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Novella Guidelines

Open Call For Novellas

Hello, we are currently CLOSED for novellas

Before you submit, read the guidelines below!

(Before you read the guidelines please help support us by signing up to our free PSYCHOPOMP mailing list so we can keep in touch, BFF)

    Note: Before you email to ask: we put a lot of time in crafting these guidelines. If you’re planning on writing asking us “what if my novella is 40,100 words long?” the guidelines are very clear about this. 🙂

    What We’re Looking For:

    We are looking for speculative fiction or literary novellas between 20,000 to 40,000 words that fall under one (or some!) of the following themes:

    • stories where grief or loss play a leading role
    • stories that feature the afterlife or the underworld
    • stories that involve the journey through death/the journey of the dead
    • stories that involve death personified (Death!)
    • stories that take place in, or utilize a multiverse
    • stories that involve time travel (esp. those that involve time travel + a previously mentioned theme)
    • origin stories (especially as they relate to previously mentioned themes)
    • stories where the characters slowly lose their sense of reality
    • goth
    • space, but make it goth
    • a story within a story within a (within a story that’s [within a story] within a story) story….
    • stories where things that are not usually personified ARE personified (planets? galaxies? time? …bones?)
    • creepy meta-horror
    • amazingly original ghost stories
    • (contrary to the overall vibes about sci-fi below, we are VERY open to sci-fi that hits on any of the above themes. Very VERY open to it).

    We are ABSOLUTELY not interested in the following themes:

    • conventional horror story tropes (zombies, werewolves, vampires, etc.)
    • slashy, gory horror
    • stereotypical christian afterlife stories of angels, devils, pearly gates, etc.
    • stories that are heavy on the humor (Douglas Adams type of humor is a bad fit; dark, smart, black humor is more likely to land but will STILL be a hard sell)
    • hard sci-fi
    • military sci-fi
    • sword and sorcery fantasy (we want nothing to do with goblins, orcs, etc.)
    • the fae
    • elves
    • mermaids/selkies

    Submission Details:

    We are looking to acquire original, unpublished novellas. If your story has been published in any way (including self published or published on your Patreon) please do not submit it here.

    One story per author; no multiple submissions or simultaneous submissions. If a story is on submission somewhere else, please wait before sending it to us. 

    Payment:

    If we accept your novella for publication, you will be offered an advance against royalties of $750, as well as 25% of net receipts. 

    Rights:

    We are buying the rights to publish the story in print, eBook, and audio formats in English, worldwide (this means that translations into English that have never been published before IN ENGLISH are A-OK).

    AI Policy:

    We are 100% not interested in reading or publishing works created using “artificial intelligence.”

    Stated more strongly: we will ONLY publish works written by humans, never “AI-generated content” so save everyone the trouble and do not submit your novella if it wasn’t written 100% by a human person. We are very serious about this.

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    How to Submit:

    Do not submit! We are closed 🙂

    Questions? Please reach out via our contact page here.