FAMILY MATTERS guidelines
We are looking for stories about families of all configurations.
It’s fine to draw heavily on real life experiences, but the work must read like fiction
and all stories accepted for publication will be presented as fiction.*Maximum word count: 12,000. Any shorter lengths are welcome.
Held just twice a year: Open to submissions in APRIL and OCTOBER.
Next deadline: October 31.**
Winners and finalists will be officially announced in the July 1 and January 1 bulletins, respectively, and will be contacted directly one week earlier.
Reading fee: $15 per story. Please no more than three submissions per contest.
Prizes:
- 1st place wins $1,500, publication in Glimmer Train Stories, and 20 copies of that issue.
- 2nd place wins $500 (or, if accepted for publication, $700 and 10 copies).
- 3rd place wins $300 (or, if accepted for publication, $700 and 10 copies).
Please make your submissions at Glimmer Train's online submission site. We look forward to reading your work!
* Remember that sticking too tightly to "fact" can limit the larger truth that fiction is able to reveal. Give your story the leeway it needs in order to find its own life. And, if your story is closely related to your actual experience, it is wise to change details that would allow the real-life people to say, Hey, that's me!
** There is always a one-week grace period.
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Glimmer Train welcomes the work of established and upcoming writers. We especially appreciate stories that are both well written and emotionally engaging. Please let us read yours! If it is chosen for publication in Glimmer Train Stories, you will be paid upon acceptance. Your story will be prepared with care, and presented in a handsome, highly regarded literary journal to readers all over the world. If you've seen Glimmer Train Stories, you know that we go to some lengths to honor our contributors and their writing. Every category will be open for one full calendar month, from the first day through midnight of the last day. (Exception: The December Fiction Open closes on January 2nd each year.)
Please note: There are no minimum word counts for any category besides the Fiction Open. As always:Submissions must be original, unpublished fiction. (Online publication does not disqualify a piece.) • Please, no novels, poetry, or stories written for children. • Submissions should be made via our site, but in a pinch you can make paper submissions. • Submissions can be single or double spaced; 10 - 12 point font preferred. Name, contact info, and word count are all optional when you make your submission online; please include that info at the top of the first page of your submission if you use snail mail. • When we accept a story for publication, we are purchasing first-publication rights. (Once we've published your story, you are free to, for instance, include it in your own collection.) • Competition submissions are also automatically considered for standard publication. • It's fine to submit a previously submitted story (revised or not) to any category for which it qualifies. • We're happy to consider stories whether they're submitted as competition entries or standard submissions, for which there are no reading fees. Standard or competition? How to decide • Simultaneous submissions are fine; we ask that you email us immediately please should a submitted piece be accepted elsewhere. • Response times for all competitions have been shortened so your stories won't be tied up for more than two months after the close of any category. Competition winners are posted here and are announced in our monthly bulletins. • Please put autonotify@glimmertrainpress.com and noreply@mail.glimmertrainpress.com on your safe-senders list so we can reach you, and keep us advised of email address changes by clicking on Contact Preferences once you're logged in at the site. (We never share your contact info.)
Every story we publish is unsolicited, and 86% of the stories we accepted last year came to us directly from the writer. That's exactly how we like it.One of the most respected short-story journals in print, Glimmer Train Stories is represented in recent editions of the Pushcart Prize, New Stories from the Midwest, O.Henry, New Stories from the South, Best of the West, and Best American Short Stories anthologies. Glimmer Train Press, 4763 SW Maplewood, PO Box 80430, Portland, OR 97280-1430 USA |