Top Paying Horror Markets

Another good feature of Duotrope is that if you're a subscriber (free), you can get a weekly email that lists all kinds of useful information--who is closed to subs, who has re-opened, who has changed pay rates, etc. It's a wonderful resource and one worth supporting via paypal.

Click to expand...

Many many many thanks for everything! It helps so much! I feel like a load has been lifted.

StevenJ said:

This made me laugh today
Paraphrased from Clarkesworld's submission guidelines:

Though no particular setting, theme, or plot is anathema to us, the following are likely hard sells:


* stories in which the words "thou" or "thine" appear
* talking cats
* talking swords
* stories where the climax is dependent on the spilling of intestines
* stories where FTL travel is as easy as is it on television shows or movies
* time travel too
* stories that depend on some vestigial belief in Judeo-Christian mythology in order to be frightening (i.e., Cain and Abel are vampires, the End Times are a' comin', Communion wine turns to Christ's literal blood and it's HIV positive, Satan's gonna getcha, etc.)
* stories about young kids playing in some field and discovering ANYTHING. (a body, an alien craft, Excalibur, ANYTHING).
* stories about the stuff we all read in Scientific American three months ago.
* stories where the Republicans, or Democrats, or Libertarians, or the Spartacist League, etc. take over the world and either save or ruin it
* your AD&D game
* sexy vampires, wanton werewolves, or lusty pirates
* zombies or any other overused undead creature of the week
* stories where the protagonist is either widely despised or widely admired simply because he or she is just so smart and/or strange
* stories that take place within an artsy-fartsy bohemia as written by an author who has clearly never experienced one.

Click to expand...

That's everything then.

Yeah, Clarkesworld wants Sir Arthur writing for them, not you and me. Harder SF and stories that mimic Clarke would probably have a much better chance with them than horror.

Alan Yee said:

ChiZine is closed to submissions until September 1st. I guess that gives me until the end of the summer to come up with something short enough to send to them.

Click to expand...

Keep an eye out for their short story contest this summer. Top three finishers are published in the magazine.

Hey... what do you guys know about Cutting Block Press and their Horror Library Anthology? Anyone, anyone??

EFCollins said:

Hey... what do you guys know about Cutting Block Press and their Horror Library Anthology? Anyone, anyone??

Click to expand...

I have one out on sub there right now--84 days. That's about all I can tell you.

Thanks Haggis. Keep me updated. If they're good, I might submit my Soul Collector story I did for the April Prompt (2nd entry) to them. It's unique enough of a traditional ghost story to fit their criteria, I think.

Haggis said:

Another good feature of Duotrope is that if you're a subscriber (free), you can get a weekly email that lists all kinds of useful information--who is closed to subs, who has re-opened, who has changed pay rates, etc. It's a wonderful resource and one worth supporting via paypal.

Click to expand...

I hadn't found Duotrope until recently, and I don't know how I existed without it before. Their submission tracker is brilliant, and from the publisher end I can tell it seems pretty accurate in terms of response time, though I would take the acceptance rank percentage with a grain of salt.

Agreed on Duotrope. The more people that use it, the more accurate it will become.

96 days and counting at Cutting Block Press for my short. The web site says within 3 months so I'm hoping they are just behind. I thought of sending a brief email but didn't think it was appropriate. But they do ask that you don't submit anywhere else while they're looking so at some point I need to consider moving on.

Be patient, even 120 days is nothing, and Horror Library is an excellent market.

rsmccoy said:

Be patient, even 120 days is nothing, and Horror Library is an excellent market.

Click to expand...

111 days and holding

Haggis said:

111 days and holding

Click to expand...

That patch is awesome!!! *BURP*

I want one!!

I think every writer deserves one.

Necrotic Tissue is by an AW Publisher/Editor? I subbed a story there recently, but werewolf stories are a hard sell, even if they are unique. I was ungratiously turned down. No, I'm kidding, I'm pretty sure it was a personal rejection, so much better than a form letter Maybe I'll sub "The Dental-Phobe" there.

smsarber said:

Necrotic Tissue is by an AW Publisher/Editor? I subbed a story there recently, but werewolf stories are a hard sell, even if they are unique. I was ungratiously turned down. No, I'm kidding, I'm pretty sure it was a personal rejection, so much better than a form letter Maybe I'll sub "The Dental-Phobe" there.

Click to expand...

Rsmcoy is the publisher of Necrotic Tissue, and, yes, he's an AW member. Not only do they try to offer personal rejections when they reject, but they're also very fast in turnaround. They're a good group to work with (or try to work with).

My rejection from them was personal and I got it in about... 45 days or so. I'd have to check duotrope for an exact day count, but it was something like that.

I got mine in 9 days, just checked. It says they're temp. closed, so I guess I won't send The Dental-Phobe their way

EFCollins said:

My rejection from them was personal and I got it in about... 45 days or so. I'd have to check duotrope for an exact day count, but it was something like that.

Click to expand...

My rejections were all personal. Rejection times varied, but not by much--3,5,12,24 days. The one acceptance took 9 days.

Compare that to the length of time it took other some other pubs to reject my stories--102,106, 157, 192, and 326 days.

smsarber said:

I got mine in 9 days, just checked. It says they're temp. closed, so I guess I won't send The Dental-Phobe their way

Click to expand...

Don't despair, Steve. They'll be reopening July 1st.

Puppy, I'd definitely take a week or two over a few months. Damn, man.

Steve, July 1st isn't so far away. They're open to submissions every other month, I think is how it works. January, March, May, July, September & November, right Puppy?

Love NT. Can't wait to see the print issue.

And isn't July the month to enter the October Bites contest again?

That was tons of fun last year.

Ooh, thanks! I didn't go to the site, just looked at my submission tracker. I can handle July 1, if I haven't sold it before then. Hey, it could happen!

EF, I left you a note on your "bells thing."

EFCollins said:

Puppy, I'd definitely take a week or two over a few months. Damn, man.

Steve, July 1st isn't so far away. They're open to submissions every other month, I think is how it works. January, March, May, July, September & November, right Puppy?

Click to expand...

I think it's every three months, Effie.

jgold said:

Love NT. Can't wait to see the print issue.

And isn't July the month to enter the October Bites contest again?

That was tons of fun last year.

Click to expand...

Ooooo. The bites again.

Maybe we should do another one here too, huh?