Writer’s & Artist’s Guidelines
Original Fiction:
Arkham Tales is predominantly a showcase of original short fiction, encompassing pulp adventure, weird horror (including Lovecraftian influence, obviously), and the fantastic. “Straight” science fiction, murder mystery, etc., will be rejected unless there is a weird or fantastic element. There is no length limit, but realize that a long story will have to be better than the two or three shorter stories it would replace.
Manuscripts should be submitted electronically in MS Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats, in standard manuscript format (see here: http://sfwa.org/writing/vonda/index.html). Please do not copy your submission into the body of your email.
While we appreciate and welcome submissions which show the influence of the classic pulp and weird fiction authors, Arkham Tales is not a venue for fan-fiction or continuations of other writers’ characters or worlds; we will also reject stories set recognizably in specific RPG campaign settings. Even “Lovecraftian” stories should be more than a concatenation of Mythos references connected by antiquated adjectives.
Payment is 1 cent per word, paid prior to publication, for first worldwide electronic rights, exclusive for one year from date of publication. All payments are made via Paypal.
Previously-Published Fiction:
On rare occasions, we may choose to publish work which has been published before, if it meets the following restrictions:
- Prior publication must have been in a small, under-circulated magazine; in other words, it should have been in a venue where our audience likely would not have read it before.
- Any prior publication in print should have been at least ten years ago, and must never have been published or made available previously via the web or any other electronic distribution channel. This includes personal portfolio websites.
Payment and rights are identical to those for original fiction.
Original Nonfiction:
We have no preexisting guidelines for nonfiction articles, but no great pressing need for them. Query first for any nonfiction. Payment and rights are identical to those for original fiction.
Original Cover Art:
We will consider photography, photocollage, digitally produced or manipulated images, and more traditional illustration.
We do not commission artwork to accompany or illustrate specific fiction; instead, we ask artists to email us lower-resolution versions of artwork available, or (better yet) refer us to an online portfolio of work available for non-exclusive use as cover graphics, and we will contact you for a high-resolution version if and when we want to use it.
Payment is $30 for non-exclusive worldwide rights. All payments are made via Paypal.