Submission Guidelines for Galaxy Anthologies
For your convenience, here are the submission guidelines for the new Galaxy series of science fiction and fantasy anthologies. For details about each individual anthology, or if you have any questions, please contact me by email:
The Intention of Galaxy Anthologies
The intention of this series of Galaxy anthologies is to provide a regular, published venue for science fiction and fantasy from all over the world.
For an individual author, this potentially provides an ongoing marketplace for their science fiction and/or fantasy. The benefits for an author of appearing in a Galaxy anthology include
• the credibility that comes from being independently published, as opposed to self-published
• the higher production standards associated with independent publishing
• a wider reading audience
• the building of a ‘track record’ as a published author to help with future submissions elsewhere
• the boosting of personal confidence and strength of voice which comes from being recognised as a publishable author.
As described below, some classic sci-fi and fantasy stories will be part of the anthologies.
The plan is to publish one anthology every two months or so. This may pick up speed depending on how well the anthologies are received.
The first edition will be called ‘Galaxy # 3’ as it is in the sequence of Galaxy books, all of which have been trial publications building up to this project.
What I’m Looking For In General
I’m looking for well-crafted tales. That means stories which have been designed to appeal to readers through the use of accepted forms, archetypes and structures —ideally using the universal storytelling methods outlined in How Stories Really Work.
Read science fiction and fantasy widely before submitting. Submit only your BEST work.
Each Galaxy anthology, in addition to including accepted stories, will contain several classic, publicly available science fiction and fantasy tales by world famous authors. So an author accepted into a Galaxy anthology will be ‘rubbing shoulders’ with the greats. Try to live up to that association. Great stories can be engendered in the company of great authors— or that’s the idea, anyway.
How To Submit
I accept submissions through Clarendon House Publications and its email address:
Please don't post me anything, as I work through email only.
I need stories sent to me as Word documents. Anything more exotic will be refused.
PLEASE ALSO INCLUDE IN THE SAME (NOT SEPARATE) DOCUMENT A 100 WORD AUTHOR BIO (with links if you wish). This is to save time later, if your submission is accepted.
Clarendon House Publications is based in the UK, but I accept submissions from authors all over the world, as long as they are in the correct format outlined above.
No submission fee is required.
Please submit ONLY ONE STORY to each anthology. This is to ensure that there is enough space for other authors. (Please note: Galaxy anthologies will NOT be included in the Clarendon House competitions of the past in which the best poem selected by readers earned its author a book contract.)
I understand if you want to submit to more than one publisher at a time, but obviously I must know IMMEDIATELY if a story you've submitted to me has been accepted elsewhere.
Editing Submissions
It is a condition of submission that the author must be open to me correcting punctuation, spelling, grammar or any other technical basics without always contacting him or her.
If I have suggestions on how to improve a story in order to get it published, I will write back to the author and discuss things. As an editor, I am here to help authors make it, and all suggestions will be made with that in mind. If, after receiving feedback, the author does not wish to proceed, that is fine and will not bar future consideration for publication.
It is obviously in the author’s best interests to ensure that the submission is in the best possible shape prior to sending it to me. If the submission takes too much time to fix, it is likely to be rejected. It also follows from this that submissions must be the FINAL version as far as the authors are concerned — I will not be able to entertain any adjustments to documents (other than proofreading fixes as above) once they have been received.
Anthology Format
Anthologies will be available in paperback and ebook formats from Amazon. There may also be a full-colour illustrated version available later, downloadable as a pdf from the Clarendon House website.
Please note that I cannot consider anything with illustrations or photographs.
Deadlines
Galaxy #3 February 28th
Galaxy #4 April 30th
Galaxy #5 June 30th
Galaxy #6 August 31st
Further deadlines for future volumes will be announced later in the year.
Rights
When I publish a story, I only ask that it not be tangled up in any other prior agreement and be exclusive to Clarendon House for one year after the date of publication. I don't ask for other rights, or place any limits on what you can do with your story after the exclusivity period. This is to encourage sales of a particular anthology.
Copyright
Copyright remains with you at all times.
Word Count
Maximum word count for each story will be 3,000 words. No minimum.
Censorship
Nothing sexually or violently graphic or gratuitous will be accepted.
Payment
Each accepted author receives a free e-copy of the complete anthology publication by email. As you can imagine, in an anthology with possibly 50 or more authors, monetary payments to each author are not feasible or viable.
Marketing
I strongly recommend (but do not insist) that each accepted author ideally purchase THREE copies of the paperback book once released — one for their own collection (it’s important to validate one’s own progress as a published author); one for a family member, friend, or influencer; and one for their local library. If this is done, the marketplace grows for every author included in each volume. But purchases will depend upon each author's budget and intentions, I understand that.
Other marketing advice includes using social media to spread the word, contacting friends and family, and so on. More about effective marketing (as opposed to time-wasting and expensive marketing) is contained in my ebook Crack Your Marketing.
Response Times
I aim to reply to all submissions within three weeks, although I will sometimes go over this during busy periods. If you're waiting for a reply from me, please keep an eye on your junk mail folder, as some replies do end up there. If you grow concerned, or have any questions about anything, you can always email me at
Contract
Submitting work constitutes acceptance of these guidelines as a contractual arrangement.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Comments