I’ve spent a couple of days this past week trolling through the interwebs looking for anthology open calls. I’ve seen some things, man. Let me tell you, though… up until today, I had no idea that “pay to publish my steamy romance story” was A Thing. Apparently, it is - to the tune of $50 - $200 per story paid "to “buy in” to an anthology.
Maybe that’s standard in the romance world? I don’t know. What I do know is that I have a strong belief in Yog’s Law, often quoted by Neil Gaiman, Larry Correia, John Scalzi, and innumerable other professional writers of all sorts:
Money flows toward the author.
There are exceptions. Contests often charge an entrance fee, for example; and things obviously get a whole lot more flexible when you start talking about self-publishing, where the author/publisher is the one hiring an editor, commissioning cover art, and the like. Those are the exceptions that prove the rule, though.
The goal at #TeamAndMore is to help you take the first step in your career as a professional author, and professionals get paid. So when it comes to anthologies with a “buy-in” requirement? Well, to paraphrase one of the greatest singers of the past generation, the one and only Meat Loaf… “We’d do anything to help you get published - but we won’t do that.”
Calls
The list of #TeamAndMore open calls has been updated with more than a dozen new entries. A few anthologies (SUNKISSED, Five Second Rule) have had their deadlines extended - so if they caught your eye previously, you may still have time to get your story polished up and submitted now.
Angelique Fawns has posted her list of open calls for May. We already have pointers to the anthologies on our page, but you may want to read Angelique’s insights for each market as well. Her list also includes non-anthology publishers you might want to consider querying.
We also maintain links to other sites that do their own lists of open calls. While #TeamAndMore focuses on anthologies, there are plenty of opportunities out there to submit to print magazines, e-zines, websites, and the like.
We’re always working on adding more as we find them, too. So if you know of an open anthology call that we have somehow missed, or you have a favorite site you use for finding open calls of any sort - please, let us know!
Contests
We’ve added links to a few new contests that might interest you. Each has no more than a minor entry fee and provides a real prize for the winner, including publication. So if any of these possibilities trip your trigger, go for it!
30 Apr - Baen - Baen Fantasy Adventure Award (theme: “It must be a work of fantasy, though all fantasy genres are open…”)
13 Jun - Grist - Imagine 2200 (theme: “Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors.”)
30 Jun - The Fairy Tale Magazine - Flash Fiction Contest (theme: “Any subject as long as it is within the fairy tale or folktale genres”)
Gallimaufry
Authors Publish magazine always has something new and interesting. Check out their article, “8 Writing Opportunities/Fellowships” to see what opportunities are out there for you. Or you might enjoy their compilation of “45 Writers’ ‘Rules for Writing’” which features advice from the likes of Gaiman, Kerouac, Moorcock, Steinbeck, C. S. Lewis… AND MORE!