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Herein find the submission guidelines for our print edition, Unlikely Stories of the Third Kind. Would you prefer to learn about the on-line magazine, Unlikely 2.0?
We are...
Jonathan Penton, Poetry and Essay Editor
Donna Snyder, Story Editor
C. Derick Varn, Art Editor
Gabriel Ricard, Music Editor
Belinda Subraman, Film Editor
We will...
Publish Unlikely Stories of the Third Kind, a physical embodiment of all that is UnlikelyStories.org. It will include a CD (suitable for playing in a computer or traditional player), a DVD (suitable for playing in a computer or traditional player), and 400 pages of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, essays, reviews, interviews, and visual art, both in color and black-and-white. We will give two complimentary copies to each contributor.
In a time frame, no less...
All submissions are due by April 30, 2010. We will endeavor to answer all mail by May 31. Publication is slated for August, 2010.
General Guidelines:
As we mentioned, Unlikely Stories of the Third Kind is the physical embodiment of Unlikely 2.0 and the original Unlikely Stories. It will not be a regular publication—although Unlikely Books is ramping up production, there won't be another book like this for some time to come. Please familiarize yourself with our regular submission guidelines and magazine before submitting. They're free, don't you know.
About half of the material in Unlikely Stories of the Third Kind will have appeared in one of our web sites. If you'd like to recommend an old piece, either your own or someone else's, for inclusion, please send the relevant editor a link.
Please be patient with the submission process. Please don't query before May 31, but please do query then—we make mistakes, and would hate for you to be excluded by accident.
Previously published submissions are acceptable; simultaneous submissions aren't. The magazine takes ‘em.
Submissions will be selected by "fiefdom." For example, Belinda will be wholly responsible for film selections; she will not normally confer with the rest of the staff. Very few people will have more than one piece in the anthology; no one will have more than two. Thus, if you submit work to more than one editor, please let them all know so that they can confer. Otherwise, you might be accepted to multiple departments, only to have Jonathan take some of your acceptances away. And that's the unsexy kind of awkwardness.
Biographical notes will be very short. Think one sentence and a Web address. We aren't trying to singlehandedly keep would-be "readers" from flipping to the back of anthologies to scan for the names of their friends, but we shan't be actually encouraging it. This particular anthology is going to be fun.
Please let us know if you don't want your work considered for the on-line magazine.
Seriously, though, do read our regular submission guidelines.
On Essays, Reviews, and Interviews:
Please send up to three such pieces of less than 7000 words total to jonathan AT unlikelystories DOT org. Unlikely Stories of the Third Kind is not a periodical, so don't send time-sensitive submissions. If it will seem irrelevant in 2012, send it to the magazine instead.
On Poetry:
Please send up to 500 lines of poetry, however many poems that might be, to jonathan AT unlikelystories DOT org. If you are writing prose poems, or poems with absurdly long lines, please ensure that your total poetry submission does not exceed 7000 words.
On Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction:
Please send up to five stories of less than 7000 words total to donna AT unlikelystories DOT org.
On Visual Art:
We intend to publish 40 color prints and 40 black-and-white prints on good glossy paper. We anticipate receiving many more color submissions than black-and-white submissions. Thus, you might want to send at least some black-and-white art, or give permission for your color work to be rendered in greyscale.
Please send up to nine .jpgs to derick AT unlikelystories DOT org. If you know how to miniaturize the files for screen viewing, be kind to Derick and do so. But the art will finally be printed at 300 dots per inch in an eight inch square book, so make sure you have a version of your submission which will look good at a high resolution.On Music and Spoken Word:
Please do not place .mp3s directly into our e-mail boxes. Rather, e-mail gabriel AT unlikelystories DOT org with a link to where your music can be found on the Internet. If you wish to submit music which cannot currently be found on the Internet, you can use YouSendIt.com to mail .mp3s to him. Should he select your work for publication, you can send a CD to Jonathan by physical mail at
500 S. Mesa St., #389
El Paso, TX 79901
On Film:
Please do not place movies directly into our e-mail boxes. Rather, e-mail belinda AT unlikelystories DOT org with a link to where your film can be found on the Internet. If you wish to submit a film which cannot currently be found on the Internet, you can use YouSendIt.com to mail films to her.
QuickTime, .mp4, Flash, Shockwave, and Windows Media are all formats in which Belinda can view your film and consider it for publication. Should Belinda select your film for publication, you'll need to send it to Jonathan in a high-quality, low-compression format, suitable for DVD presentation, such as an AVI file 720 pixels wide. You'll find detailed suggestions here.
And finally...
If there is anything you'd like us to see which is not covered in the above guidelines just query us at jonathan AT unlikelystories DOT org.
