Clarksworld Magazine

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/

Clarkesworld Magazine is a Hugo Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine that publishes short stories, interviews, articles and audio fiction. Issues are published monthly and available on our website, for purchase in ebook format, and via electronic subscription.Original fiction is also published in an annual trade paperback seriesfrom Wyrm Publishing. We are currently open for art, non-fiction and short story submissions.

Fiction Guidelines

Word Limit: 1000-8000 words (preferred length is 4000)
Pay Rate: 10¢ per word up to 4000 words, 5¢ per word after
Genres: Science fiction and fantasy
Language: English
Rights: We claim first world electronic rights (text and audio), first print rights (author must be willing to sign 100+ chapbooks), and non-exclusive anthology rights for Realms, the yearly Clarkesworldanthology.

Stories must be:

1. Well-written. Language is important. There is no distinction between "style" and "substance" or "story" and "writing."
2. Convenient for on-screen reading. Very long paragraphs or typographical trickery may work against you.

Science fiction need not be "hard" SF, but rigor is appreciated. Fantasy can be folkloric, medieval, contemporary, surreal, etc. Horror can be supernatural or psychological, so long as it is frightening. There are no barriers as to levels of profanity, gore, or sexuality allowed, but high amounts of profanity, gore, and sexuality are generally used poorly. Be sure to use them well if you do use them.

Though no particular setting, theme, or plot is anathema to us, the following are likely hard sells:

• stories in which a milquetoast civilian government is depicted as the sole obstacle to either catching some depraved criminal or to an uncomplicated military victory
• stories in which the words "thou" or "thine" appear
• talking cats
• talking swords
• stories where the climax is dependent on the spilling of intestines
• stories where FTL travel is as easy as is it on television shows or movies
• time travel too
• stories that depend on some vestigial belief in Judeo-Christian mythology in order to be frightening (i.e., Cain and Abel are vampires, the End Times are a' comin', Communion wine turns to Christ's literal blood and it's HIV positive, Satan's gonna getcha, etc.)
• stories about rapist-murderer-cannibals
• stories about young kids playing in some field and discovering ANYTHING. (a body, an alien craft, Excalibur, ANYTHING).
• stories about the stuff we all read in Scientific American three months ago
• stories where the Republicans, or Democrats, or Libertarians, or the Spartacist League, etc. take over the world and either save or ruin it
• your AD&D game
• "funny" stories that depend on, or even include, puns
• sexy vampires, wanton werewolves, or lusty pirates
• zombies or zombie-wannabes
• stories originally intended for someone's upcoming theme anthology or issue
• stories where the protagonist is either widely despised or widely admired simply because he or she is just so smart and/or strange
• stories that take place within an artsy-fartsy bohemia as written by an author who has clearly never experienced one
• your trunk stories

Fiction Submissions Process

Clarkesworld uses an online submissions system that has been designed to streamline our process and improve communication with authors. We do not accept email or paper submissions. Go here to submit your stories.

Our submissions form asks for your name, email address, cover letter, story title, word count, genre and story. Your cover letter should contain your publishing history (if any) and any other relevant information (e.g, if you send us a lusty pirate story and happen to BE a lusty pirate, mention that). All stories should be in standard manuscript format and can be submitted in either .RTF or .DOC format. No simultaneous submissions. If you have questions, concerns or technical issues, please contact Neil via email.

After you have submitted your story, a tracking number will be displayed and an automated email confirmation containing this information will be sent to you. If you have not received this email within 24 hours, please email us. Your tracking number will allow you to monitor the status of your submission via our website, so please don't lose it. NOTE: Yahoo.com occasionally treats our email as spam, please keep an eye on your spam folder.

Our average response time is under two days, but we occasionally hold submissions for longer periods. We ask that you:

• don't send queries until after two-weeks have passed. Use your tracking number to check on the status prior to that.
• don't send revisions to a submission unless they have been requested.
• don't submit another story for a period of seven days after receiving a rejection.
• don't re-submit stories that have been rejected. Do not query for permission.
• don't argue with rejection slips. You're only wasting time.

If you are uncertain about anything above, we recommend following the most conservative interpretation.

