Deadline: January 15th, 2026
Payment: $25
Theme: New Year’s Apocalyptic stories (particularly the apocalyptic fears that defined the transition into the current millennium)!
Do you want to improve your chance of acceptance? If your work is accepted, do you want it (and you along with it) to receive special promotion and be part of an exclusive, themed Exhibit? Do you want to show off your awesome, versatile talent?
Respond to a Horrific Scribes Submissions Challenge!
Stories submitted to qualify for Phase Two of this challenge should relate to the idea that the new year brings with it an/the apocalypse. We’re particularly interested in the apocalyptic fears that defined the transition into the current millennium, but we’re open to other ideas for our Exhibit of apocalyptic horrors in January. Submit stories for Phase Two no later than January 15.
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We are currently accepting submissions ONLY for Horrific Scribes. We are NOT yet accepting submissions for standalone publications such as novellas and novels (please see our plan for such things).
That said, Horrific Scribes is open for submissions!
Horrific Scribes is an expanding online archive of dark short fiction (and some poetry) by various authors who share the Horrific Scribblings imprint’s dedication to the provocative, scary, and strange. The best way to know if your work fits with the archive is to read what we’ve got, which you can do for free, so take a look!
We want dark, transgressive fiction, mostly horror (all subgenres, bloodless to extreme, nothing off limits as long as you really have a good story not driven by hate, e.g. racism, homophobia, etc.) but also the horror-adjacent, e.g. dark fantasy, dark sci-fi, and surreal and experimental work with dark edges. However you’d classify it, it should be unconventional, challenging, and worth thinking about.
While we are always open to general submissions that fit the description above and the criteria below, we’re usually running a submissions challenge, and if you accept the challenge, we dangle the potential for (very modest) rewards. But back to basics…
To get the sticky part out of the way, we pay $25 for an accepted submission. One of publisher Horrific Scribblings’s goals (described in the plan) is to start publishing anthologies that pay a proper $.08/word. We’ll sell those and hopefully make lots of money, but Horrific Scribes is free to readers and doesn’t sell ads. That means it creates debt, not income. We’re all getting paid at least partially in exposure. So, for now, it’s $25 for an accepted submission. You’re certainly worth more!
So, how do you submit?
Submit through Google Forms at this address: https://forms.gle/nrqoWsY1iY3dZphq8
The form will prompt you for the information we need and provide a place to upload your submission, which should be in .doc or .docx file format.
What should be in your submission file? An original (no reprints, no AI), well-polished short story that fits the above description. Stories may range from 1,500 to 5,000 words. Pay is the same regardless of length. Some wiggle room is allowed, but stories significantly outside the stated length range may not get a full reading.
Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please let us know if your submission is accepted elsewhere. Multiple submissions are not okay: one submission per author at a time, please.
You may include a small group of short poems or a couple of mid-length poems in a single submission. Prose fiction is what Horrific Scribes emphasizes, but good dark poetry is good dark poetry.
What are your chances? Since we started in February 2025, we’ve averaged an 8% acceptance rate. We’ve received more than a thousand submissions from all over the world, and we simply can’t accept all the ones we love.
When will you hear back? During our first open submissions period, our response time ranged from two weeks to about six weeks when we were most behind. Since we reopened, we have averaged two to three weeks for responses. We include updates on submissions progress in our newsletter (sign up on this site!). Also watch our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/horrificscribblings
We don’t typically offer feedback on submissions. Again, Horrific Scribes doesn’t make money, so hiring the staff to provide the work hours for writing feedback is unrealistic. Sorry.
Submissions will stay open unless/until we’re overwhelmed and unable to respond in a timely manner.
Having trouble submitting or submission-specific questions? Please write to [email protected]
Want to know more about how we evaluate submissions? See how we score.
Via: Horrific Scribblings.
