Submissions are now closed for fiction.
We are still accepting submissions for artwork for the anthology cover.
Fiction Guidelines (for reference only)
What we want:
Anything in the straight mystery genre is welcome: private detectives, police procedurals, crime stories, cozies, thrillers… if you think it fits, give it a try. We are particularly interested in a diversity of voices and characters. Private dicks in 1940s LA are good, but we’d love to see a greater variety as well. More details about that are in this post.
We are looking for stories of up to about 5000 words. Flash fiction is cool, but it might be a hard sell as we’d need to run a couple of pieces in a week. Reprints are okay, just make sure all rights have reverted back to you before submitting.
What we don’t want:
- Cross-genre stories. I like a cyberpunk future detective probably more than the next guy, but there are already lots of markets for SF and fantasy.
- Horror. Blood and guts are fine, but the story should be a mystery to solve, or feature a crime other than killing or maiming.
- Fan-fic. Pastiches are fine – encouraged, even. But we want homages to Sherlock Holmes, not your Sherlock Holmes story. It’s a fine line, but a good general rule is that the characters and plots are original.
- Supernatural elements. No ghosts, no demons, no vampires. No exceptions.
- Erotica. Sex is fine, adult situations and language are fine, but an X-rated story will be a tough sell.
- Multiple submissions. Let us evaluate one of your stories at a time.
Art
We are looking for cover art for the anthology. Original photographic work or illustrations please, with some element of crime, detection or mystery. Files should be full colour, high-res in 3:2 aspect ratio.
All Submissions
What we pay:
Ah, the brass tacks. Plan B pays 1¢ USD/word up to a $50 maximum, and a flat fee of $30 USD for art. Payments will be made via PayPal. We buy non-exclusive electronic and print rights.
How to submit (artwork only at this time):
Send your work for our consideration to submissions@plan-b-magazine.com. Send artwork as an attachment or a link to a file sharing site such as Dropbox. Fiction submissions should be sent as an .rtf attachment only. An excellent guide to formatting your written submission can be found here.
In your email, give us your legal name and a short bio. Please keep your cover letter brief and please send your submission from the email address you’d like us to use in correspondence.
Please give us 6 weeks to respond to your submission. If you haven’t heard from us after 6 weeks, please query.
