Submission Guidelines

We are generally open for submissions year ‘round. We may occasionally close to get caught up on the slush pile. We are currently open to submissions.

Publication in Flash Fiction Online counts toward the requirements for membership in the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA).

Please note that the SFWA requires three qualifying publications of at least $50 each that total $250 or more. Publications in Flash Fiction Online would need to be combined with other professional publications to meet this requirement.

Although the SFWA recognizes this magazine as a professional market, we frequently publish literary fiction and other genres. See below for more information about the type of stories we like.

We publish stories from 500 to 1,000 words in length. We look for previously unpublished material, with the exception of our Classic Flash selections. (Classic Flash stories are old: the copyright must have expired on them. If you would like to recommend one, please email the editor.)

They’re very short, but they are still stories. That means the best ones have strong, interesting characters, plots, and (to some extent, at least) settings. You can read more about this aspect of what we’re interested in here.

We’re not that concerned about genre. Many of us, including the editor, have a fondness for science fiction and fantasy, but great flash stories aren’t always easily classified. If you wrote it, and you love it, then submit it.

Second-person point of view has a hard time running our gauntlet. Some of us like it, some don't. You can submit it, but the odds of publication are lower than first- or third-person.

We want our publication to be accessible to a variety of ages—​my teenaged son reads it, for example—​so please, no erotica, porn, or graphic sex or violence. Think Law and Order: Special Victims Unit or Criminal Minds on TV: they handle horrific situations, but always obliquely enough to be shown on TV—​and for the most part, you never notice that the graphic elements aren’t shown. But sex is also a part of life: if your story addresses sexual issues or contains non-graphic sexual content for a purpose, nobody on the editorial staff will be offended if you send it in. The worst we can do is say “no”, right?

In the same way, we won’t publish profanity. However, you don’t need to remove profanity to submit to us; just be prepared to modify it if we accept the story.

We’re interested in good stories, but not “message” stories: If the point of your story is to espouse a particular viewpoint, and we feel like it’s beating us over the head, then it’s unlikely to get published regardless of what the message is. Of course, good fiction often contains messages. If you’re in doubt about whether we’d consider your story a message story, just submit it and we’ll figure it out.

An aside, speaking for myself, as editor: I have been taken to task for not defining our editorial policy with respect to particular types of characters, claiming that because of my worldview I wouldn’t publish certain types of stories. As long as the stories aren’t message stories (see above), I’ll consider them. After all, I don’t expect every character to have the same beliefs, lead the same lifestyle, or value the same things that I do.

An example (not the one that got me chewed out): I have strong opinions about whether the Second Amendment guarantees the individual right to keep and bear arms. I have rejected message stories that have espoused or rejected my view, but I would not automatically reject a story in which one of the characters rejected my view. Most good stories don’t have black-and-white treatments of complex or polarizing issues.

I won’t give more examples because it’s impossible to define every opinion I hold that might possibly color my opinions of a story. I also know of no mainstream publications that do so. If your story isn’t a message story, don’t worry about whether your characters live up to some ideal of mine. (Even I don’t live up to my own ideals, and my ideals have changed over time.) If you’re in doubt, query me or just submit it.

Meanwhile, let’s focus on the stories instead of the politics. Thank you.

We only publish stories consisting of 500-1,000 words. We know that writing flash is hard; authors can submit stories of up to 1,100 words. If we like the story, we’ll work with the author to cut the extra words. (If you submit a story of over 1,000 words, you’re giving Jake permission to cut it on his cutting blog, as a good exercise in writing concise prose, if it’s selected for publication.) If we can’t cut it to 1,000 words, we won’t publish the story.

Submissions with fewer than 500 or more than 1,100 words will be deleted unread and without acknowledgment.

At the moment, we only accept submissions by email. We accept Microsoft Word, rich text, and plain text attachments, as well as plain text in the body of an email.

Fonts, margins, and other formatting don’t matter and won’t be noticed, for better or for worse; your submission will be automatically reformatted upon opening. Only boldface, italics, and underlining will remain.

Please include contact information, either in your attached story or in your email. At a bare minimum we need your name and a phone number —​ sometimes email addresses change or our email may get caught in a spam filter.

We read every email we get, regardless of whether it’s exactly what we ask for or not; however, if you want to be nice to us, please do the following:

• Subject line: Include the title and your last name. I’m not picky, but if your name were “Freivald” and your story’s title were “Artichokes and Cavalcades”, then something like
  Freivald Submission: Artichokes and Cavalcades
  would be fine. I (Jake) often have to search through my email folders to find a particular submission, and having these in the subject line makes that easier. (No, I’ve never written a story with that title. Ten unredeemable points to the person who submits the first story based on that title. [UPDATE: Jeff Wenker sent me the first story based on the title on 6/5/2008. We’re figuring out what to do with it. He can redeem his ten points for, of course, absolutely nothing. Congratulations!])
• Email body: Include the genre of your work. This will change which readers get a first look at your story. You don’t want someone who dislikes Westerns to read your Western flash. It won’t get a fair shake. If you aren’t sure about your submission, please visit our genre classification page.
• Email body: Include significant qualifications if you like. They won’t necessarily make a difference, but I have to admit that as a reader I notice when someone says they’ve been published in Asimov’s, Glimmer Train, Woman’s Day, or another reputable publication, and as an editor of a fairly young Web zine I have my eye out for professional authors. New authors don’t suffer, though; before stories go to our staff readers, all identifying attributes are removed. Stories from new authors often get higher votes than stories from professionals. Read more about our reading process here.
• Attachment: Only put your name on the first page. This means no headers or footers, and no “running header” with your name on every page. Yes, this is a deviation from standard short-story manuscript formatting, and I apologize for any extra effort you put in; but since we read everything anonymously, and since my scripts don’t handle headers or footers well, it’s easiest for me if you only have your name on the first page. Standard headings on the first page is fine, and under the title on the first page is fine, too.

If you do all this, it’s really just gravy for me (Jake), the editor. That means that if these guidelines confuse you, or if you don’t have time, or if you don’t care, it’s nothing to get worried about. When in doubt, send it out. I’ll cope with what I get, and it really won’t affect the reading process at all.

We accept multiple submissions (more than one story from you to us). We do not want simultaneous submissions (a story sent to us and other publications at the same time). We do not accept previously published works, unless the copyright has expired (for our “Classic Flash” series).

Still reading? Send your stories to submissions@flashfictiononline.com. You will receive an autoresponse that will assure you that we’ve received it. If you do not receive the autoresponse within a few minutes, please send your submission to Jake’s alter ego’s email, oliverhouse@gmail.com.

Our response times currently range from 6-10 weeks.

To query, send an email to query@flashfictiononline.com.

A sample contract is here (PDF format).

We pay fifty dollars ($50) per story. This payment provides us with first electronic rights, including HTML, PDF, plain text, and MP3 (audio) formats. Distribution will be through this Web site and a variety of other electronic means —​ as of this writing, we expect podcast, email, and RSS. This only means that we can publish in those formats; once we publish in one format, the author can do what she wants. For example, if we publish in HTML only, and later the author wants to publish a PDF, she maintains that right. We still have the right to create a PDF ourselves, but we have no right to stop the author from republishing.

This payment also provides us with a non-exclusive one-time right to publish the stories in a hard copy anthology. No timelines have been identified for this project.

All other rights for the work remain with the author.