Submission Guidelines

TL;DR:

  • Words: at most 4,000
  • Pay: $0.10 cents/word (possibly more, pending Kickstarter)
  • Format: Shunn-ish
  • AI: No thanks
  • Meme: Required to link in cover letter

Here’s what we’re looking for:

  • Speculative fiction stories (sci-fi, fantasy, or horror) that are at most 4,000 words long.
  • Stories by humans only—we are not interested in work written, developed, or assisted by generative AI, and use of genAI will result in a ban.
  • Only one submission per submission window.
  • We are open to flash and microfiction: if you have stories under 500 words, you can submit 3 in one file. Otherwise, only one story per submission, please.
  • We are open to translations, but stories must be 2000 words or less to fit our budget.
  • If you are under 18, a parent will have to sign off but you’re welcome to submit. 
  • We are looking for original, unpublished work only: this means it has never been online or in print, which includes on a personal blog, AO3, social media, or any other online platform. And we love and support it, but no fanfiction, please.
  • Please make sure your submission is as close to Shunn format as possible, and please don’t include your address. Using a pen name is fine.
  • Your story must reference, be informed by, be inspired by, or be appropriately titled after a meme. Memes may be image or text, cannot be AI-generated to the best of your knowledge, and must be verifiable. AITA posts count as memes. You will be asked to provide a link to your submission’s meme. For flash fiction submissions with multiple stories, please put additional links to memes in your cover letter.
  • 10 cents a word is our absolute lowest pay rate (with a minimum payment of $20). We ask for publication first rights, anthology reprint rights, and a 12-month exclusivity period. This means that if you want to republish your work on your own website or with another magazine a year after being published by Wyrmhole, you are welcome to do so.
  • Simultaneous submissions are ok. Please withdraw your submission if you’ve been accepted elsewhere.
  • Our commitment to you is that we will be transparent about timelines for submissions and whether your work has passed on to a second round or been accepted. Our goal is to have a turnaround time of one month maximum for a submission response.
    • Each issue is edited by a different EIC. The EIC is the final authority on which story will be selected for the issue. Our plan is for the editor of the associated issue to pick their story or stories from each submission period.
  • We want to see stories from writers of all backgrounds. Don’t self-reject!
  • If you have any additional questions, email editor@thewyrmhole.com.