Short Story Submissions
Submissions are now open. Submissions window will be open through December 31, 2024.
Balance of Seven is seeking unique short stories to update two of our existing anthologies:
- Winter Whimsy
- Dragons Within: Guarding Her Own
Accepted submissions will undergo two rounds of editing: one round of developmental editing and one round of copy editing. Authors of accepted submissions will be paid $5.00 per story and will be able to purchase copies of the anthology they are published in at 50% of the retail price.
Editorial Guidelines for Winter Whimsy
- Audience: Middle-Grade Readers (ages 8–12) and up
- Genre: Winter-Themed Speculative Fiction
- Word Count Limit: up to 7,000 words
- Explore the whimsical in a winter setting. Interpret this as you will! It can be the whimsy of childhood or the whimsy of an older generation rediscovering its youth. It can be the whimsy of discovery: of magical creatures, of aliens, of new worlds or technologies—of anything not of this world. Stretch your imagination and explore!
Editorial Guidelines for Dragons Within: Guarding Her Own
- Audience: Adult Readers
- Genre: Speculative Fiction
- Word Count Limit: up to 5,000 words
- The Dragons Within short story anthology collection centers around strong women bearing at least one distinctive personality trait that can be attributed to dragons. Examples include, but are not limited to, fiery tempers, wisdom, obsession with a collection of some kind (i.e., their hoard), protectiveness, and intelligence. As long as the personality trait can logically be attributed to some type of dragon, it will be considered appropriate.
- This theme does not limit the inclusion of other aspects of dragons, including magic or appearance, or even the inclusion of actual dragons within the story. However, we strongly prefer that a submitted story’s featured strong female character be humanoid (at least in her main form) for it to be included in this anthology.
- Dragon Within: Guarding Her Own specifically focuses on women using their power to protect others, especially those they love (e.g., family and friends).
What We Are Not Looking For
- Heavy romance and erotica genres
- Fanfiction
- Excessive and pointless violence, sex, and swearing—content that pushes the envelope should be necessary to the plot
- First drafts that have not gone through rewrites/polishing
- Authors who are not open to critique and edits that are meant to help them and their story
Submission Guidelines
Send an email to: submissions (at) balanceofseven (dot) com
Mark the subject line: SUBMISSION FOR (anthology acronym [WW/DWGHO]): (title of your story)
Attach the following as a Word document:
- Cover page
- Name
- Pen name
- Email address
- Anthology name
- Short story title
- Word count
- Approximate genre
- Short Story
Format:
- 12 pt. Times New Roman, double-spaced
- Standard Manuscript Format (see https://www.shunn.net/format/story.html for example)
- Italics as italics (not underlined)
DO NOT copy/paste your file into an email as inline text. Attach your file to the email.
Authors should expect to hear back within 6–8 weeks of submitting their work.