Submission Guidelines

IMPORTANT!! ==>>> Look HERE for information about the themes for Crime and Suspense issues beginning in November 2007!

Send all submissions for publication to submissions@crimeandsuspense.com.   Include a cover email, but send your story as an attachment.  Make sure you include your name and please be patient. We try to get back to you ASAP but sometimes things just don’t work that way. Be sure to mark SUBMISSION in the subject line to avoid our SPAM filters. 

PLEASE NOTE: Read ALL the submission guidelines, including the themes, before submitting.  Your submission of work means that you have read and agree with all guidelines and conditions contained herein.

 

Report your response times at Duotrope's Digest

 

In General...

  1. All submissions should come to submissions@crimeandsuspense.com.  Include a cover letter and make your story an attachment to the email (see cover letter example and details about attachments below).
  2. We are interested in reviews, articles about writing, short stories and flash fiction.  
  3. If you want to write a review or an article instead of a story, it needs to focus on writing, crime, suspense or mystery fiction, or authors in these genres.  Best bet: query us about it first, before you write it.
  4. Hard-boiled detective stuff is fine.  So are cozy mysteries.  Eerie, suspenseful stories are great.  But don't waste your time sending us a story that is nothing but bang-bang, shoot-em-up, where the blood runs off of the page/screen.  Don't send anything with explicit sex in it.  And don't send us a story about a vampire, werewolf, or space alien unless they are committing a crime of some sort or are some sort of detective/cop/amateur sleuth.  (I'm really waiting for a cozy mystery on Venus where the... nevermind.)  We also don't want anything that glorifies racism or hate crimes.  Waste of your time, and ours. 
  5. In your cover letter, tell us a little bit about yourself.  We really REALLY do want to know this, so don't skip it, or your entire email will disappear into the electronic wastebasket without being read.  The ideal cover letter will look something like this:

 

Dear Editor,

I would like to submit my story for your consideration.  I am a 36-year-old day laborer from Atlanta, Georgia, and my personal passion is baking.  My story is entitled "The Dough Also Rises", and is set in East McKeesport, Maine. I am submitting my story for the January/February theme of "Restaurant In Peace." 

Story summary:  In my story, a pastry chef gets caught up in a web of intrigue surrounding a poisoned loaf of pumpernickel and a catered party for an African potentate.  The pastry chef discovers the poisoned pumpernickel just in time to save the potentate, but the police blame the chef for the poisoning.  He exposes the sous chef as the true culprit, and narrowly avoids being filleted.  The story is about 6,600 words.

I have had fiction published in "Atlanta Phoenix" and "Maine Events", as well as on several public restroom walls.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Justin Thyme

 

  1. Check your work for grammar, spelling, usage, etc.  Probably if we like your work, we will ask you to tweak it a little anyway, but you will increase your chances of having it published if you send it to us looking as good as possible.  And if you are not willing to do edits when asked by the Editor, please don't even submit to us.
  2. Formatting:

    OK, here's the deal: you can send your story as an RTF or MS Word document, single spaced, with paragraphs set up any way you want and using Times New Roman or Arial typeface. Makes italics italicized and boldfaced stuff boldfaced. BUT! If your story is accepted, you will be required to reformat your story to meet the parameters below or it will not be published.
  3. Submissions sent in the body of the email will NOT be accepted.  (We have had major issues with submissions sent in the body of email.)  Send your work as an attachment ONLY. The only acceptable attachment formats are either MS Word or RTF file.  Don't send it as a .TXT file.

