Submission Guidelines

Similar to The Short Story Substack (which I highly recommend any aspiring writer joining, click here), I’m offering $100 a month to the best speculative story (sci-fi, fantasy, horror) submitted every month.

What does the timeline look like?

Submit stories by the end of the month to the address below, winner to be announced on the 15th. There is ONE story that wins and receives the full payout.

Where do I send submissions?

thesubmissionpit@gmail.com

What are the rules for submitting?

1. No Fees

2. Send in Microsoft Word or Google Doc form

3. Only speculative fiction will be accepted (science fiction, fantasy, and horror).

4. 6 - 10,000 words (six words to ten-thousand, not six-thousand to ten-thousand).

5. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.

6. At the time of winning the author of the chosen story has the option to have their story published on The Submission Pit. If they don’t wish to be published, the next chosen story will be asked. Only authors that agree to be published on ‘The Submission Pit’ will receive the prize money. After a period of three months, the winning author can sell their story elsewhere as a reprint (or win as a reprint here if that’s the case) but the story will remain published on the Submission Pit’s Substack. The goal is to create a library of monthly winners. Only winners will be published on ‘The Submission Pit’. Also we accept Simultaneous Submissions however if your story gets published elsewhere please let us know.

7. Excessive racist, sexist, and/or homophobic content will not be tolerated as well as any stories involving excessive gore, violence, or abuse of minors unless it’s 100% germane to the story.

8. One story per author can be submitted for each reading period.

9. Also absolutely no AI-generated stories, either partially or fully, will be considered.

What do I get for subscribing?

At this point subscribers supporting the Substack will go to support fellow aspiring writers. 50% of the paid subscribers for each month will go to the winning author/story, in addition to the prize of $100.

Anything Else?

Yes! Analytics will be published monthly in terms of subscribers, the number of submissions, and anything else that might be relevant. There is also the option to sign up for FREE emails.