Writing Guidelines
Every Day Fiction is looking for very short (flash) fiction, of up to 1000 words. There’s no such thing as too short — if you can do the job in 50 words, have at it! — but our readers prefer pieces that tell or at least hint at a complete story (some sort of action or tension rising to a moment of climax, and at least a clue toward a resolution, though it doesn’t have to be all spelled out).
All fiction genres are acceptable, and stories that don’t fit neatly into any genre are welcome too. While personal experiences and other non-fiction can be great sources of inspiration, please turn them into fiction for us, or send them elsewhere.
Our readership is adult, so children’s stories are unlikely to be accepted unless they are relevant to adults as well. On the other hand, we are not impressed by gratuitous sex and violence, or pointlessly foul language; edgy content should be necessary and appropriate to the plot and characters. Please consider that our readers may be at work or enjoying our stories over a meal, so we tend to avoid explicit erotica and stomach-churning gore.
It ought to go without saying that any story submitted to Every Day Fiction must be your own unpublished original creation. If you publish a story on a blog, even your own personal blog, or any website accessible to the general public (i.e., if the story can be found and read online without a password or friend status or other limitation), it is considered published and therefore inappropriate for our market.
Since we do not have the time or resources to manage copyright permissions, please do not send us works with quoted song lyrics. You may use song titles and the names of composers, lyricists, and/or performers, and you may paraphrase or refer to the song lyrics, but we are unable to publish stories with directly quoted song lyrics unless they are in the public domain (written before 1920).
We will not publish stories which feature living public figures as characters, although referencing them (e.g., in terms of a concert/event/sighting) is acceptable. Historical/deceased public figures are acceptable as characters. We do not publish fan fiction and will not publish stories which feature non-original characters, although referencing them (e.g., in a film, as a toy, etc.) is fine, and historical/cultural/legendary characters which are clearly not the property of a single creator (e.g., Santa Claus, King Arthur) are also permissible.
Certain story topics are difficult sells due to the frequency with which we see them and will likely be rejected unless they deliver something truly unique and exceptional. In no particular order: memory loss, vampires, children with monsters in their closets or under their beds, Death unable to fulfill his/her duty, cats, last person on Earth (or other planet), the struggles of writing, vague stories with unnamed characters.
Submission Process
All stories must be submitted through Submittable — we cannot accept stories via email or snail mail.
Our maximum response time is 90 days. If for any reason you believe that we have held your story without a response past 90 days, please contact us so we can look into it. We will, of course, do our best to keep our average response time as low as possible; we are currently averaging ?? days.
Multiple Submissions & Simultaneous Submissions
Multiple submissions are acceptable; you may have up to three stories in our submission process at any one time.
Unfortunately, we do not take simultaneous submissions; please give us 90 days’ exclusive consideration of your story.
Compensation
We believe in the importance of being paid for your writing, even if it’s only a token amount. At this time, we are able to offer three dollars (US$3) for each published story, to be paid via PayPal, with the option to donate it back to Every Day Fiction if you are so inclined.
Publication also includes an opportunity to promote your writing beyond Every Day Fiction. We will gladly provide a link to your blog or website or your preferred social media platform, and if you have books available for sale, we can link to those as well.
Terms and Agreements
Due to our aggressive publication schedule, we ask you to agree to our contract as part of the submission process:
I hereby grant Every Day Fiction magazine First Rights to publish the above story (online and by subscription, including any subscription method/medium available at the time of publication). Exclusivity is only granted to Every Day Fiction for 30 days from the story’s original publication date.
I also grant Every Day Fiction the non-exclusive right to make the above story available in e-book form (including any e-book format available at the time of publication), if the editors so choose, alone and/or anthologized with others, as long as this right is activated within 24 calendar months of the story’s original publication date.
I represent and warrant that I am the sole author of the Work, which is original and not previously published. To the best of my knowledge, it does not infringe any third party’s copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights, does not contain any libellous material, and nor does it violate any third party’s right of privacy or publicity. If I am found to be in wilful breach of any of these representations and warranties, I agree to indemnify Every Day Fiction for any and all costs and expenses resulting from that breach.
I accept and confirm that my compensation for this publication will be a one-time payment of $3 USD, payable via PayPal within 45 days of the story’s original publication unless I choose to donate it back to the magazine.
I understand and agree that, after the date of publication, my story will remain accessible online in Every Day Fiction’s archives at the editors’ discretion, unless and until I submit a written request for its removal from the site.
These terms are fairly standard, but we still recommend that you read any contract carefully — and contact us if you feel anything in ours is unclear or you have any questions.
During the submission process, you will be given the option to accept or decline the contract (and there is also an option to indicate that you are a minor needing a parent or guardian’s consent to enter into a contract). If you decline the contract as-is, we may, at our discretion, still consider your story and contact you to discuss what contract terms would need to be altered for you to enter into it, but please be aware that the burden of having to enter into contract negotiations could quite reasonably prejudice us against working with you.
Copyright always remains with the author.
Privacy Policy
During the submission process, we collect some personal information via the Submittable platform, including your email address and physical or snail mail address; we will never send you anything without your permission, nor will we publish or distribute that information to any third party, with one tiny exception — if you do not supply a bio to be included with your story, we will form the bio as follows, using the state or province and country as supplied in your address: “Author Name writes in State/Province, Country.” We really do prefer that you craft a custom bio for yourself, though.
