Submission Guidelines

Fiction: Shroud considers horror, dark mystery, dark fantasy and suspense short stories up to 5,000 words (+/-). In addition, we are interested in tightly woven flash fiction, and (in some cases) serialized novellas. Thriller and Suspense tales with a horror aspect are also welcome. We HIGHLY recommend that you buy a SAMPLE ISSUE in order to get a clear idea of our style and tone.

We are especially interested in:

Mythic horror in a real world setting; Classically-themed horror and suspense; Supernatural horror; Creature horror; Dark Fantasy in a contemporary/RW setting; Noir;

We are LESS interested in:

Hard Science Fiction; Sword and Sorcery or anything set in a fantasy world; Stories about serial killers; Vampires ala Rice; First person accounts.

***AGAIN, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO ORDER A COPY FIRST***

Submission Format

Send us electronic submissions in .doc/.rtf format as a file attachment. Unfortunately the system sometimes strips off .rtf attachments. Your subject line should clearly say "SUBMISSION". Simultaneous submissions are NOT okay. Please do not send us multiple submissions -- please only send us one story at a time and do not send your next submission until we give you a reply to the first. Reprints are OK, but discouraged. If you submit a reprint, we will look at it provided it has not been published within twelve months and the author currently bears the copyright.

PLEASE include a short (50 words +/-) bio somewhere in your submission (IN the.rtf or .doc file) along with all of your contact information. If accepted, this will be the bio published with your story in Shroud.

PLEASE use underlines INSTEAD of italics

Response Time: Averages 2 to 4 months, but stories kept for further consideration by the editors may take additional time.

IMPORTANT: If you have NOT received an acknowledgment of receipt for your SHORT STORY within 1-5 Days of your submission then it is likely the submission was formatted incorrectly. We do appreciate your hard efforts and your creative vision, but with more than 350 submissions a month, if your submission is incorrectly formatted then it will be (unfortunately) deleted... sorry.

Artwork: Please query with samples. We are actively looking for talented artists for covers and B&W interior illustrations.

GRAPHIC SERIALS: We are very interested in running a graphic serial provided it meets our submission guidelines.

Nonfiction: Looking for well-researched stories on supernatural phenomenon, dark music, art, and interviews of key players within the genre, film reviews, game reviews.

NEW AND IMPORTANT: PAYMENT POLICIES AND READING PERIOD

Shroud will be temporarily moving to a flat-rate payment plan to help us contend with slow economic growth. It is absolutely critical that we cut costs in order to stay afloat. So beginning immediately (this will not impact issue 4 writers), Shroud will pay a flat rate of $10 for Flash Fiction, $25 for fiction up to 5000 words, and $25 for non-fiction up to 3000 words. Book reviews and other pieces will be discussed with the authors on a case by case basis.

It is with a heavy heart that I change these rates. It is NOT my intention to devalue the author's work in any way. I understand that it is difficult for professional writers to obtain the respect and remuneration that they truly deserve and it was always my goal to offer that. However, with this flat rate plan in place, it will help me mitigate costs and hopefully get my writers paid faster.

This rate change will NOT effect other publications/books, novellas/etc.

This rate change will NOT effect payments already discussed and agreed upon. If we discussed a payment rate for a piece that has not been published yet, we will continue to honor that (this applies to you columnists!)

Also, beginning immediately, we are CLOSED TO SUBMISIONS. We have begun a reading period.

WE WILL BE OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS FROM JANUARY 1st through FEBRUARY 30th, and then from MAY 1ST THROUGH JUNE 30TH. We have created these reading periods to help us better respond to submissions. Unfortunately submissions that come in outside of those periods will not be read. Again, we are only doing this in order to better serve our writing community.

Anthologies: We automatically consider all fiction submissions for our active anthologies. If accepted, Shroud pays 1 to 6 cents a word plus one copy of the published collection.

Reading Period: We are currently open to submissions.

Send To: editor@shroudmagazine.com

Novels and Novellas

*CLOSED FOR 2009

Shroud publishing is interested in building a catalog of intelligent dark fiction novels and novellas. If you have a COMPLETED manuscript or a series of short fiction, please query with a short synopsis and one sample chapter. Send to the editor.

A note on novel and novella submissions: we are a small press. We have a small press budget. If we are able to put your novel or novella into print we will do our best to market and distribute it, but the likelihood of you or us getting rich is very slim. Consider long and hard before you submit to us. We offer very modest advances and our royalty rates are decent. Having said that, if accepted, we will edit, design, layout your book, get it printed, sell it direct, and do our very best to get it distributed through a major distributor. WE will incur all of the aforementioned expenses, not you. We will never charge you for reading or publishing your book. Nor should you ever be.

So if this works for you, we'd love to see your novel/novella.

NEW* ALL CONTRACTS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD HERE:

http://www.shroudmag.com/downloads

Contact Information

By email:
editor@shroudmagazine.com

By standard mail:

Shroud Publishing LLC
121 Mason Road
Milton, NH 03851

By phone:
1-800-796-3759

Find us on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/shroudmag