Submission Guidelines
HARDBOILED anthologies (1500 - 4500 words)
Provisional cover
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This is a paying gig so we want the best.
All accepted stories for this annual paperback and e-book will paid upon acceptance. If the stories are that good and fill up the annual and we got an overflow of stories, we may end up publishing Hardboiled every six months. We pay $25 per accepted story. A wait time of thirty days is required before inquiring with a ‘What the fuck happened to my submission!’ email. We’re looking for the same material as our e-zine, exciting, hard-hitting stories. We don't normally accept reprints but if it is good (and you hold the rights) feel free to contact us. |
Stories must have a minimum word count of 1500 words to a maximum of 4500.
Stories must have a beginning, middle and ending, so no novel excerpts.
Must have a Paypal account, so if you don’t have one, get one.
Please follow the guidelines FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY!!!
Stories must have a beginning, middle and ending, so no novel excerpts.
Must have a Paypal account, so if you don’t have one, get one.
Please follow the guidelines FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY!!!
e-ZINE (500 - 1500 words)
We’re always looking for Crime Fiction and old time Hardboiled Detective fiction for the e-zine.
We want exciting, hard-hitting work which has been proof read and has not been published elsewhere (unless you now hold the rights for it). Send your submissions to deadgunspress@gmail.com
All pieces are published for exposure only, though if you are willing to swap links we will link your site also.
We want exciting, hard-hitting work which has been proof read and has not been published elsewhere (unless you now hold the rights for it). Send your submissions to deadgunspress@gmail.com
All pieces are published for exposure only, though if you are willing to swap links we will link your site also.
the do's
Here’s what we’re looking for. Your story should bust jaws, hit in the feels, and bring back memories of the old days where women are vixens and cars are fast and rusty!
Crime stories can be set in America or anywhere else in the world. We're looking for guys and gals in Europe, the UK, and everywhere else to chip in a story or two.
Submit in .rtf or .doc only. A story in any other file format will be discarded.
Scene breaks should be marked with a centered ***
Double space.
Carefully proof read your subs for grammar and spelling before submitting.
Re-prints are only accepted if you now hold the rights. In your submission email we will need to know where and when it was originally published.
Only submit stories in Times New Roman or Georgia fonts.
THE DO NOTS (and the Reasons)
DO NOT add headers, footers, page numbers, weird characters, hidden fonts, images, spacings, or HTML.
NO stories with a political slant or rant – we ain’t into it and don’t give a shit - don’t send it…capish?
Don’t think of sending a fucking story that glamorizes child abuse with no point other than shock value. You do and we’re going to send an army of hitmen to your doorsteps. I got grandkids dig? Seriously, don’t waste our time.
NO stories with an extreme pornographic angle where the pages ooze sex juices. Most of this is utilized as page filler material and is a waste of time. Don’t need it, don’t want it, don’t send it.
NO reprints, trunk stories, or previously published material. Don’t try it.
NO confessional or true stories along the lines of ‘I was raped or molested’ even if it was by some celeb or politician. Go sell that line to the National Enquirer.
NO simultaneous submissions.
NO eyeball-busting fonts or font sizes. Think I lie? Try reading a script in Bernard Condensed. I had a sub like that and my eyeballs bled for a month afterwards! We will not read any script in any other font than Times New Roman or Georgia.
NO unnecessary gore or blood-spatter simply for shock value. Hey, we can sling blood-soaked letters and stories as well as the next guy, and in some cases, a hellava lot better. We want stories that have a beginning, a middle, and an end, with strong characters and plot-line. If it has blood, which we’re not opposed to, make it have a point.
If your submission has any of the above mentioned items, we’ll assume that you did not read our guidelines and do not want us to read your script. We’ll discard it post-haste with no response. We get tons of subs, we also work ungodly amount of hours at our other jobs, we do this thing at Dead Guns Press for the love of it and have no time to waste. So if you really want us to read your stuff, follow the guidelines.
Here at Dead Guns Press, we realize it’s your story and we have no desire to rip off your stuff, or pass it off to another guy, who knows a guy who would publish it for millions upon millions of bucks in the underworld of illegal publishing! But seriously, we act professionally, so we expect your submissions to be professional as well!
And Finally…
We try to give you feedback if your story is rejected, but this can’t be done in all cases. Sometimes, if we find the story appealing, we try to work with the author, but don’t expect this to be the case with every submission, which is why we implore you, proof read your submissions beforehand. Also, don’t shoot the editor. Sometimes rejections happen. It’s part of the business of being a writer. We don’t want to hear temper tantrums in a response email if we reject your story.
And finally, have fun with your story. The art of writing is a long, hard road and we here at Dead Guns Press value the writing profession. We hope that you will consider us for all your stories as we enjoy reading a good yarn.
ready to submit a story?
We would love to read your Hardboiled and Noir stories!
Email John and Marcus at deadgunspress@gmail.com