Non-Fiction Guidelines________________________

Clarkesworld Magazine is looking for articles of interest to readers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. We are looking for a wide range of types of article including, but not limited to: discussions of the genre publishing business, essays on the writing process and the reading experience, scientific material that might be of use in SF stories, and so on. However, please see below for things that we don't want. We pay 10¢ a word up to our word limit of 2500 words.

Please do not send completed articles. Instead send a query letter with the subject header NONFICTION QUERY: [title or concept] tononfiction@clarkesworldmagazine.com. There are no response times. We will generally only respond to queries we wish to follow-up on. A follow-up email should not be taken as a guarantee of publication.

There are some common types of non-fiction article that we are specifically not interested in receiving queries for. These are:

1. Reviews — there are plenty of places that publish such material, we don't;
2. Literary Criticism — again no (especially if it is really just a review);
3. Interviews — we do publish interviews, but they are handled separately from the non-fiction articles and are generally commissioned. Please do not pitch interviews to us.
4. Reprints — every article we publish must be original toClarkesworld. There is no point in sending us material that has already been published elsewhere, especially if it is elsewhere online.

As with any field, there are some subjects that have been done to death, or which don't work well in practice. The following list should give you an idea of the sort of thing that is unlikely to make it out of the slush pile:

1. Explanations as to why your favorite genre or sub-genre is the best ever, and everything else is rubbish — because the chances are that most people won't share your opinion;
2. Anything that attempts to categorize genre literature — yes, we have a lot of geeky analytical readers, but the chances of your coming up with something genuinely innovative are very low indeed;
3. Convention reports — because all too often they end up sounding like "what I did on my holidays", and anyway we are not interested in the process of convention running;
4. Articles about why a certain set of awards "got it wrong" — because no one ever agrees with award results;
5. Articles about why someone is WRONG on the Internet and how we must organize a grass roots campaign to stop this perfidy — because we are not a blog and with our production schedules everyone will have forgotten about the issue by the time we publish your rant;
6. Articles that purport to provide 10 rules for success/failure in a particular endeavor — because no set of rules fits everyone, real life isn't that simple, and in any case if you shoe-horned your advice into a "magic" number like 10 then you've probably either left something important out or padded the list;
7. Articles that list the 10 best/worst/hottest/daftest/weirdest/whatever examples of something (or any number other than 10);
8. Your personal experience of alien abduction — because then it would not be science fiction, would it?
9. Articles that make sweeping generalizations on the basis of a few personal observations — it may well be that the market for fantasy is the worst it has ever been, and that this is all the fault of global capitalism and the Internet, but you need to supply some data to back that up, and explain why "ever been" does not include the time before the publication of The Lord of the Rings;
10. Details of the heinous and all-pervasive plot by the publishing industry that has prevented your blockbuster 10-volume fantasy trilogy from being published — because the chances are that it is you that is out of step, not the rest of the world;
11. Manifestos for new literary movements.

In addition, here are a few comments about the style of articles that we prefer:

1. Keep yourself out of the article. We are looking for objective analysis of issues, not touchy-feely journalism;
2. We are not an academic journal. Footnotes are fine, indeed we like them (though we don't include them in the word count), especially if they come with web links. However, you need to pitch your writing style for a general audience, not for a group of fellow scientists or literature professors;
3. Please, no interviews in disguise. An article about the work of an individual, stuffed with quotes from that individual, is functionally equivalent to an interview. An article that is mainly quotes from a group of people is functionally equivalent to an interview. We want your words, no someone else's;
4. Don't bait the audience. There's a certain style of article that deliberately seeks to incite rage across the blogosphere. We are not that desperate for eyeballs;
5. Make sure you know your topic. If you are going to write about quantum physics, bear in mind that we probably have several quantum physicists reading this magazine and they will laugh at you (and us) if we run an article full of errors. You don't have to have a PhD in the topic before you write for us, and we'd be happy to find someone to fact-check for you, but we do need to ensure articles are not an embarrassment to us, or to you.

Finally, what do we like to see?

1. Articles that are thoughtful, in-depth, and well-written;
2. Subjects that we haven't covered before;
3. Accompanying illustrations (but please do check the copyright situation);
4. A clear passion for the subject matter.