These 11 publishers have yearly recurring submission calls for horror stories
I made a list of publishers which have annual submission calls for short horror stories for anthologies. I only included paying markets and focused on calls for short horror stories.
Not flash fiction and poetry.
Bag of Bones Press
They started in December 2021, so they are relatively new. They prefer speculative and supernatural horror over real-life horror. They accept stories from everyone, but they are interested in helping writers who have not been published before. You can read their submission calls at https://www.bagofbonespress.com/submission-calls. You can find the submission guidelines at https://www.bagofbonespress.com/submission-guidelines. Payments vary per submission call from £0,005 per word to 0,001$ per word, so read their description well.
Cemetery Gates Media
Cemetery Gates Media is a publisher of horror and supernatural fiction. You can read their latest submission calls at https://cemeterygatesmedia.com/submissions/
Payment for short stories is $0,8 per word. They also provided some tips about fiction submissions at https://cemeterygatesmedia.com/2021/09/04/fundamental-formatting-for-fiction-submissions/
They started a Debut Horror Novel series for 40K+ manuscripts this year and aim to release one novel a year in this series. Payment is $500 signing bonus + $500 advance upon publication and 60% royalty share on the book. Read their description well on the submission call page if you’re interested.
Cloaked Press
They are looking for stories for the themed anthologies Fall into Fantasy (fantasy), Nightmare Fuel (horror, paranormal, mystery, fantasy, science fiction), Winter of Wonder (fantasy & science fiction), and Summer of speculation (fantasy & science fiction). These anthologies are released every year. They have a separate page with submission rules for every recurring anthology call. Links to every anthology series are listened at the top of the webpage. You can find open submission calls at https://www.cloakedpress.com.Read it to find out what they are looking for. Payment is $15 and an author copy of the book.
Crone Girls Press
Crone Girls Press publish dark speculative fiction. Sometimes they have submission calls for short stories for themed anthologies. Look at https://cronegirlspress.com/submissions/ for anthology calls and submission guidelines.
They also started an anthology series for novelettes and novellas called Midnight Bites. You can read more about it on the same submission calls page.
Dragon Soul Press
Dragon soul press accepts stories from multiple genres. They have multiple submission calls on their website during the year. Most are for fantasy and romance stories, but for some anthologies they accept horror stories, like To Hunt and to Hold (vampires), Beautiful Darkness (horror), and The Hunt (monster hunter stories).
Short stories: https://dragonsoulpress.com/shortstorycalls/
3000-15000 w. payment: royalties during the first year.
Poetry: https://dragonsoulpress.com/poetrycalls/
1000 words minimum
Drabbels and flash fiction: https://dragonsoulpress.com/drabblecalls/
500-1500w
Fear Forge
Horrorsmith Publishing is an extension of Horrorsmith Editing. They have a submission call for the Spring quarter 2023 anthology now. The deadline is November 1. Payment for this one is $30 for a story. For most of their anthologies, the payment is $25 for a story.
Next year, they will be hosting five themed anthologies. One during each quarter of the year and a Halloween-themed edition. Read more about it at https://www.horrorsmithediting.com/opencall
Ghost Orchid Press
Ghost Orchid Press is specialized in horror, gothic and supernatural fiction. They have several submission calls for short stories during the year.
Take a look at https://ghostorchidpress.com/submission-calls/ to find out what they are looking for and when they accept stories.
Hellbound Books Publishing
HellBound Books Publishing is specialized in horror books. They have multiple anthology calls each year. They are looking for horror stories between 4000-10.000 words. Payment is $5 for a story and an ebook version of the anthology. You can find their submission calls and rules here: https://www.hellboundbookspublishing.com/subs-anthologies.html
Red Cape Publishing
Red Cape Publishing is a publisher of horror books. They are looking for stories of 4000-8000 words for the A-Z of Horror series. The series is based on a variety of themes, and each theme stands for a letter of the alphabet. For example, A is for Aliens, B is for Beasts, C is for Cannibals, D is for Demons, and so on. At the time I type this, they are looking for stories for ‘Q is for Quantum’ and ‘R is for Revenge’. Take a look at
https://redcapepublishing.com/submissions/ to find out more about this series. Payment is £10 for a story.
The Evil Cookie
This is a market for Extreme horror, splatterpunk, and dark humor. Sometimes they have submission calls, which you can find at https://theevilcookie.com/pages/submissions
They want stories of max. 3000 words. Payment is 3 cents per word + contributor copy of the book.
Scare Street
Scare Street is a collaboration of horror writers. They create horror books, audiobooks, and horror blogs. You can read more about them at https://scarestreet.com
Once a year, they accept horror and dark fantasy stories between 3000 – 7000 words for the Night Terrorsseries. Payment is $10 for every 1000 words. Take a look at https://scarestreet.com/submissions/
to find out when they accept stories and their submission rules.
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