— Revised March, 2005
EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 1, 2003, WE WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT LAND MAIL SUBMISSIONS
These are the guidelines we will use to judge your work.
Ignore them at your peril!
About flashquake
flashquake is an independent, quarterly, web-based publication that focuses on works of flash fiction, flash nonfiction (memoirs, essays, creative nonfiction, humor) and short poetry.
We aim to make flashquake a top quality paying venue for literary writers, and we award stipends to all chosen contributors in each category. We reserve the right to withhold some or all of the stipends to be awarded depending on the quality of the work submitted.
flashquake defines "flash" as fiction and nonfiction of less than 1000 words in length. However, we admire brevity and will receive shorter works favorably. For poetry, our maximum limit is 35 lines per poem. We have no specific guidelines for prose poetry; it must be under our 1000 word limit.
We accept submissions in each of four categories:
- Flash fiction
- Flash nonfiction (memoirs, essays, creative nonfiction, humor)
- Poetry
- Artwork
We're open to almost any type of writing within those categories, and specifically, we're looking for original work with fresh ideas and strong, clean, concise writing. We will consider reprints of previously published work, as long as the author has retained all rights. We want to see pieces that readers will think about after they've finished reading them.
NOTE: We would prefer not to see romance stories, work with excessive gore or violence, "goth" vampire tales, hard-core science fiction, or work of a religious nature.
flashquake seeks the following permissions from its authors and artists:
Permission to include your submission in the issue of flashquake for which it was submitted, including any future CD and/or audio versions produced;
Permission to include your submission in flashquake's online archives after publication;
Permission to include your submission in the CD version of flashquake awarded to contributors; and
Permission to include your submission in any future flashquake CD and/or print anthology.
River Road Studios is the parent company of flashquake.org and retains the copyright on the publication as a whole (name, design, configuration, etc.). Individual artists retain the rights to their own work.
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE/READING PERIODS
We accept electronic submissions ONLY during the reading periods specified below.
Spring Issue - to be published March 1, 2005
- Submissions accepted December 1, 2004 to February 1, 2005
- Contributor Notification Deadline - February 15, 2005
Summer Issue - to be published June 1, 2005
- Submissions accepted March 1 to May 1, 2005
- Contributor Notification Deadline - May 15, 2005
Fall Issue - to be published September 1, 2005 — Our Fourth Anniversary Issue
- Submissions accepted June 1 to August 1, 2005
- Contributor Notification Deadline - August 15, 2005
Winter Issue - to be published December 1, 2005
- Submissions accepted September 1 to November 1, 2005
- Contributor Notification Deadline - November 15, 2005
Spring Issue - to be published March 1, 2006
- Submissions accepted December 1, 2004 to February 1, 2006
- Contributor Notification Deadline - February 15, 2006
HOW TO SUBMIT
PROOF YOUR WORK THOROUGHLY! Typographical and grammatical errors distract the reader. Such errors may disqualify your submission, and will certainly make a less than favorable impression on our editors. WE MAY INSTANTLY REJECT ANY SUBMISSION CONTAINING MULTIPLE SPELLING OR GRAMMAR ERRORS.
We do accept simultaneous submissions. Please be sure to tell us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
WE DO NOT ACCEPT MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS
We do not accept multiple submissions. Submissions are restricted to one piece of work per author/artist in any single category per reading period. This means that one writer could send us one short story, one memoir and one poem in the same reading period, and that we would consider all three pieces. However, if one writer sent us two short stories, we would only accept the first one received.
Further, if your submission is rejected or withdrawn, you may not resubmit it, or any other work in the same category until the next reading period.
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS:
If you are new to electronic submissions, please read our Notes on Preparing Your Work.
Make sure that you include the following information in your submission:
- Name
- E-mail address
- Address
- Title of your work
- The category in which you are submitting
- A short (100 words maximum) biography written in third person
- Whether the piece has been previously published and if so, where
Paste your submission into a PLAIN TEXT e-mail message addressed to submit@flashquake.org.
WE WILL NOT OPEN ATTACHMENTS TO E-MAIL!
Label your message with the category in which you're submitting and the title of your work (e.g., Fiction Submission: My Story Title).
Be sure to use a standard font, such as Courier. Separate your paragraphs with a blank line.
Check and double-check your message before hitting the Send key.
SUBMISSION NOTIFICATION
Writers submitting work for publication will be notified via e-mail about the status of their submissions within one week of the publication date, or sooner if possible.
flashquake uses a two-stage reviewing process. Our editors are working in three teams of two editors each. Each submission is assigned to one of these teams. If one editor votes "yes" or both editors vote "maybe," the submission will advance to be reviewed by the other four editors.
When we notify you about our decision on your submission, we provide feedback from our reviewers (comments from 2-6 editors) about work considered so that writers will know why we've accepted or rejected a particular piece. These are not in-depth critiques, but subjective comments from our editors and may not be positive in nature. The comments returned from our editors are unvarnished and have offended some who receive them.
Reviewers' comments about the work will automatically be forwarded along with your notification. The majority of feedback we've received about supplying our editors' comments has been overwhelmingly positive. However, if you are apprehensive about receiving honest comments about your work, please indicate on your submission that you would prefer not to see the comments.
PAYMENT OF STIPENDS
Submissions in each writing category will be judged by our editors, whose decisions are final. All published authors will receive payments ranging from $5 - $25, which will accompany the contributor's CD copy of the issue, within two weeks of publication (delivery to non-U.S. contributors may require longer than two weeks). The actual amount to be paid will be decided by our editors' ranking of the work. All authors and artists whose work is accepted for publication will receive a CD version of the issue in which their work was published.