Monday, May 31, 2010

Call for Submissions – Short Stories for Three Fiction Anthologies

http://www.notreebooks.com/submissions


Call for Submissions – Short Stories for Three Fiction Anthologies

NoTreeBooks.com is now open for submissions for dialogue-driven short stories in three themed anthologies. We're currently reading and acquiring manuscripts for these three collections of stories that will soon be published in multiple e-formats and distributed through various online retailers such as Amazon Kindle and Smashwords.com.


WRITER GUIDELINES:

NoTreeBooks.com seeks original, well-written short stories of up to 8,000 words to fill the electronic pages of three themed anthologies. There will be at least ten stories in each anthology. The stories must be your own original work. You must own all e-rights to be able to grant permission for NoTreeBooks.com to publish your story.

  • Vampires, Ghosts, Zombies, and other “creature stories” – send your contemporary supernatural / paranormal stories. Make them different, fresh, and preferably with a twist and a zinger ending. No re-tellings of Twilight, etc. American and Canadian urban fantasy settings are preferred, but rural or international settings will also be considered. For this anthology, NoTreeBooks.com will consider romance, thrillers, suspense, mysteries, detective stories, sci-fi, cross-genre, etc. If you’ve written a “creature of the night” story, dig it up, polish it, and submit it. Tips: A vampire story will be the lead story in this collection; let your setting be as rich as the characters; all mysteries should be solved or resolved by the endings; the endings don’t have to be happy, but they should make sense in the context of your story.
  • Cowboys – send your contemporary cowboy romance stories. Besides the traditional rural-setting modern cowboy romances, NoTreeBooks.com will consider Canadian Mounties, urban cops on horseback, urban carriage drivers, large-animal veterinarians, farriers, etc. for this cowboy anthology. Just seat your hero on the back of a horse or behind one, add romance, and stir until well shaken. Please make these stories hot, with plenty of sexual tension and a happy ending. Tips: There will be extra consideration for cowboy stories in which the hero employs gentle training with horses and is kind to other animals as well, rather than the bronco-busting, branding-iron wielding, fists-first macho man. In other words, he can be alpha, but with modern sensibilities about ranching and treatment of animals. Cowboy stories with authentic voices of multicultural cowboy heroes are certainly welcome.
  • Sleeping with Exes – send your best fiction about couples who break up but still have a relationship. From casual booty calls to dangerous obsessions, these stories are about not letting go. Throw lots of adversity at the couples and make the relationships sizzle and spark. The couple doesn’t have to be together at the end of the story, but they should have learned something from the experience and worked out some of their situations. Funny is a plus. So is danger. Think chick lit with an ex and all of the naughty or nice scenarios that might apply. Tips: The publisher is a big fan of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels: funny, dangerous, and clever.

What we do not want to see:

Do not send fan fiction where you have re-tooled other author’s settings, characters, worlds, ideas, or plots. Plagiarism is also a no-no.

No pornography – this is not about censorship. It is about ensuring that the anthologies can be sold in the Apple and Amazon store, on Smashwords, and in other e-book venues that have content guidelines.

All of the characters in your stories who have adult relationships should be of legal age for those adult activities.

Please avoid the edification of illegal substances.

Payment:

1. A small ($50 to $100) advance will be paid to each anthology contributor-author upon publication.

2. Additional royalties will be paid to contributor-author if / when advances are earned out (per the terms of each anthology contributor’s contract).

Rights:

If you already sell your short story online, but own the rights to it, NoTreeBooks.com may draw up a non-exclusive contract to fit your situation. In that way, you can keep selling it on your own and also sell the same short story through NoTreeBooks.com.

Venues:

Amazon Kindle

Smashwords (multiple formats of the anthology will be available) is our doorway to the Apple iStore and other e-tailing venues.

PDF through various e-tailers

Submission:


To submit your story, paste the story into the body of an e-mail and send it to editor@notreebooks.com (no e-mail attachments, please).

  • Include your name, mailing address, e-mail and a very short bio.
  • Include the story type in the email header (e.g., “Submission – Vampires/Zombies/Ghosts Anthology,” "Submission – Cowboys Anthology" or “Submission – Exes Anthology.” Also include your title and your name. Your header should look like this:

Submission – Cowboys Anthology: Title of Story by YourFirstName YourLastName

  • Describe your story in a paragraph.
  • Include a statement that the story was personally written by you, that it is completely original, and that you own the e-rights to it.
  • Please include a statement to inform NoTreeBooks.com if you are offering first world e-rights or reprint e-rights. (If your story has already appeared in print or online, whether for free or for sale, it is a reprint.)
  • NoTreeBooks.com will read your story and respond as soon as possible.