Guidelines | Haunted Waters Press

SUBMISSIONS

2019 HWP Submissions Calendar & Submissions Guidelines

SUBMISSIONS

2019 HWP Submissions Calendar & Submissions Guidelines

Editor's Tip! No Fee Reading Periods are limited to 200 submissions per month. Submit early!

2019- 2020Submissions Calendar

Check back for updates and additional submission opportunities.
Thank you! We look forward to reading your work!

Tin Can Literary Review • NOVEMBER — AUGUST

Haunted Waters Press now seeking submissions for consideration in  Tin Can Literary Review—a debut fiction anthology celebrating the works of  new, emerging, and seasoned authors.

Works Considered	Open to all genres, themes, and writers for 2020 fourth-quarter print publication. We seek stories told in as little as 500 words and as many as 12,000. Include a single work of fiction per submission. Multiple and simultaneous submissions permitted. Works previously published online will be considered. With the exception of HWP publications, works must not have appeared in print.
Payment	Contributors to be paid $250 per published piece. Featured Author Interview showcased online at Haunted Waters Press.
Reading Period	Opens November 1 Closes August 31
The Details	$20 reading fee per submission Notifications to be sent as decisions are made or within 60 days of closing. Please review full guidelines below prior to submitting.

Submit

Haunted Waters Press Fiction Open • November — August

Haunted Waters Press now seeking works of fiction for consideration in the 2020 issue of From the Depths. All works accepted for print publication will receive payment plus online Featured Author Interview. One recipient of the 2020 Haunted Waters Press Award for Fiction will receive a $250 cash award, print publication in the 2020 issue of From the Depths, and a Featured Author Interview to appear alongside their work.

Works Considered	Open to all genres, themes, and writers. We seek fiction of 7500 words or less. Multiple and simultaneous submissions permitted. Previously published works permitted. All works considered for paid print publication. Works not accepted for From the Depths may be considered for other publications.
Payment	Print Publication: Selected works to be paid 1 to 4 US cents per word. Featured Author Interview showcased online at Haunted Waters Press. 2020 HWP Award for Fiction: $250 and publication in the 2019 issue of From the Depths. Featured Author Interview to accompany published work.
Reading Period	Opens November 15 Closes August 31
The Details	$10 reading fee per submission Notifications to be sent as decisions are made or within 30 days of closing. Please review full guidelines below prior to submitting.

Submit

Haunted Waters Press Poetry Open • November — August

Haunted Waters Press now seeking works of poetry for consideration in the 2020 issue of From the Depths. All works accepted for print publication will receive payment plus online Featured Author Interview. One recipient of the 2019 Haunted Waters Press Award for Poetry will receive a $250 cash award, print publication in the 2020 issue of From the Depths, and a Featured Author Interview to appear alongside their work.

Works Considered	Open to all genres, themes, and writers. We seek poetry of any length. Include up to three works per submission. Multiple and simultaneous submissions permitted. Previously published works permitted. All works considered for paid print publication. Works not accepted for From the Depths may be considered for other publications.
Payment	Print Publication: Selected works to be paid $20 per published piece. Featured Author Interview showcased online at Haunted Waters Press. 2020 HWP Award for Poetry: $250 and publication in the 2020 issue of From the Depths. Featured Author Interview to accompany published work.
Reading Period	Opens November 1 Closes August 31
The Details	$10 reading fee per submission Notifications to be sent as decisions are made or within 30 days of closing. Please review full guidelines below prior to submitting.

Submit

Haunted Waters Press Short Shorts Flash Fiction Open • November — August

Haunted Waters Press now seeking works of flash fiction for consideration in the 2020 issue of From the Depths. All works accepted for print publication will receive payment plus online Featured Author Interview. Include up to three works of flash fiction in a single submission. The recipient of the 2020 Haunted Waters Press Short Shorts Award for Flash Fiction will receive a $250 cash award, print publication in the 2019 issue of From the Depths, and a Featured Author Interview to appear alongside their work.

