Submission Guidelines

The following submission guidelines have been designed to establish a smooth, efficient submission, evaluation, and publication of high-quality Southern Gothic art and literature, in a variety of media.

We ask that you keep in mind that these guidelines are continually evolving and will be updated as the need arises. Please refer to them, each time you submit work to us.

How To Submit

At the moment, we’re only accepting story submissions sent as Microsoft Word documents attached to emails, which can be sent to sgcinquiries@gmail.com. You must include the following statement in the email: “I, ___your name___, own the rights to the submitted ___type of work___, ___title of work___, and authorize its use by Southern Gothic Creations. This helps us keep track of all of the submissions as efficiently as possible. Please do not send us anything via email or U.S. Mail.

For submission of artwork, photos, or videos, please email us for details.

What We’re Looking For

Not sure what to submit? The following points may clarify things for you:

  • superhero, fantasy, science fiction, and horror literature explores various issues
  • superhero, fantasy, science fiction, and horror stories often take place in a fictional world or one with fantastical elements

Finally, you might also want to review the works of well-known superhero, fantasy, science fiction, and horror authors.

Although we do not generally specify a theme for your work, we do not accept submissions that advocate for or against a religious, social or political cause or position.

We do not accept submissions that include nudity or that depict sex acts.

Deadline For Submissions

Unless otherwise indicated (as in the case of a contest), we do not have any set deadlines for submitting work. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified as to the approximate date that your work will be published.

International Submissions

Although we’re based in the United States, we accept submissions from creators from all over the English-speaking world.

Rights

It is our hope that the talented individuals whose work is showcased on our sites and social media accounts will realize as much exposure as possible for their work. Consequently, we do not normally require that we be granted exclusive rights to a particular submission.

We do, however, require that, as part of the submission process, you affirm that you are either the author of the submitted work or that you own the rights to submit said work.

Word Count/Submission Parameters

We will consider submissions of the following length:

  • short stories – 1,000-7,500 words
  • poems – 3 pages, doubles-spaced in length; please do not send anything longer than this.
  • photographs – maximum of 10 photos
  • audio – maximum of five minutes in length
  • video – maximum of three minutes in length

Format

Submissions of written work should be in the form of a Microsoft Word-compatible document, typed in 12 pt. sans serif font, double-spaced, and with a 1” margin on all sides.

Photographs should be submitted in either JPEG, JPG, or PNG formats.

Audio files should be provided in MP3 format.

Video files should be in MP4 format.

Payments

As of startup, we are not in a position to pay for any work that we publish, other than in the case of a contest for which there is an entry fee.

Instead, we focus on providing the best possible exposure opportunity for a particular work.

In the cases where we do need to pay a contributor, we shall do so either by check or via PayPal funds transfer.

Submission Fees

Unless otherwise indicated (e.g. a contest for which there is a cash prize), we do not charge a submission fee. In instances where there is a submission fee, individuals will be instructed as to how payments may be made.

Multiple and Simultaneous Submissions

It’s fine to send us more than one submission at a time. Please don’t send more than three short stories or poems, two groups of photos, two songs or two videos.

We do understand if you want to submit to more than one website/publication at a time. However, please let us know if a story you’ve submitted to us has been accepted elsewhere!

Our Response Times

We aim to reply to all submissions within two weeks, although we will sometimes go slightly over this during busy periods or holidays.

If you’re waiting for a reply from us, please keep an eye on your junk mail folder, as our replies do sometimes make their way there. If you submitted more than three weeks ago, and have not heard back from us, please check your junk mail folder again. If there’s nothing there, email us at submissions@southerngothiccreations.com. It would be very helpful if you could include as much info as possible about your submission.