Submit a story… Sixth Element Publishing is looking for new, original, exciting, exhilarating, thought-provoking short stories in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, steampunk and horror.
For each volume of Harvey Duckman Presents that is published, in paperback and eBook, featured authors are offered a share in 50% net profit from sales of that volume, with – according to Sixth Element’s steadfast philosophy – all rights to the works remaining with the authors. Yes, we’re breaking the rules, and happily throwing them out of the window.
We want to give readers great stories and the chance to discover awesome new writers. And we want to give writers the chance to get their work published, share in the collaborative promotion of their work with other like-minded writers, and join a select (but growing) community of exciting genre authors who are doing it their own way.
We do have a code but really it’s more like a set of guidelines than actual rules:
1. No erotica. Sorry.
2. Young adult friendly please, although the occasional expletive and swear word is fine. As is dark content and tough themes, as all good YA should be. Although we’re not specifically looking for YA stories, some of the content may be, and we’d like each volume to be accessible to as wide an audience as possible.
3. Original, unpublished content only. If the story you’re thinking of submitting to us is in the public domain already (including Kindle, web publishing sites such as Royal Road and Wattpad, and small press), we’d rather look at something new and include links to your published work.
4. The genres we’re looking for are quite broad and we’re good with anything weird, quirky or anything that stretches the imagination and has a good punchline. If in doubt, just ask.
5. Story length – ideally around 3,000 words please, although we won’t necessarily refuse anything that is over this (up to 6,000 words) if it’s awesome enough.
6. Sixth Element retains full editorial control over the content to be published. Any changes will be discussed in full with the author and agreed before publication. We will only publish a story when both parties are happy.
7. Promotion – in addition to any promotional stuff Sixth Element carries out, authors included in Harvey volumes are encouraged to support each other and the series, whilst promoting their own work. The idea is for indie and new writers to reach a broader audience while having fun.
8. All writers must confirm that they are the creator and owner of the submitted work, and accept full liability for any claims to the contrary. Sixth Element cannot accept responsibly for any actions as a result of falsely submitted works and any subsequent legal costs associated with any such claims.
9. Costs – there are none. If your work is accepted, you will be offered a royalty deal (share of 50% net income with other writers in that volume). All rights to your story remain with you. Once it’s been published in Harvey, you are free to publish it elsewhere, and whilst we would appreciate an acknowledgement along the lines of ‘first published in Harvey Duckman Presents…’ we don’t demand it. We want to help. And, as we said, let’s have some fun.
IMPORTANT: Submission Guidelines
Please send stories in a Word document, Times New Roman font size 12, single line spacing, use double quotation marks for direct speech, indents rather than tabs, no headers or footers, no weird page breaks or section break graphics. We like our stories weird not our Word documents.
And to reiterate: Sixth Element retains full editorial control over the content to be published. Any changes will be discussed in full with the author, with tracked changes, and agreed before publication. We will only publish a story when both parties are happy. If changes cannot be agreed, then the offer of publication will be withdrawn and the story will not be published in Harvey Duckman.
If you like the sound of all this, please drop us a line or submit your story for consideration to: submissions@harveyduckman.com