WHAT WE WANT
Pseudopod is a genre magazine in audio form. We’re looking
for horror [http://www.horror.org/horror-is.htm]: dark, weird
fiction. We run the spectrum from grim realism or crime drama, to
magic-realism, to blatantly supernatural dark fantasy. We publish
highly literary stories reminiscent of Poe or Lovecraft as well as
vulgar shock-value pulp fiction. We don’t split hairs about genre
definitions, and we do not observe any taboos about what kind of
content can appear in our stories. Originality demands that you’re
better off avoiding vampires, zombies, and other recognizable horror
tropes unless you have put a very unique spin on them. What matters
most is that the stories are dark and compelling.
Since we’re an audio magazine, our audience can’t skim past the
boring parts, so stories with beautiful language at the expense of
plot don’t translate well. We’re looking for fiction with strong
pacing, well-defined characters, engaging dialogue, and clear action.
It can be beautiful too, if you’ve got all those other bases
covered.
Dark humor is just fine, and we run it on occasion; but we are more
interested in tragedy than comedy, and comedy is better received the
more sick and morbid it is. Above all, we want stories that make us
think, that stick with us, that make us catch ourselves checking the
locks a second time before bed.
More tips here. [http://pseudopod.org/tips-for-writers/]
Holiday-themed stories (regardless of which holiday) are ideally
submitted 4-5 months prior to the holiday in question. The same
guideline applies if you have a book coming out soon and want to
publish a short story with us to coincide with its release, and
we’re always happy to delay publishing if the resulting timing is
better for author promotion. (Although for a sure bet, you can always
just grease our palms with a sponsorship two months beforehand —
contact al@escapeartists.net.)
DIVERSITY
Pseudopod welcomes submissions from writers of all backgrounds. We are
especially interested in seeing more submissions from people of
backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented or excluded
from traditional publishing, including, but not limited to, women,
people of color, LGBTQ or non-binary gender people, persons with
disabilities, members of religious minorities, and people from outside
the United States. Our goal is to publish horror that reflects the
diversity of the human race, so we strongly encourage submissions from
these or any other underrepresented groups.
PAYMENT AND RIGHTS
We pay the pro rate of $.06/word for original fiction, $100 flat rate
for reprints, and $20 flat rate for flash fiction (stories below 1500
words).
PseudoPod buys nonexclusive audio rights, and nonexclusive electronic
rights to distribute the audio file under a Creative Commons license.
Specifically, we use the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
license. Briefly, this means that the entire world has permission to
distribute the audio files for free, provided they give credit for it,
don’t try to make money off of it, and don’t change it in any way.
Transcribing it, extracting portions from it that exceed fair use, and
mashing it up are all prohibited.
This license applies only to our audio performance of your work, for
which we’ve contracted and paid you. It does not apply to your story
itself; you retain your copyright and all rights to any other use of
the story.
FORMAT AND COVER LETTER
Prepare your manuscript in something approximating Standard
Manuscript Format [http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html] formatted
in .rtf, .doc, .docx, and .odt.
In your cover letter, please include your legal name, byline (if
different from your legal name), and the story’s approximate word
count and (if a reprint) publication history. If you have any previous
publications, feel free to list the most recent three, but this is
optional and won’t affect your story’s consideration.
Once you’ve sent us your story, you will get an automated
confirmation via email. Please query if you have not received this
confirmation within 24 hours. After three months, if you haven’t
received a response, feel free to query by email.