Works Considered	Open to all genres, themes, and writers. We seek flash fiction of 500 words or less. Include up to three works per submission. Multiple and simultaneous submissions permitted. Previously published works permitted. All works considered for paid print publication. Works not accepted for From the Depths may be considered for other publications.
Payment	Print Publication: Selected works to be paid $20 per published piece. Featured Author Interview showcased online at Haunted Waters Press. 2020 HWP Short Shorts Award for Flash Fiction: $250 and publication in the 2020 issue of From the Depths. Featured Author Interview to accompany published work.
Reading Period	Opens November 1 Closes August 31
The Details	$10 reading fee per submission Notifications to be sent as decisions are made or within 30 days of closing. Please review full guidelines below prior to submitting.

Submit

Expedited Decision • January — August

In order to continue offering no fee reading periods and to keep our digital editions free to read, we are placing the tip jar on the counter. If you feel inclined to make a small donation, please consider submitting via The Tip Jar. Your donation will be used for the care and feeding of From the Depths—a very hungry journal—and will help support the journal's continued operation and publication. With regards to the judging criteria, all submissions are treated equally, regardless of how they are submitted. However, to thank you for your kind donation, our editors will expedite the submission process and respond to the author within seven days. Works submitted via The Tip Jar are considered for online SPLASH! publication and the 2020 issue of From the Depths.

Works Considered	Open to all genres, themes, and writers. We seek fiction of 7,500 words or less, flash fiction, and poetry. Submit a single work of fiction or up to three works of poetry or flash fiction under 500 words. Multiple and simultaneous submissions permitted. Previously published works permitted. All works considered for HWP awards and publications.
Payment	Print Publication: Selected works of fiction to be paid 1 to 4 US cents per word and $20 for poetry. Online Publication: SPLASH! is a non paying venue. Works appearing in SPLASH! are eligible for future offers of paid print publication.
Reading Period	Opens January 1 Closes August 31
The Details	$15 reading fee per submission Expedited decision within seven days. Please review full guidelines below prior to submitting.

Submit

SPLASH! • February, May & September

Haunted Waters Press now seeking submissions for consideration in SPLASH!—the HWP online showcase for short fiction and poetry. SPLASH! is a nonpaying venue offering exposure via online publication and the HWP Contributor Showcase. Works appearing in SPLASH! enter the HWP Print Pool and are eligible for future offers of paid print publication.

Works Considered	Open to all genres, themes, and writers. We seek fiction of 3,000 words or less and poetry of any length. Submit a single work of fiction or poetry. One active submission per contributor. No simultaneous submissions. No previously published works.
Payment	SPLASH! is a nonpaying venue. Works appearing in SPLASH! are eligible for future offers of paid print publication.
Reading Periods	February, May & September Each reading period limited to 200 submissions. We suggest submitting early.
The Details	Free to submit. Notifications to be sent as decisions are made or within 60 days of closing. Please review full guidelines below prior to submitting.

Submit

Penny Fiction • December/January, March/April, June/July

Haunted Waters Press seeks exceptionally small works of flash fiction to be showcased in Penny Fiction, a regular feature of the literary journal, From the Depths. Stories will also appear in the Penny Fiction Poster Collection. Tell us a story in exactly 19 words—no more, no less. Extra points will be awarded for those writers who adhere to the guidelines. Not really. There are no points. Just read the guidelines below and impress Penny with your ability to follow instructions.

Works Considered	We seek flash fiction stories told in exactly 19 words—no more, no less. Original fiction only. No poetry, taglines, or jokes. Please include a title for each story submitted. One active Penny Fiction submission per author, per reading period. Multiple stories per submission encouraged. One is fine. Four is cool. Twenty is borderline obnoxious . . . we like obnoxious! No previously published works. Need inspiration? Follow Penny Fiction on Facebook for tips and prompts.
The Cover Letter	Include one interesting fact about yourself in 13 words or less. Undertakers and cat herders earn extra points. If we do not find you interesting, we reserve the right to make you appear more interesting. No long lists of previously published works. No cut ‘n paste author bios Confused? Check out The Lovely Penny bios from any past issue.
Payment	$3.00 per published piece. (That’s a professional rate of .15 cents per word . . . enough for a hot cup of coffee to sip on while you pen your next brilliant work of incredibly short fiction!)
Reading Period	Penny Fiction submissions are welcome in three reading periods: December/January, March/April, June/July, (Extended through August!) Submissions are limited to and close upon receipt of 200 submissions per month.
The Details	Free to submit. Notifications to be sent as decisions are made or within 60 days of closing. Please review full guidelines below prior to submitting.

