Midnight Echo: Submission Guidelines
SUBMISSIONS ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED! THE READING PERIOD FOR ISSUE 5 WILL RUN FROM MARCH 1 - JULY 31, 2010. FULL SUBMISSION DETAILS ARE BELOW.
Midnight Echo:The Magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association aims to showcase the quality and diversity of the modern horror and dark fantasy genres. Particular emphasis will be placed upon Australian authors, but international voices will also be included.
Each issue of Midnight Echo will be overseen by a different editorial team who will bring their own unique perspective to the magazine.
Issue 4 is edited by Lee Battersby, who fancies he knows a thing or two about the horror short story, having won 2 Australian shadows Awards and the Aurealis Award for Best Horror short. An inhabitant of Mandurah, Western Australia, he suffers endless days of sunshine, relaxation and beautiful surroundings with only the aid of his wiofe Lyn, three bizarre children, and a habit of writing nasty things in story form to help him through. A collection, entitled "Through Soft Air" has seen light via the gold-paved road to Hell provided by Prime Books, and he gives regular vent to his spleen at The Battersblog, his blog (http://battersblog.blogspot.com/). As for his designs regarding issue 4, he says "The days of creeping tentacles of doom is over. Leave your Cthulhuian wannabes under the bed where they belong, and horrify me with the only thing that is truly terrifying-- human nature. If you must force a monster upon me, let me recognise something in its eyes."
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Below are submission details for fiction, poetry, cover and interior artwork, graphic/comic strips, and advertising.
We also accept Letters to the Editor, so if you want to contact us to say how great we are, to complain about something, or just to chew the fat (translated = talk horror), please do. We won't be able to publish all Letters, but we will be able to publish some. Send Letters to us at midnightecho@australianhorror.com
FICTION
Midnight Echo accepts horror, dark fantasy and macabre fiction up to a strict maximum length of 5000 words. All subjects within the genre of dark fiction will be considered, although stories that feature well-worn tropes (such as vampires, serial killers, evil children, etc) will need to present a new and innovative take on the concept. Midnight Echo is intended to be a magazine for adult readers and as such is open to content that includes sex, violence and even the odd naughty word or two! However, please remember that what we value most is the story.
Submissions should be in standard manuscript format (eg, 12 point Courier font, 1.5 line spacing) and sent as an attachment via email as either an MS Word document or an RTF file.
Write MIDNIGHT ECHO: "Submission Title" in the subject line of the email.
Please include your full contact details (postal address, e-mail, phone number) as well as word count in the body of your email, and send your submission to:
midnightecho@australianhorror.com
Midnight Echo buys Exclusive Worldwide English Language Rights (no reprints), with 6 month exclusivity after first publication, and pays 1c per word to a maximum of $50. No simultaneous or multiple submissions please. While we will seek to emphasise the work of Australian writers, Midnight Echo is open to submissions from anyone. You do not need to a member of the AHWA to submit your work.
POETRY
As each issue of Midnight Echo has different editor/editors, poetry will not always be accepted. It all depends on editorial preferences for that particular issue.
Note: Issue 4 is accepting poetry. Please submit all poems as DOC or RTF attachments in emails using the same address as above.
Also as of Issue 4, payment for poetry will be the same as for fiction (ie, 1c/word to a maximum of $50).COVER AND INTERIOR ART
Midnight Echo is also open to submissions for Full Colour cover and Black & White internal illustrations. We are seeking all forms of artistic expression - your art form, your medium, your way - as long the submission is a finished piece. No rough sketches or outlines of ideas, just your best and finest work!
A note from the Art Director:
"All in all, your art should have a voice. It needn't be prominent, but it needs to be there. I will be asking each piece the same question: 'Why do you exist?' Your aim as the Artist, is to allow your piece to answer that question."
If you are interested in submitting Art Work to Midnight Echo, please follow these directions:
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS:
For first round submissions, please email a 72dpi review image of your work.
Image must be under 3 MB.
Please compress using ZIP compression only.
One image per email, please.
Please send your submissions to: meartdirector@australianhorror.com
Accepted artists will be notified of the proceedings to supply their final piece for publication.
Multiple submissions are welcome, but each piece must be accompanied by their own cover sheet.
Please, no lengthy write-ups about your piece. The submission needs to speak on its own.
Payment: Full colour cover art will receive AU$50. Interior art will be paid AU$15 per piece.
All artists will be notified of their acceptance or otherwise via email. The decision of the Art Director is final.
GRAPHIC/COMIC STRIPS
Midnight Echo is also sourcing black and white Graphic/Comic Horror stories (colour is acceptable, as long as a black and white version is available). Submissions can be as dark, hard, or as subtle as the story dictates.
The length should be no longer than 10 A4 pages. Please email your submission to the Art Director (meartdirector@australianhorror.com) in PDF format only for review. Please ensure that the file size is no larger than 3MB. Query first if larger!
We offer $50 for accepted stories.
ADVERTISING RATES AND ARTWORK GUIDELINES
Midnight Echo publishes advertising at the following rates:
- ¼ page - $15
- ½ page - $25
- Full page interior - $40
- Full page back cover (full colour) - $75
Guidelines for Full Page interior advertisements:
Colour mode: CMYK (4 colour process).
Size: 210 x 297 mm + 5 mm bleed.
All blacks to be overprinting (eg: Black text to print over colour back grounds, NOT reversing out)
Acceptable File Formats:
High Resolution PDF (300ppi)
High Resolution PSD - TIFF - TIFF
Colour mode: Black and White (Grey Scale accepted).
Size:
Half Page: 210 x 148.5 mm with 5 mm bleed or 3 mm away from edges
Quarter Page: 105 x 148.5 mm with 5 mm bleed or 3 mm away from edges
Acceptable File Formats:
High Resolution PDF (300ppi)
High Resolution PSD - TIFF
Artwork Submissions:
Email: meartdirector@australianhorror.com
FTP or direction to a Web Link where your Advertisement can be downloaded