Writer's Guidelines
General Writer’s Guidelines (not regarding competition):
1. All of the short stories that appear in the Wildwood Reader have been
selected from unsolicited manuscripts. That said, we are interested in
short fiction that addresses social, political, economic, theological,
community, or life in general (to mention a few) from a progressive and
open healthy perspective. Length of stories should generally be
1,500 to 5,000 words.
2. Send stories to the attention of the publisher at the address below
or by e-mail to publisher (at) wildwoodreader.com. Our preference is for
writers to send manuscripts as an attached formatted text document or a
Microsoft Word document. Do NOT send PDF files.
3. At some point - not now, each issue may also feature book reviews
about wholesome subject matter. The length will vary from about
150 to 250 words and will be subject to editing for length. Send these
reviews to the
attention of the Book Watch editor at the same email address. The
subject matter line should be clearly
marked with "Review - " prior to the book
title
4. We also encourage writers (or readers) to send in unpublished essays.
Send these to the attention of the publisher as well. We look for essays
inspired by life stories perspective on
lifestyles issues, or that reflect simple celebrations of life and beauty.
We are also interested in essaya geared toward particular seasons of a person's life
(childhood, school, teenagers, couples, etc.) or significant cultural
celebrations or events (Cinco de Mayo, the running of the bulls, etc.,
Kwanza, bar or bat mitzva, quinces, sweet 16). As
part of our plans, we want to publish photography monographs that will
have theme related essays for each photograph. Stay tuned for more news
about this project. If you want
to help, perhaps you know of a few photographers that
want to split the cost of production. Drop the publisher a note for more information.
5. Unsolicited mailed in are discouraged for a number of reasons
one of which we're 99% digital. Mailed-in submissions should be accompanied by a self-addressed envelope with the
correct return postage. We attempt to respond as quickly as possible,
but reading paper manuscripts sometimes takes up to eight weeks. We
appreciate your patience while we review. If we like your work, we may ask to hold it
for possible publication in a future issue. All submissions
should have a cover letter with the writer's name, return address, title
of story, page count (as 1 of 8) and email address.
6. Please include a two - or three - sentence bio with your manuscript or cover letter, along with your physical address, telephone number, and preferred e-mail address. We would also like (but will not publish unless requested) your year of birth. In order to market your work we need your facebook address, twitter address and website address. If all the social media addresses are unavailable, please indicate none for that social media's URL. We encourage all writers to establish social media accounts for their own marketing benefit as well as to help market The Wildwood Reader.
7. We reserve the right to edit and shorten articles or
reviews as necessary. However, if we make changes in content, we
will consult with the writer by email. Story submissions should "signed
off" by an editor of your choice and be ready to publish.
8. Our goal is to publish four issues per year (January, April, July and
October). Planning for each issue occurs four to six months in advance. Please keep this in
mind when sending themed or seasonal-pieces.
9. Payment to authors varies depending on the type of story, writer's
previous work and the quality of the article. At this time, we do not pay for essays. The range
for compensation for stories is roughly $10 to $50.00. On occasion, and
depending on budget; payment may be as high as $150.00 for exceptional
work.
10. We assume that all stories, essays and reviews submitted are
original and unpublished, and submitted exclusively to us. By virtue of
creation, your work is automatically copyrighted. Filing a copyright for
the work is not required but should be considered since it protects your
writing and should be a habit once you become more well
known. We assume, by your submission of work, that you are authorizing us to publish it;
therefore, we also assume full reprint permission of any item we
publish, unless otherwise indicated. North American serial rights to the
story or article includes electronic rights, posting on our Web page
(www.wildwoodreader.com) and posting excerpts or summaries on social
media. We reserve the right to accept or reject any
story or article submitted.
11. As a side note, if you wish, please include, with your submission, a
paragraph with information on where you work, write and live and any
interesting hobbies or past times. In addition, and at the risk of being
redundant, please make sure you include a cover letter with your
name, return address, story title, page count, email
address, facebook address, twitter address and website address. If all
the social media addresses are unavailable, please indicate none for
that social media's URL.
In closing, our goal is two fold. First and foremost, we want to
provide a good and reputable venue for readers of short fiction to
explore the work of new and emerging writers. Secondly, we want to
provide opportunities for new and emerging writers to submit work for
publishing without the fear of automatic rejection simply because of
their lack of network connections or, education. We believe
that talent should not be judged on who one knows, where one went to school
or even if one graduated.
To round out our offerings, some of the best stories will be compiled in
a bi-annual "best" of edition at some point in the life of our press.
Hopefully, this will happen sooner rather than later as I would like to print
this compilation as a case-bound edition.
Stay with your work, read the work of the masters and take time away
from your work to refresh your imagination. And always remember, if you
do nothing, nothing will happen!
Thank you for your time and the opportunity to read and consider your
work.
Alex Gonzalez
Founder & Publisher
Wildwood Reader
Rockville, MD
(904) 705-6806
wildwoodreader.com