The Shroud Underground

**shroud** · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:50 pm Post subject: Shroud's Submission Guidelines

Fiction: Shroud considers horror, dark mystery, dark fantasy and suspense short stories up to 5,000 words. In addition, we are interested in tightly woven flash fiction, and (in some cases) serialized novellas. Thriller and Suspense tales with a horror aspect are also welcome. We HIGHLY recommend that you buy a SAMPLE ISSUE in order to get a clear idea of our style and tone.

We are especially interested in:

Mythic horror in a real world setting; Classically-themed horror and suspense; Supernatural horror; Creature horror; Dark Fantasy in a contemporary/RW setting; Noir with a horror element.

We are LESS interested in:

Hard Science Fiction; Sword and Sorcery or anything set in a fantasy world; Stories about serial killers; Vampires ala Rice; First person accounts.

Submission Format: Send us electronic submissions in .RTF format as a file attachment. Your subject line should clearly say "SUBMISSION". Simultaneous submissions are NOT okay. Please do not send us multiple submissions -- please only send us one story at a time and do not send your next submission until we give you a reply to the first. Reprints are fine provided they have not been published within three months and the author currently bears the copyright. A short bio would be nice, including any awards or published credits, however your story will stand on its own merit.

Response Time: Averages 2 to 4 months, but stories kept for further consideration by the editors may take additional time.

IMPORTANT: If you have NOT received an acknowledgment of receipt for your SHORT STORY within 1-5 Days of your submission then it is likely the submission was formatted incorrectly. We do appreciate your hard efforts and your creative vision, but with more than 350 submissions a month, if your submission is incorrectly formatted then it will be (unfortunately) deleted... sorry.

Artwork: Please query with samples. We are actively looking for talented artists for covers and B&W interior illustrations.

Nonfiction: Looking for well-researched stories on supernatural phenomenon, dark music, art, and interviews of key players within the genre, film reviews, game reviews. Query first. Payment .03 cents a word.

Payment: Rates of .02 (most) to .05 (very few) cents per word, plus one contributor copy. Payable within 30 days of publication. Up to 5,000 words; maximum payment of $250. All rights revert to the author upon publication.

Anthologies: We automatically consider all fiction submissions for our active anthologies. If accepted, Shroud pays .02 cents a word plus one copy of the published collection.

Reading Period: We are currently open to submissions.

Send To: editor@shroudmagazine.com

Novels and Novellas

Shroud publishing is interested in building a catalog of intelligent dark fiction novels and novellas. If you have a COMPLETED manuscript or a series of short fiction, please query with a short synopsis and one sample chapter. Send to the editor.

A note on novel and novella submissions: we are a small press. We have a small press budget. If we are able to put your novel or novella into print we will do our best to market and distribute it, but the likelihood of you or us getting rich is very slim. Consider long and hard before you submit to us. We do not offer advances and our royalty rates will be modest. Having said that, if accepted, we will edit, design, layout your book, get it printed, sell it direct, and do our very best to get it distributed through a major distributor. WE will incur all of the aforementioned expenses, not you. We will never charge you for reading or publishing your book. Nor should you ever be.

So if this works for you, we'd love to see your novel/novella.

Contact Information

By email:
editor@shroudmagazine.com

By standard mail:

Shroud Publishing LLC
# 59295 PO Box 7775
San Francisco, CA 94120-7775

By phone:
1-800-796-3759

Find us on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/shroudmag
_________________
Tim Deal
Editor & Publisher
Shroud Magazine
The Journal of Dark Fiction and Art
http://www.shroudmagazine.com
http://www.myspace.com/shroudmag
1-800-796-3759