Tom Mattel

The Horror Zine works best with Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, or Apple Safari browsers, but not very well with Internet Explorer.

Submission Guidelines

All submissions selected for The Horror Zine ezine will be made available, if selected, to be published in a yearly anthology of a Horror Zine paperback BOOK. The Horror Zine is a "4theluv" market, for both the ezine and the books. There is no payment.

NEW RULE: If you have fiction, poetry, or artwork accepted into The Horror Zine, please allow five months from your acceptance date before you submit anything new to us. We need to give everyone an opportunity. Thanks!

All submissions to The Horror Zine are subject to editing, but we work closely with the authors during the editing process. Nothing is published without the author's pre-approval and consent. Remember, even Stephen King has editors.

All stories, poetry, and artwork will be available for possible publication into a yearly anthology book. Which contributions get chosen for the anthology book is completely up to, and at the discretion of, the Editor of The Horror Zine, who cannot be bribed. :)

Jeani Rector is the Editor of The Horror Zine and you can find her HERE. Dean Wild is the Assistant Editor of The Horror Zine and you can find him HERE. Christian A. Larsen is our Media Director and you can find him HERE.

Note: The Horror Zine does not accept any material that contains adult or sexually explicit content; abuse or harming of children; any rape scenes; gore for gore's sake; or splatterpunk.

The Horror Zine has a strict policy about email to contributors:

The writers, poets, and artists who share their emails on The Horror Zine do so as a way to get editorial feedback from their peers and also as a method for them to be available for influential persons in the publishing industry (which would be a single email or letter to the individual of interest), or in the case of artists, to be available for sale of their artwork as book covers and the like.

Their email is not available for any type of mass emails for solicitation, advertisement, promotion, or spam without the direct permission from Jeani Rector first. Any violation of this strict policy will subject you to a permanent ban from any future issues or books produced by The Horror Zine.

FINALLY, SINCE YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY AND PATIENTLY PLOWED THROUGH ALL OF THE ABOVE,

HERE ARE OUR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

FICTION:

Email your story as an RTF attachment. Formatting is important! All must be single spaced, Times New Roman, font 12. No paragraph indentions, but one blank space inbetween paragraphs. Left justify only, do not justify both borders.

Email me (you will have to format my email address by yourself so I know you are a real person and not spam): thehorrorzine at gmail.com

The subject line should be the word "Short Story Submission."

The word count needs to be between 1,800 words to 5,000 words. No Flash Fiction at this time.

What I Am Looking For:

Original short stories that are creative and fresh. I am not only seeking horror, but also mystery, suspense, science fiction, and most of all, good character development.

I am looking for Hitchcock-type endings, Twilight Zone-type weirdness, and/or something deliciously twisted. A surprising ending is a plus. I am also looking for good ghost stories, monster stories, vampires, but something exciting and new is even better.

And! Remember the legends....vampires are killed by stakes, werewolves by silver bullets, and zombies by a shot to the head. If you are going outside the box on any of these, make it believable for readers who are used to the status quo of legends.

The best story you can submit has a buildup of suspense, and then contains an unexpected and surprising ending, no matter what the subject.

Here are some general guidelines to writing short stories: 

1) start with action
2) familiarize the reader with your protagonist; make him/her likeable
3) provide an obstacle for your protagonist
4) describe how your protagonist overcomes, or at least deals with, the obstacle
5) give the reader hints as to the ending
6) provide a completely different ending than your hints

It is also important to balance the amount of dialogue to the amount of action. Too much dialogue and you are "telling" the story instead of "showing" the story.

Email me (you will find me HERE).

POETRY:

I like rhymed poetry; however, if you rhyme it, don't do it rigidly. In other words, do not focus on the rhyme instead of the content. Free-form is also good. All poetry must be deliciously dark. Show some emotion.

I am looking for amazing and beautifully descriptive prose, yes, but I also want the poem to touch its readers; I want the reader to say, "Yes, I can relate," or "I understand," or "I've felt that way too" when he or she reads your work.

For your poetry submissions, be sure to send at least seven poems. I want to choose the best four or five out of the bunch for publication on The Horror Zine.

Email me (you will find me HERE).

The subject line should be the word “Poetry Submission.”

ART:

I’m looking for works that make the viewer want to study your piece. I accept all types of art: dark, mysterious art, yes; but also things of beauty. You are not limited in your choices of what to send me. Are you talented? Then send me your art.

Please email me a link to your art photo bucket.

Email me (you will find me HERE).

The subject line should be the word "Art."

IMPORTANT:

All submissions selected for The Horror Zine ezine will be made available, if I select it, to be published in a yearly anthology of a Horror Zine paperback BOOK.

For published pieces we take First Electronic Publishing Rights. Bear in mind that some print magazines will not publish pieces that have been published on the web, so for all intents and purposes, if your work is published by us on the internet, it might be marketed to print magazines as a reprint, which can limit the number of markets that will accept it, and can reduce the pay rate it can receive. It is up to you, the author, to decide if publishing your work on our web site, giving up your First Publishing Rights for no payment other than exposure, is what you want to do.

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