THE YES-YES LIST
Scifia is open to most subgenres. This includes hard scifi, political scifi, psychological scifi, sci-comedy, sci-horror, and sociological scifi. However, we are actively seeking submissions of the following kinds:
- Alien protagonist – Any story where the main character is an alien, particularly those told from the alien’s POV
- Alternate universe – Any story for which the many worlds theory has to be true within the universe of the story or any alternate history story which does not fall into a category on the NO-NO list (see below)
- Cyber – Any story where if someone asked you what subgenre your story fits into, you could easily fit a “cyber” into your description
- Elections – Alien elections, intergalactic elections, elections of military leaders, elections of humans to political office etc.
- Extinct creatures – Any science fiction story featuring an organism currently known or believed to be extinct
- GLBTQI – Any science fiction story featuring a main character who is gay, lesbian, transgendered, queer, intersex or otherwise possessed of a sexuality, sexual morphology, gender identity or gender expression which is not describable as “heterosexual,” “male,” “female,” “man,” or “woman” as traditionally misunderstood.
- Time travel – Yes, we want time travel stories. Believe it or not. But please no: grandfather paradoxes, “Time Patrol” rip-offs, or stories where the invention of time travel requires that time travel already exists
I WANT TO HELP THE HUMANS; HOW DO I SUBMIT?
If you have a great story that you think would be suitable for Scifia, click the "Submit to Scifia" button below. You will be taken directly to our submission form.
Do not include a bio or history of prior publication. Submissions will be evaluated on the basis of quality and marketability.
HOW CAN I MAXIMIZE MY CHANCES OF GETTING A STORY ACCEPTED?
When reviewing works of science fiction, our editor has two fundamental questions in mind:
- Is this an example of good writing in general?
- Is this story enhanced in a meaningful way by its science fiction element(s)?
If the answers to the above two questions are “yes,” the odds are that your story will eventually find a home in a publication. Whether that’s one of our publications will largely depend on whether your story fits our current needs.
THE NO-NO LIST
Please do not send:
- 2nd person POV stories
- American Civil War alternate history stories
- Any story featuring elves, fairies, gnomes etc. in a purely fantasy setting
- Any story featuring vampires of any kind in any setting
- Any story making more than passing reference to the “laws of robotics”
- Fan fiction of any kind
- FanboyZ in space!
- Grandfather paradoxes
- Poetry (unless you are Rimbaud or Bukowski)
- Pure horror
- Stories without a clear beginning, middle and end
This is not to say that such stories cannot make for innovative, exciting science fiction. It is to say that such stories would be better placed elsewhere.
HOW DO I GET PAID?
Authors will be paid $25 via PayPal upon acceptance, for any story of any length.
Royalty pay is on the following schedule:
An ISSUE is any collection of stories and/or articles packaged together for sale in any electronic or print format, with the exception of the Scifia website(s) and any Scifia related promotional materials.
For any author who submits an accepted story prior to September 1, 2012 a 30% royalty on net receipts for any Scifia ISSUE within which the accepted work appears will be split equally between authors contributing to that ISSUE. This royalty will be paid on a quarterly basis for twelve months following the first publication of said story in any ISSUE in which it appears.
If you are thinking about submitting a work that has not been previously published, keep in mind that most publications will not publish pieces that have been previously published in print, eBook, or on the web. After we publish your work, it can only be marketed as a reprint. This severely limits the number of markets that will accept it, and drastically reduces the pay rate it can receive. It is up to you, as an author who has likely worked many hours to produce your work, to decide if publishing your piece in ebook, epub, ibook, audiobook, podcast and/or webcomic format(s), and giving up your First Publishing Right for a mere $25 and your share of 30% of net receipts, is really what you want to do.
WHAT RESPONSE TIME SHOULD I EXPECT?
You should receive word regarding your submission within four weeks of sending your initial email. If you have not heard back in four weeks time, you should inquire at: submissions@scifia.com.
SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS AND PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED STORIES
Simultaneous submissions are discouraged. That said, we have no problem publishing a story that is going to appear in another publication or that has already done so. What we don’t want is the scenario where we suddenly find out that we cannot publish a story that you submitted and we accepted without incurring a large headache. Let us know immediately if a story you have submitted to Scifia has been accepted elsewhere.
RIGHTS
Upon acceptance of your submission, Scifia reserves the NONEXCLUSIVE right to publish your content for sale in any format, including but not limited to ebook, epub, ibook, audiobook, podcast and webcomic. You retain the right to do the same and to sell anyone else the NONEXCLUSIVE right to also publish your work. We do not even ask that you refrain from self-publishing your content during any period of time. (Courtesy link-backs, however, are always appreciated, where applicable.) Go ahead and sell yourself. We will sell you too.
Scifia will make no substantive alterations to your work’s text or title without your express approval.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries: submissions@scifia.com
For submissions: via submishmash
Website: http://www.scifia.com/
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