How to make money with your short horror stories

November 22, 2024

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Reposting this worthwhile blog:

BY JEANETTE ANDROMEDA ON DECEMBER 7, 2015 • ( 11 COMMENTS )

How To

The short answer? Sell ’em.OK, but where? For how much? And what kind of Stories actually get sold?!I’ve been wondering all of this as I’ve been whittling away on some of my own so I figured, I’d share what I’ve been learning with you as well.I’ve broken sites down by their submission guidelines and how much pay they offer. This way, we can use this as a quick reference to find what we’re looking for.This post has multiple uses in my mind.

  1. Who’s looking for Story submissions
  2. What’s the average pay for a short story
  3. Sources for reading some really incredible work
  4. Learning which types of stories are being bought

Constantly Updated Open Submissions

horrorfictionfactorheader

Horror Factor: horror.fictionfactor.com

This is an incredibly thorough source for Horror Market Listings sorted into multiple categories based on their level of pay. It’s a fantastic place to dig for submission options.

They also have a free ebook available for download with all of this goodness: horror.fictionfactor.com/horrormarketguide

dark

Dark Markets: www.darkmarkets.com

a website sharing links for printed and digital story submissions. Anthologies etc.

horror-tree

The Horror Tree: horrortree.com

Horror Tree is a website that posts new submissions for multiple types of speculative fiction publications. It’s worth popping in from time to time the newest submission announcements.

I also like this post on letswriteashortstory.com of 46 Literary Magazines To Submit To is pretty darn helpful.

Nightmare Magazine

nightmare_01_october_2012
www.nightmare-magazine.com Online horror and dark fantasy magazine

In Nightmare’s pages, you will find all kinds of horror fiction, from zombie stories and haunted house tales, to visceral psychological horror.

Edited by bestselling anthologist John Joseph Adams, every month Nightmare brings you a mix of originals and reprints, and featuring a variety of authors—from the bestsellers and award-winners you already know to the best new voices you haven’t heard of yet. When you read Nightmare, it is our hope that you’ll see where horror comes from, where it is now, and where it’s going.” [http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/about/]

Story Specifications

  • Fiction Short Stories only (no poetry, no non-fiction)
  • Horror
  • Dark Fantasy
  • “No subject should be considered off-limits”
  • Accepts stories of 1500-7500 words
  • Stories of 5000 words or less are preferred

Submission Guidelines: www.nightmare-magazine.com

Submission Portal: http://submissions.johnjosephadams.com/nightmare

Pay

  • Original Fiction: 6 cents per word
  • Reprints: 1 cent per word

Rights

Tor.com

tor1
www.tor.com Online Science Fiction and Fantasy Fiction Market

Story Specifications

  • Speculative Fiction
  • Horror
  • Sci-fi
  • Fantasy
  • Alt-History
  • Original Short Fiction
  • Novellas
  • Non-Fiction

General Guidelines: http://www.tor.com/submissions-guidelines/

Short Story Submission Details

NOT ACCEPTED:

  • over 17,500 words
  • novels or serializations
  • reprints

Pay

  • 25 cents a word for the first 5,000 words
  • 15 cents a word for the next 5,000
  • and 10 cents a word after that.

Rights:

  • the right to publish the story at Tor.com and related electronic endeavors
  • translation
  • audio
  • the right (with additional royalties) to include the story in Tor.com-branded anthologies.
  • All rights acquired are exclusive for a year
  • non-exclusive 1 year

Submission Portal: http://submissions.tor.com/tororiginals/

Pseudopod

pseudopodlogo
pseudopod.org Genre Audio magazine (podcast and online)

Story Specifications

  • horror
  • Dark, weird fiction
  • genre definitions don’t matter
  • Literary stories are as welcome as shock-value pulp fiction
  • Originality is key (avoid recognizable horror tropes)

Guidelines: http://pseudopod.org/guidelines/

Submission Details

  • Original Fiction
  • Reprints
  • 1,500 – 6,000 words
  • 4,500 words is ideal
  • Flash Fiction: 1,500 words or less, with a sweet spot between 500 and 1000 words.

NOT ACCEPTED:

  • stories with lengthy beautiful language and expansive of plots (since it’s an audio performance).

Pay

  • Original Fiction: 6 cents a word up to 6,000 words
  • Reprints: $100 flat rate
  • Flash Fiction (1500 words or less): $20 flat rate

Rights:

  • buys nonexclusive audio rights
  • nonexclusive electronic rights to distribute the audio file under a Creative Commons license
  • license applies only to our audio performance of your work
  • you retain your copyright and all rights to any other use of the story

Submission Portal: https://pseudopod.submittable.com/submit

Dark Fuse Magazine

darkfuse
www.darkfusemagazine.com an online publication for horror

Editor: Shane Staley

Short Story Specifications

  • Original fiction only
  • Horror
  • thriller
  • suspense
  • crime
  • sci-fi
  • bizarre
  • anything with a dark slant

Flash Fiction Specifications

  • Original fiction
  • horror etc.

Guidelines: https://darkfuse.submittable.com/submit

Submission Details

  • Short Stories: 1,000 – 2,000
  • Will publish longer stories maximum is 15,000.
  • Flash Fiction: 99 – 999 words

To read the rest:

How to make money with your short horror stories

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