Submission Guidelines
Apex Magazine is currently closed to submissions. All unsolicited submissions will be automatically rejected. We plan to reopen at midnight on June 1, 2013.
Our magazine is a SFWA-certified professional market.
Editor-in-Chief: Lynne M. Thomas
Apex Magazine Guidelines
Original Short Fiction:
1) Submit your work in Standard Manuscript Format at apex.submission@gmail.com with Fiction Submission: Your Story Title in the subject line. Attach your story in a DOC, DOCX, or RTF format file. Any other format will be auto-rejected.
2) Include a brief cover letter in the body of your email stating your name, story title with word count, byline, address, and any professional publication credits you think might interest us.
2) Maximum word length is a firm 5,000 words. Anything more will be auto-rejected.
3) Payment for original fiction is $.05 per word up to 5,000 words.
4) If we podcast your story, payment is $.01 per word up to 5,000 words.
Reprints:
We do not accept unsolicited reprints. Our editor-in-chief solicits one reprint per issue. Payment is $.01 per word up to 5,000 words.
Poetry Guidelines:
We do not accept unsolicited poetry submissions. Our editor-in-chief occasionally will solicit for poetry. Payment is $0.25 per line.
Nonfiction Guidelines:
We do not accept unsolicited nonfiction submissions. Our editor-in-chief commissions original essays and work. Payment is a one-time lump sum of $50.
Rights and Rules:
1) No simultaneous submissions. No multi-submissions. We try to respond to all submissions within 30 days. Please direct all queries to apex.submission@gmail.com, but do not query until we’ve had your story for 60 days. Queries sent before the 60 day waiting period will go unanswered.
2) For new fiction, click on our Original Fiction Contract Template (PDF) to see what rights we request.
3) For all other content, Apex Publications receives permission to include the Work in Apex Magazine, for publication in the English language in all countries throughout the world. Apex Publications receives permission to non-exclusively archive the Work online as long as the Apex Magazine website is maintained.
What are we looking for here at Apex Magazine?
The easiest and best way to discover this is to buy a subscription to the magazine and READ several issues. After you do that, we offer the following details from former Editor Catherynne M. Valente:
We do not want hackneyed, cliched plots or neat, tidy stories that take no risks. We do not want Idea Stories without character development or prose style, nor do we want derivative fantasy with Tolkien’s serial numbers filed off.
What we want is sheer, unvarnished awesomeness. We want the stories it scared you to write. We want stories full of marrow and passion, stories that are twisted, strange, and beautiful. We want science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mash-ups of all three—the dark, weird stuff down at the bottom of your little literary heart. This magazine is not a publication credit, it is a place to put your secret places and dreams on display. Just so long as they have a dark speculative fiction element—we aren’t here for the quotidian.
Keep in mind that the search for awesome stories is as difficult as writing them. If you are rejected, don’t get angry—instead, become more awesome. Write something better, and better, until we have to accept you, because we have been laid low by your tale. It really is that simple.
Art Submission Guidelines
We offer $60 for digital reprint rights for cover art. If you’d like for your art to be considered for Apex Magazine please send an email to apex.submission@gmail.com that includes a link to your online gallery. We do not commission original work for the magazine, only pre-existing art.
