Question for submitting flash fiction.

ALG71 · Aug 30, 2007

Hi everyone. I've never submitted a single piece of writing before. No MS queries yet, no short stories or flash, nothing. I was hoping someone could answer a couple questions with regards to flash fiction please.

1. I see that most of the websites in the market index here in the Sudden Fiction forum accept email submissions for flash. If their website doesn't have specific formatting guidelines, do you just use normal MS formatting rules?

2. Also, I know it's best when submitting MS queries that you should do it in batches of 5 or 10 so. Is the same true for submitting flash fiction? With so many websites in the database accepting flash by email, it'd be possible to submit to all of them in a day. But I didn't want to do that if it's not a good idea.

Thank you.

Cath · Aug 30, 2007

No, I only submit to one market at a time. Most magazines/ezines aren't going to thank you for simultaneously submitting a story anyway - it's a waste of their time to read it and do all the admin only to find you've sold it somewhere else.

As for the formatting, check the guidelines, if they're not specific, I adopt what seems to be the standard format for email subs - 12 point courier, single spaced, with a blank line between paragraphs - if (and only if) the story is within the body of the email. If it's an attachment, yes, format as for a standard manuscript.

So far no-one's rejected me for my formatting...

ALG71 · Aug 30, 2007

Thank you. 8).

dobiwon · Aug 30, 2007

I'll echo what Cath said: I don't submit the same thing to multiple magazines/ezines, even if they say in their guidelines that it's okay. If you want to submit to five zines at the same time, write 5 stories.

The only thing I'll add about formatting for email submissions is that if you are putting it in the body of the email, don't forget to save it as "Text Only" if you're going to copy and paste. And send a sample email to yourself first to make sure it doesn't get screwed up in the process. I've noticed especially that line breaks get messed up if you save as "Text Only (with line breaks)". Of course, these are the options with Word; if you use another program there might be other problems, but it's safest to check.

Good luck!

ALG71 · Aug 30, 2007

Thanks Dobiwon and Cath. .rtf is Rich Text File I assume. When I go to attach the file though it says "All files" in the file format from my folder. That includes .rtf?

Thanks again.

Deirdre · Aug 31, 2007

Speaking as a fiction editor that accepts flash subs: please put it in the body of the email (if that is an option permitted by guidelines).

Why?

An RTF or DOC file for a flash piece can be bigger than you think. No joke. Mailbox size quotas suck.

From da queue:
490 words, 41k (rtf)
973 words, 11k (inline text)
494 words, 30k (doc)

A 10k word doc file may only be 7 times the size.

Last thing you want is an editor who feels they've got to hurry because the mailbox is nearly full and the reading period isn't quite over.

Plus, there's all the files one then needs to keep track of.

Thanks, but no. I'd rather read it in the body of the email. What Cath said about formatting.

Stijn Hommes · Aug 31, 2007

If you still want to do simultaneous submissions, make sure you mention they are simultaneous in the email.

And naturally, if you're gonna do batches don't do more than 4-5 at a time. If you happen to get rejected, but get useful feedback, you want to be able to use it in your next batch, which you can't do if you submitted to all of them on your first go.

ALG71 · Aug 31, 2007

Ok. Thank you Deidre and Stijn. I'll stick with 1 at a time.

padnar · Mar 7, 2008

I am going to try hand at it and hope
for some success.
Presently I am getting a very small income thanks to
Ground Report. I hope some magazies accept India
English Writer stories . If anybody has any idea pl write
padma

Question for submitting flash fiction.

ALG71

Defanged Hellraiser

Cath

The mean one

ALG71

Defanged Hellraiser

dobiwon

Planning to retire for the 5th time

ALG71

Defanged Hellraiser

Deirdre

practical experience, FTW

Stijn Hommes

Know what you write...

ALG71

Defanged Hellraiser

padnar