting
Last updated: 16 June, 2006
(Added info about RTF system, which is now our preferred submission system.)
This page contains the following sections:
Formatting Instructions
We have fairly specific formatting requirements. If you don't want to have to reformat your story for us, consider using our RTF submission system, which lets you upload a Rich Text Format file instead of submitting using email. We strongly recommend and prefer that you use that upload system.
However, if for some reason you have to submit to us by email, please read the following instructions and follow them carefully. Submissions that don't strictly match our formatting will be rejected unread.
Our detailed formatting instructions may look complicated at first glance, but they're not really asking for anything hard to do. They're designed for writers who need step-by-step instructions. If you're comfortable with computers and you know what we mean by "plain ASCII text," you can probably get all the information you need by skipping the detailed instructions and looking at the formatting example.
The general idea is that you send your story in plain text format in the body of an email (not an attachment) to fiction@strangehorizons.com. Use the following subject line:
FICTION SUB: Your Story Title
but replace "Your Story Title" with the title of your story.
Be sure to include required information about yourself and the story at the very top of the email. See below for details.
(If your Internet Service Provider (such as AOL or CompuServe) has length restrictions that prevent you from sending the story in the body of the mail, drop us a note (with a subject line beginning with "QUERY:") to inquire about alternatives.)
Here are the basic steps to follow in formatting submissions to send us. To see a detailed procedure for a step, click the step, or just go directly to the detailed formatting procedure. Again, if you're comfortable with computers and you prefer to learn by example, you can skip to the formatting example.
- Convert a copy of your story to plain (ASCII) text. Be sure to convert curved quotation marks and other non-ASCII characters.
- Create and format an email message. Use plain text email; don't use HTML. Use the appropriate subject line, and include certain specific pieces of information about the story and about you, as described in the detailed instructions and shown in the example.
- Paste the plain-text story into the email message. (Don't submit the story as an attachment.)
- Email the story to us and watch for our autoresponse.
Formatting Example
The following example demonstrates how best to format a submission to us. Note that the first two lines of the example are part of the email message's header; everything after the Subject line is part of the body of the message.
The numbers in [square brackets] are references to footnotes, not part of the text of the example.
Note: If you copy and paste this example for your own use, please remove the numbers in square brackets. Also, please do not include a copy of this example with your submission.
To: fiction@strangehorizons.com [1] Subject: FICTION SUB: The Zlotys of Harrisburg [2] Jane Zloty [3] J. Q. Zloty [3a] janez@zloty.com [4] The Zlotys of Harrisburg About 4200 words [5] [6] [7] Dear Editors: [8] Please consider the following story. My fiction has appeared in _Asimov's_, _F&SF_, _Realms of Fantasy_, _Amazing_, _New Squid Review_, and the Zloty Press anthology _The Zloty Chronicles_. [9] Sincerely, Jane Zloty The Zlotys of Harrisburg [10] By J. Q. Zloty [11] Once upon a time there was a family named Zloty. They lived in the town of Harrisburg, where it was always dark. [12] Mr. Zloty was originally from Zlotyland, and he was frequently heard to remark that things here in Harrisburg were not at _all_ like things back in the Old Country. [13] Mrs. Zloty -- the fourth Mrs. Zloty -- had grown up in Harrisburg, and was used to the incessant darkness. She had gone to college in far-off Pottstown, where the inhabitants could afford light now and then (for holidays), but she had never liked it much there. In response to Mr. Zloty's carping, she would always say, "Give me good old-fashioned darkness." [14] But one day their daughter Jane was taken away in a UFO, and that was the last anyone ever saw of her. Now they're sorry they weren't nicer to her! [15] END [16]
Notes on Example
1. Fiction should be submitted to the fiction@ address. The editor@ address does not go to the fiction department. Be sure to spell "fiction" correctly in the email address.
2. Using the correct Subject line format is important: it allows our automatic system to send you a response and correctly file your story. Note that the Subject line doesn't start with "Re:" or "Fw:", and isn't in quotation marks. Also note that the title is not in all-caps, and that there's no information on the Subject line other than the title of the story.
3. Please use your real name here. It's fine to use a pseudonym for the byline, but it makes things easier for us if you use your real name at the top of the submission. (Use the version of your real name that you want us to call you by; you don't need to use your full legal name.) Regardless, do not submit under more than one name unless you explicitly tell us that you're doing so.
Note that the information section at the top appears above the cover letter. It's there to make it easy for us to enter information about the story into our database, at a glance.
3a. If your byline is different from your real name, put your byline here for ease of reference, even though it appears again later.
4. Even though your email address is in the header of the message, please put it here too. Even though your story's title appears not far below this, please put it here too.
5. Please round the word count up to the next-highest 100 words. The only purpose of the word count is to give us a rough idea, before we read the story, of how long it is. Therefore, the exact count is irrelevant. We will re-count the words before we pay you for the story. You can use any reasonable method to count words; we just want a rough approximation.
6. There's no need to provide us with your papermail address, your telephone number, or your Web site's URL. You can provide those things if you want to, but we will probably ignore them. If you do provide them, please don't put them in the middle of the block of information lines at the top of the email.
7. Cover letters are optional. It's quite acceptable to not provide one. If you do provide one, please do not summarize the plot or even the theme of the story.
8. "Dear Editors" is preferred. "Dear Susan Marie Groppi, Jed Hartman, and Karen Meisner" is also acceptable, as is "Dear Ms. Groppi, Mr. Hartman, and Ms. Meisner". "Dear Sirs" is frowned upon, because two of us are female. "Dear Mr. Hartman" is frowned upon, because chances are two out of three that another editor will read your submission.
Note that Mary Anne Mohanraj doesn't see fiction submissions (and is no longer editor-in-chief of the magazine anyway), so cover letters should not be addressed to her.
9. If you have relevant fiction publications, feel free to mention them, but keep it to the best/most relevant five or six. (Please don't list nonfiction publications unless they're relevant to the subject matter of the story.) You may also mention relevant organizational affiliations, such as SFWA membership or being a Clarion or Viable Paradise or Odyssey alum. You may also mention awards relevant to sf or fiction writing. If you have no relevant publications, affiliations, or awards, that's fine; just leave out this paragraph. Don't worry about your cover letter being too short.
10. Use standard title capitalization, not all-caps.
11. The name you want to appear on the story if it's published.
12. Note that each paragraph is single-spaced (no blank lines between lines of the paragraph), and that there's a blank line between paragraphs.
13. Note use of underscores to indicate emphasis.
14. Note use of double hyphen for a dash; also note use of straight up-and-down apostrophes and quotation marks, not curved ones.
15. Although the formatting of this submission is impeccable, its plot could use some work. Please do not emulate the surprise twist ending of this story.
16. Putting "END" at the end of a story is always wise; it lets the editors know that you really did intend the story to end there.
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