Christmas Ghost Story Annual 2012 – call for submissions
Cast your minds back a couple of months, to when I announced that Spectral will be publishing an annual Christmas Ghost Story anthology, starting in December 2012, in the same tradition as the annuals of the Victorian/Edwardian era. In that same blog I said I would release details of the submission process this January, and that time has duly arrived – so interested parties please read the following carefully!!
CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY ANNUAL 2012 – CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS.
Unlike the chapbooks, this is an open call for submissions from ALL authors (including those writers already published, or are due to be published, by Spectral). What we are looking for are ghostly/supernatural tales of between 5,000 and 10,000 words, set around the time of the Christmas/Mid-winter celebrations. Think of the kind of thing that MR James and Charles Dickens would have written at this time of year and you’ll be on the right track. The stories should primarily rely on atmosphere, tension, suspense, suggestion and implication to send shivers down peoples’ spines: whilst we are not averse to something of the more visceral kind (provided it works within the context of the story), we are not looking for slasher/unhinged psychopath with a sharp instrument/serial killer or gore-filled fiction.
The final format or formats has/have yet to be decided.
Please send submissions, in a Word attachment please, to spectralpress[AT]gmail[DOT]com, with the subject line ‘Spectral Christmas Ghost Story Annual 2012 – submission’. Please do NOT paste your story into the body of the email – if this happens then your submission will be ignored. The deadline for stories to reach us is June 30th 2012 – stories submitted after this date will not be considered. All stories must be original, with the copyright belonging to the author in question, and must not have been published or submitted elsewhere. The editor will endeavour to acknowledge receipt of stories received, but if there is a veritable deluge then you may not hear from us immediately. The authors of the chosen stories will be notified of their acceptance in the second-half of the year, when work on the book and editing begins.
So all you writers out there, even though 2012 has barely begun, get your thinking caps on and start coming up with ideas for this exciting new anthology. Who knows, this might be the start of a revival of a venerable tradition!!
Look forward to hearing from you!!
Please note - there WILL be a small payment for each story accepted, plus copies of the physical book for each author.
I’m very excited about this and started work on something last night. The timing is brilliant as I was wondering where’d I’d place this story (if I place this story).
Regardless as to whether I get in or not, though, it sounds like an anthology worth getting excited about anyway – it’ll go on the Christmas list…
Hi Ray!!
Looking forward to reading your story!! =D
Have actually been meaning to contact you about whether you’d be interested in contributing a story for a future chapbook sometime? Let me know!!
SMJ
Absolutely! Count me in.
Good good!! =)
Very good idea. I may submit a sample of my work.
The Webmaster
http://www.thehorrorsite.net
Hey Spectral,
Just a’wondering if the writer literally has to involve ghosts? I have a fab idea that is VERY atmospheric, suspense and…set in Winter, but it has no paranormal elements at all. It is very Poe-ish, just minus the ghostly elements. Would you accept this for submission?
Absolutely I would… one or two of Spectral’s chapbook stories don’t actually feature ‘ghosts’ in the cl;assic sense of the presences of dead people – it’s the atmosphere of the take that lends itself to interpretations of possible supernatural elements occurring… that, to me, is one of the true arts of a ghost story writer.. so please feel free to submit!
Right… I’m still not sure it is what you’re looking for, but once its complete I’ll send you the polished version so that way I can run it by you. Thanks for your help, Simon.
I’m looking forward to receiving it!! =)
Thanks for the encouragement! =D
I am in the process of writing a “paranormal” tale along the lines of “Christmas Carol”. However, it is neither eerie or scary. In fact it is a humorous takeoff on the story. And it would be less than 5000 words. Does such a story interest you?
Herschel – please send it in anyway and I’ll take a look at it… =)
Hi. Is there any payment, or is it in copies? Many thanks
Hi there, Tom!!
There will be a token payment for each story plus a physical copy of the book for each author. Sadly, Spectral isn’t yet financially-viable enough to pay pro-rates, but if the imprint becomes a success then the situation will change dramatically. Spectral is still in its infancy, having only been in existence for 15 months, but even so I am looking at ways of attracting investment so that I can put it on a much firmer financial and professional footing. This is indeed one of my long-term aims – to pay my authors the going rate.
I would be happy to see you contribute something, but I shall understand if you don’t. =)
Hope that helps!
Simon
I found this by trying to find a press that wanted a Poe/Dickens type, traditional, Christmas Ghost Story.
This couldn’t come at a better time! I am curious, do the rights revert back to the author? And, do you want illustrations?
Hello Dale!
What I usually do with short stories is to hang onto them for a year and then the authors are free to do whatever they want with them, as long as there is an acknowledgment that it was originally published by Spectral Press…. and illustrations might be nice…
Thanks Simon. Might be nice? Ok, I’ll send one.
Sounds like a lot of fun!
Have not been able to find Spectral Press on Duotrope, where I like to manage my submissions. Just wondering if this is a deliberate ploy or if you’ve unintentionally missed it…
Hello Danny – missing Duotrope certainly wasn’t intentional, I just keep forgetting about it! Plus, my operation is extremely small at the moment, and the number of submissions so far has been very comfortable to manage, which is nice as this is the first of the Christmas Ghost Story Annuals and I just wanted to see what the response would be like. I’m not planning a big anthology, maybe 10 – 15 stories in all.
I would encourage you to submit, if that is your intention, as I would like a broad cross-section of people and styles – so far, there have been a good number of submissions to this, which is very encouraging for the future.
I did wonder if it was a deliberate ploy to avoid a maelstrom of submissions…
Hello,
I was just wondering if you’d be happy for people to submit more than one story? Looking forward to working on this.
Hello Jervis – I don’t mind people submitting multiple stories, as long as it in’t a deluge! Only one story will chose from your submissions however – I don’t want to phblish more than one story by an author in the anthology, but that doesn’t mean to say that if I like two stories by them, one will get published in the following year’s edition…
Hello Simon, I have a story I would like to submit however it is just under the 5000 word limit, is that a huge problem?
Milton
Hello Milton – not a problem at all. The wordcount was just a guideline target…. so please send away!
Hi Simon,
It’s on its way.
Milton: and I’ve received it and acknowledged with a reply!
Thanks!