Submit

Editor's Tip: Download an issue of From the Depths to get a feel for what floats our boat! Click here!

Jump in! The water is warm!The Guidelines

What we are looking for . . .
Our goal is to bring to our readers engaging fiction in the forms of poetry, prose poetry, short stories, and novellas. We welcome both the profound and the quirky. We are open to most styles and genres of fiction and enjoy all forms of poetry. While some selections are made available in electronic formats and traditional print, others will be offered as handbound originals and paper ephemera as we strive to celebrate the art of the book and letterpress printing. Our print studio consists of three presses including the Cooks Victor, the Baltimore #14 and a vintage sign press.

If you are new to Haunted Waters Press, we encourage you to explore our website to get to know us better. Here you will find news and information about our small press as well as links to recent publications. Downloading free copies of our latest issues will help you get a better feel for the kinds of work we tend to publish and the level of attention paid to each and every published piece. From the Depths features custom artwork inspired by our contributors’ works to create a cohesive collection of prose, poetry and art. It truly is a labor of love. We hope you enjoy what has been described as one of the most compelling and beautifully illustrated literary journals.

SPLASH! and the HWP Print Pool . . .
SPLASH!—the Haunted Waters Press online showcase for fiction and poetry—also features author interviews, news from the press, and creative non-fiction from our regular contributors. Works accepted for publication in SPLASH! are sourced primarily from our no fee reading periods. Up to four works per year may be selected for direct paid print publication. Occasionally, works submitted in other categories and contests may be offered online publication in lieu of print. These works automatically enter the HWP Print Pool making them eligible for future offers of paid print publication.

New in 2020 . . .
Tin Can Literary Review . . . more details to come!

Payment . . .
Haunted Waters Press is a paying market for print publications. We offer cash payments equivalent to semi-professional to professional rates. SPLASH! publication offers exposure only and eligibility for future offers of paid print publication. Please see individual listings for details. (All monetary payments are in US dollars processed via PayPal. Processing fees from foreign currency transactions may be deducted. If you do not have a PayPal account, you can set up a free account upon receipt of automatic payment notification from PayPal to the email address you supply.)

A word on our no fee reading periods, reading fees, and submission dates . . .
For online SPLASH! publication and Penny Fiction submissions, we offer alternating no fee reading periods from December though July. We review the first 200 submissions per month. We suggest submitting early. Reading and entry fees for other competitions and calls for submissions vary from free to a nominal reading fee. We at HWP never want financial hardship to silence a story that needs to be told. If you cannot afford a reading fee where one is required, please contact us for alternate arrangements. Publisher reserves the right to extend submission dates.

Multiple works/submissions . . .
Yes! Please see individual listings for details.

Simultaneous submissions . . .
Simultaneous submissions are welcome in most categories with the exception of our no fee reading periods and Penny Fiction. For your convenience, Expedited Decision submissions are reviewed within seven days. Please notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere. See individual listings for more details.

Formatting requirements . . .
We prefer an easy to read font, black type on white pages. Don’t fret over it too much.

If your work is accepted . . .
We will ask you to sign an Author’s Agreement granting HWP exclusive first worldwide publication print and/or electronic media rights. Haunted Waters Press holds these publishing rights for ninety days following publication and non-exclusive print and electronic rights for the full term of copyright. Copyright remains with the author. See author’s agreement for details. HWP will use reasonable efforts to contact each contributor, however, the inability to reach a contributor, the return of any notification as undeliverable, and/or a contributor’s failure to sign and return the required agreement may result in forfeiture of offer of publication and payment, and in the case of an award recipient, disqualification of winner, forfeiture of his or her interest in all cash awards and recognition, and selection of a substitute recipient from among all remaining eligible contributors. Yikes! We don’t want that to happen! PLEASE keep your contact information updated, check your email spam settings, and respond in a timely manner!

If your work is declined . . .
Just because something isn’t right for HWP, doesn’t mean it isn’t right for another market. In some cases, we simply feel the work would benefit from another publisher’s perspective. Let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you in your path to publication.

Ready to Submit? May the wind be at your back! Click here!