GENERAL
Please read this.
Flatmancrooked publishes good stories, both fiction and non-fiction. We make it a regular practice to publish works first electronically. Then, as we near a deadline for an anthology, we choose pieces from that body of work (a “best of” kind of thing) for print publication. This is beneficial to our readers who are hungry for new work, and our authors because, while our circulation for the anthologies is roughly 3,000 per season, we regularly get 10,000 unique monthly hits on the website.
We ask that you read the submission guidelines carefully, paying close attention to word count and submission timelines, and that you send one submission at a time. In other words: wait to hear back from us before you submit something else. To get an idea of what we publish, read our blog and features section, or, better yet, buy a tangible copy of one of our books. If we publish reprints it is usually something we’ve found and seek out permissions for. And, while we occasionally publish art and poetry, we do not accept unsolicited submissions for either. Submissions that do not follow the guidelines will not be read.
In regards to both the print anthology and website, Flatmancrooked acquires, respectively, only single print/electronic publication rights. We will make every effort to keep everything we publish electronically available indefinitely in the archives, provided we receive permission from the author.
Work may be submitted electronically or by post, though we highly encourage electronically. Please use the easy submission form below.
Flatmancrooked considers all story titles working titles, regularly engages the author in an editorial process, and reserves the right to copy edit.
PUBLICATION TRACK
Flatmancrooked gets regular inquiries about our unique imprints, prizes, and programs. Because of that, we’ve created this publication track map (click to see full-size):
FICTION: FLASH & SHORT STORIES
This is work 500-8,000 words (approximately). Short stories may be submitted during our open submissions period or during our Flatmancrooked Fiction Prize submission period. Short stories are considered and published first online before being published in the print ANTHOLOGY. Please use the form below and paste your story into the box provided. Please include a short bio for use in populating the author’s page. Please use the below form for submitting work. The open submission period for short stories is typically mid-August through mid-May. Our annual short story prize runs May through August.
NOVELLA
This is work between 8,000 and 30,00 words. Novella’s may be submitted during our open submissions period or during our Flatmancrooked New Novella Prize submission period. Novella’s are published under our NEW NOVELLA’s imprint. Please use the form below and paste your novella into the box provided. Please include a short bio for use in populating the author’s page. Please use the below form for submitting work. The open submission period for novellas is varies. Our New Novella Prize runs in the fall and spring every year.
POETRY
We only accept poetry submissions during the Flatmancrooked Poetry Prize, spear-headed by Assistant Editor Joshua Neely. Submission period is typically in the winter. The remainder of the poetry anthology are previously published poems chosen by our editorial staff and Flatmancrooked’s Poets-In-Residence.
BOOK-LENGTH
This is work beyond 30,000 words. Book-length manuscripts are considered for publication under our HYPERLIMITED imprint. Please include the first 10,000 words of your book in the email. If this is a simultaneous submission, please make note of that in the email. Please send this work to [email protected].
ART
We regularly put out a calls for artwork, but do not accept unsolicited submissions in this area.
ESSAY/ARTICLE
If you’d like to write, have written, or would like us to post a blurb and link to an article or review, please send your request/query to [email protected].
BY MAIL
Flatmancrooked Publishing
PO Box 161003
Sacramento, California
95816-1003
We use this mostly for those authors from whom we’re requesting specific documents (contracts, releases, noted manuscripts), but if you’d like to submit work by mail, please make an attempt to notify us, and know that we pick up mail bi-weekly, so the wait may be a bit longer.
RESPONSE TIMES
Response time for work submitted varies wildly. Two months would be long, while a week would be average, a few days not altogether uncommon. We currently (as of January, ‘09) receive approximately 500 submissions a month. We do not currently pay for online publication. We profit share for print anthology publication (see below). We’ve typically published online, and later consider printing. We do not have a particular formula for placing things in print as opposed to online-only.
PAYMENT
Online: Flatmancrooked does not currently pay for online publication but online publication is (A) the first step towards being included in the anthology, (B) entails roughly 3-4k reads a month, and (C) is very admirable.
Anthology: Beginning with Flatmancrooked’s Spring 2009 edition, the payment to authors will be dependent entirely upon sales, sales which will follow a pay-what-you-may model. In other words, the anthology’s price will begin at the actual cost of producing the book. For the purpose of example, let’s say that cost is $8.00 (including printing, shipping, etc). Beyond that, patrons will be able to pay a price they think is fair, much as NPR listeners pay what they think fair for a year’s membership.
Once Flatmancrooked’s bare-bones costs are recovered (cost of print, shipping, etc), the profits will be split 50/50. 50% will go to Flatmancrooked, 50% to the authors included in the book. Payment to the authors will be based on the number of pages an author occupies in an anthology. If you take up 20 pages in a 200 page book, you would get 10% of the 50%, or 5% of profits. If the anthology does great, we can pay very well. If not, neither we nor the industry can survive. Our authors will continue to receive a first edition copy of the anthology, along with any schwag we can spare. We (both Flatmancrooked and our authors) must leave our success in the hands of our patrons. This is a new day in publishing, and we’re going to re-write the model. (letter from Elijah on payment structure)
Full-length Books: Advances are guaranteed to be small, and profit sharing large. Beyond that, this is a case-by-case situation.
Audio: We do not pay up-front for audio pieces but work out profit sharing deals, much the same as those for the anthology.
What we lack in funds we make up for in heart.
PITCH: submit your work in-person
Brooklyn, NY: Saturday, September 26th @ Brooklyn Library - Park Slope Branch [click for details]
San Francisco, CA: Saturday, October 17th @ Noe Valley Library (for Litquake) [click for details]
Austin, TX: Saturday, March 20th, 2010 @ South x Southwest Festival [unconfirmed]
Denver, CO: Friday, April 9th, 2010 @ AWP Conference [unconfirmed]
SUBMISSION FORM
SUBMISSIONS FOR SHORT STORIES ARE CLOSED UNTIL AUGUST 15th, 2009. Our first contest, the 2009 Flatmancrooked Prize for Excellent Writing Done During a Period of Great Fiscal Renewal (first prize is 1k, judged by Aimee Bender). Click here to learn more and enter.
If you have a full length book, are located outside of the U.S., or are having trouble with the above form, please send your submission to [email protected].
