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Short Fiction Submission Requirements

Every quarter, we accept a selection of short fiction pieces that we feel fit our themes and readership well. We enjoy fantasy stories with clever hooks, strong characters, and interesting takes on our issue’s themes. The best way to get a sense of what will be a good fit is to check out our earlier issues!

 

Please read the requirements below carefully before submitting. Any submissions received that do not conform to these requirements may be deleted. Please note that by sending your submission, you agree to the publication terms below.

 

We accept submissions of EXCLUSIVE, original short fiction (poetry or prose) from self-published, hybrid and unpublished authors. Any submissions must be EXCLUSIVE for a limited time (more on this in the Terms of Publication below). Submissions must be in the fantasy genre, in English, no longer than 7,500 words, and must fit within at least one of the themes of the relevant issue (for example, the themes for Issue 14 are Wishes and Wizards).

 

We do not accept submissions authored by or with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

We do not accept erotica or gore.

We do not accept submissions from or on behalf of minors.

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BEFORE YOU SUBMIT, please:

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  • Make sure your work is not published elsewhere. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere as soon as possible so that we can remove your piece from our reading pile.

  • Make sure that your work is as polished as possible; we do not accept stories that are in need of substantial editing.​

  • Formatting: Any readable standard manuscript format is fine, but our formatting preferences are:

    • Times New Roman, 12pt, double-spaced;

    • quotation marks (") rather than inverted commas (') for speech – this is our house style;

    • numbered pages;

    • the title of the story, word count, author's name, and email address on the title page;

    • no font variations. We cannot accept submissions with footnotes, coloured text, bespoke layout, images or varied fonts, so please remove these from your work. Italics and capitalised text are fine, but please use only one font type and one font size in your submission.

 

TO SUBMIT your short fiction, please email us at indiebitesanthology[at]gmail[dot]com using the subject line SUBMISSION: [Title] by [your name]. Please include the following in your email:​

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  • the work you are submitting, attached as a Word document;

  • the name of the issue you are submitting for and a short description of why your work is appropriate for the themes of that issue;

  • a short bio (no more than a few sentences);

  • a two-sentence description of the book you'd like to promote in the anthology and a link to its purchase page (if you do not have a book to promote, please provide your website/social media link);

  • copy and paste this statement into the body of your email: 'I confirm that I did not use AI or machine-learning tools to create any part of this submission, and this submission is my own human creation. I have read and agree to the Terms of Publication on your website.'; and​

  • add any appropriate content warnings in your cover email AND at the top of your document. Some subjects that warnings would be appropriate for include sexual violence, violence towards children or animals, issues with pregnancy/childbirth, and abusive relationships, but this is not an exhaustive list; please use your judgement and err on the side of caution. We are happy to read and accept submissions with dark content, but content warnings are important to allow us to protect both our team and our readers. We reserve the right to reject pieces that have inadequate content warnings. Please be aware the team are cat lovers and violence towards cats will be a very hard sell!

Terms of Publication for Authors

By submitting short fiction to Indie Bites, you agree that the following terms will apply if your submission is accepted:

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  • You give Indie Bites permission to publish your submission in digital and print format in our anthology, and to use snippets of your submission in our marketing material, until that permission is withdrawn as described below.​

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  • Your submission will, if accepted, be EXCLUSIVE to Indie Bites (i.e. you will not make it available elsewhere, free or otherwise) from the time of submission until three months after the date of publication. After that, you may publish it elsewhere, but please note that back issues of Indie Bites will be available until permissions are withdrawn as described below, so you will not be able to publish your submission with a publishing service that requires exclusivity, like Amazon's KDP Select, until those permissions are withdrawn. If you have previously published your submission (whether through a self-publishing platform or on your own blog) then you must ensure it is not in publication during the period in which it is exclusive to Indie Bites.

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  • After two years have passed since the publication of your submission in an issue of Indie Bites, you can withdraw the permissions you have given us. You might wish to do this in order to publish your submission via KDP Select or another publisher that requires exclusivity. To withdraw those permissions, please give three months' notice by email to the anthology editor at indiebitesanthology[at]gmail[dot]com stating your name, the name of your submission and the issue in which it was published. Assuming that the relevant issue has already been in publication for at least two years, we will then do all or some of the following (in each case at your option):

    • arrange for the print edition to be taken out of print; and

    • amend the digital copy of the issue to remove your submission from it (you will still be listed as a former contributor to that issue).

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  • You confirm that your submission is not published elsewhere. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please keep us updated about the publication status of your work because we will not publish work that appears in another publication during our three-month exclusivity period (see above).

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  • You confirm that your submission is your own original work, that its submission to or publication by Indie Bites will not contravene any third party’s rights (including intellectual property rights, right of privacy or confidentiality, or rights in contract), and that it will not contain any content which is defamatory or otherwise unlawful in any way. If Indie Bites is threatened with or subject to any third party claim arising from the submission or publication of your work, you will indemnify Indie Bites against all costs or damages arising from that claim.

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  • You will receive an honorarium of £5 for each piece of yours that we publish, but you acknowledge that you are not entitled to any royalties from sales of Indie Bites. While we hope that the inclusion of your work in Indie Bites will increase your sales, we cannot guarantee any particular sales increase resulting from its inclusion.

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  • These terms, and any claim in connection with their subject matter, will be governed by the laws of England and Wales and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

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If your submission is not accepted, then you don't grant us any rights to your work and we won't make any use of it.

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