    NOTE:  If you have anti-spam features turned on, add the crimeandsuspense.com domain to your whitelist.  The Editors will NOT comply with Earthlink's or anyone else's request to jump through electronic hoops to send you a response.
  4. BE SURE to note the theme or issue for which you are submitting!  It's not always easy for us to THIS IS VITAL!
  5. If we publish your story, article or review, we require serial exclusivity with it for TWO MONTHS.  After that, you can publish it anywhere you like, but please let us know if it gets published elsewhere.   In other words, you retain copyright to your individual story.  You give us exclusive rights of publication for two months after it first appears.
  6. We also have the non-exclusive right to electronically archive your story or article indefinitely, as well as non-exclusive anthology rights for fourteen months after its publication date.  After that time, you can ask for all rights to your story and they will be gladly given, and if necessary, the story removed from our archives. 
  7. If we reject your story outright, sorry.  It means it is not right for us, but it still may be right for someone else.  If we ask you to make changes, and you don't want to make the changes, that's your prerogative.  It's also our prerogative not to publish it.
  8. If we have to make any sort of changes other than minor edits (spelling, misplaced commas, etc.), we'll check with you first.
  9. Grammar and usage.  We don't have time to do extensive copyediting (we have day jobs to buy the bread, bologna and generic soda pop we survive on.)  So, if your story isn't pretty darn close to fully correct, we'll be sending it back to you for rewrites.  You get two shots are rewriting, provided there is enough time before the story is needed.
  10. As a rule, the deadline for each issue is the 1st of the preceding month.  So, to go into the July/August issue, you need to have your story in by June 1st at the latest.
  11. Reprints.  We will accept submission of reprints, as long as it has been at least one year since publication.  We reserve the right to be selective, as with all stories, articles and reviews we publish.
  12. Appropriate language.  "Street language" denoting sexual acts (such as "f**k" and the like) or words which crudely denote the sexual organs (you know what they are), blatant description of sexual activity and blood/gore/slaughter for the sake of its shock value are not appropriate, and will not be tolerated.  If you can't figure out a way to make your story keep the reader's attention without these things, maybe you should beef up your vocabulary or become a little more creative.  (Added May 27, 2006. Does not apply to stories accepted before this date.)

Payment

Flash fiction - $3 $5 per story

Short Stories - $5 $10 per story

Original Audio Short Stories - $15 per story

ALSO: Beginning with the May/June 2008 issue, all authors whose stories are accepted and who are not already subscribers to the ezine will, with their first acceptance, receive a one-year subscription to the ezine, a $12 value! Please note: only one such free subscription can be given, however, and it is not retroactive to authors who have stories accepted before this issue. *NEW*

No monetary payment shall be made for reprints, but the free subscription offer above still applies. 

 

Articles Specs—articles may be about writing in general, writing of crime, suspense or mystery fiction in particular or interviews with authors in the genre.  In general, keep the length from 300-400 words.  Inquire before investing the time in writing the article!

Review Specs—reviews may be of crime, mystery or suspense fiction, or of books on the craft of writing such books. Full guidelines for writing reviews are found HERE.

Flash Fiction Specs—Correct genre, obviously and the tightest writing you can manage.  The length should be from 250 words to 1199 words.  

Short Story Specs—obviously the genre must be correct, although if you can create a cross-genre piece that works, we're interested in seeing it.  (Sci-fi with a futuristic detective, horror with a crime or supernatural detective, etc.)  The length should be from 1200 words to 4000 words.  And follow good fiction guidelines: have a good story arc, characters the reader will care about, a satisfying denouement and above all it must be believable.  Tom Clancy said it best: "The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense."

 


Please read the information below very carefully!

Writings submitted and accepted by Crime and Suspense may be published immediately or held until a later date for publication. All writings accepted will be published first in the Crime and Suspense ezine and then archived on the Crime and Suspense website for public viewing. During the period of time of publication in the ezine (two months), the author agrees that Crime and Suspense shall have exclusive electronic rights of publication.

 

By submitting your work to Crime and Suspense for publication, you agree to the following terms and conditions:

 

Crime and Suspense (http://www.crimeandsuspense.com) reserves the right to reject any article, story, poetry or prose for any reason. Submission of your work indicates that you have read and agree to the terms and conditions outlined above.

 

For any questions not covered by these guidelines, please Contact Us.

Revisions:

REVISED on 5/4/08 to simplify initial submission requirements

REVISED on 5/3/08 for new submission benefit for first-time accepted stories

REVISED on 1/3/2008 for new story payment rates.

REVISED on 12/27/07 for new submission deadline.

REVISED on 7/27/07 for new business model

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