Authors Please Note:
99.9% of our titles are reprints of previously published books and stories, and most of those are reprinted by Print on Demand (PoD). PoD prints one copy of a book every time one is sold. PoD is not the way to sell millions of books. If that is your goal, your time is better spent with larger New York publishers. We are great at republishing books for which there is a steady, small demand—at least 20 copies per year to 1,000 copies per year.
Guidelines For Authors
Submissions are currently closed, unless you are an author who was previously published through Wildside Press or have a significant number of older backlist titles or an ongoing series with steady demand that has been dropped by the larger New York publishers. If this is you, please contact us, and we'll discuss your project(s).
Please note that Wildside Press is an MWA (Mystery Writers of America) qualified publisher.
Guidelines For Artists
We are in need of cover art for Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine. We publish 4 issues per year. Requirements: a strong central image of Sherlock, either in a scene from one of his stories or as a portrait. Leave a dead space at the top (for the logo) and on one side (for cover names). Submissions may be emailed to the publisher at wildsidepress (at) gmail [dot] com. Payment is $150.00.
Guidelines for Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine
Wildside Press is sad to announce that Marvin Kaye, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine’s long-time editor, passed away last month after a long illness. The former assistant editor, Carla Kaessinger Coupe, has agreed to take on the job and will do her best to fill Marvin’s shoes.
ABOUT THE MAGAZINE
Now in its second decade of publication, every issue of Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine includes short mysteries, as well as mystery-related essays and articles. These guidelines are designed to answer common questions about Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine and our submission requirements.
JUST THE FACTS
FREQUENCY: Irregular, but we try for 4 issues per year
EDITOR: Carla Kaessinger Coupe
PUBLISHER: Wildside Press LLC
WEB SITE: wildsidepress.com or bcmystery.com
SISTER PUBLICATION: Black Cat Mystery Magazine
OTHER MAGAZINES FROM WILDSIDE PRESS: Weirdbook and Adventure Tales
SHMM SUBMISSION INFO
What types of stories are we looking for? Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine is a home for traditional mysteries. Every fifth issue is exclusively about Sherlock Holmes, so send in your Watsonian pastiches and parodies. We are also interested in reader-solvable mysteries and crime stories, and will consider the occasional fantasy or SF tale, as well as ghost stories, as long as they contain strong mystery elements.
RESPONSE TIME
We will try to respond within 2-4 weeks. If you submit something and do not receive an acknowledgement email within a week, please check back to make sure we’ve received it.
QUERIES
It is not necessary to query us about a story you’d like to submit. If it fits our content guidelines, just send it along when we are open to submissions.
WHAT WE WANT
- Contemporary and traditional mysteries, as well as historicals, Watsonian pastiches, detective stories, and cozies.
- Interesting characters, memorable locations, intriguing plots.
- A mystery or crime in the story.
- Great writing!
WHAT WE DO NOT WANT
- No simultaneous submissions.
- No previously published work unless discussed with the editor first.
- No stories that feature sadism for the sake of sadism.
- No gimmick or “surprise ending” stories.ddd
- No getting details wrong. Make sure you do your research. We especially dislike authors addressing nobility incorrectly. (Hint: Dukes are not "Your Majesty.")
WHAT WE SECRETLY WANT (BUT DON'T OFTEN SAY)
- Stories that have the potential to launch a series. If we like a sleuth a lot, we’ll want to see the sleuth again. So make us love your characters!
- Happy endings, where the villains get theirs in the end. Unless the villains are the heroes...
- Characters who are real and believable.
- Transformational stories, where characters grow and learn and change based on the story.
- Stories that surprise us. Twists are great—but if we read the story a second time, we should see the seeds of the twist planted throughout. Otherwise, it’s just coincidence, which doesn’t make a good story.
- Stories that take the familiar and bend it in new and surprising ways.
- Smart characters are better than lucky characters when it comes to finding clues.
- None of these are hard and fast rules. Exceptional writing can make any type of story perfect for us.
LENGTH
Best length is between 1,000 and 8,000 words. We will look at longer submissions—but it better blow us away to take up that much of an issue!
PAYMENT
Our pay rate is three cents per word ($250 maximum) on or before publication, plus 2 copies of the magazine.
HOW TO SUBMIT
CURRENTLY CLOSED TO FICTION SUBMISSIONS.
ONLY LOOKING AT NON-FICTION. QUERY OR SEND COMPLETE ARTICLE.
Email the story as an attached electronic file. Use one of the following formats: .rtf, .doc, or .docx. We cannot look at .pdfs or hard copy submissions, with very few exceptions.
Be sure to include your byline under the story title—it’s amazing how many authors forget to do so!—and please include both your mailing address and email address on the first page. (Upper left-hand corner is standard.)
WHERE TO EMAIL
Stories should be sent via EMAIL to the editor, Carla Kaessinger Coupe, NOT to Wildside Press. Her address is Carla [dot] Coupe [at sign] wildsidepress [dot] com.
IMPORTANT—A BIT MORE ON FORMATTING
1. Paragraphs should be double-spaced. Indent all paragraphs using either the tab key or an indented paragraph style. Please do not leave extra line spaces between paragraphs.
2. Never underline, use italics.
3. Please, please, please—proofread your story before sending it. Yes, typos happen, but after the third or fourth one on a page, we will stop reading.
4. Use a simple, easy-to-read font like Times Roman. If we can’t easily read a submission, it will be rejected.
5. Names of books and novels should be italicized. Short story titles should be between quotation marks.
6. If you submit a Watsonian pastiche, employ the British style of that period. Thus, there must be no periods after titles; e.g., Mr Holmes, Mrs Hudson, Dr Watson, St Giles. Always use the letter “u” where appropriate, as in “colour,” “favourite,” etc.
Guidelines for Black Cat Mystery Magazine
These guidelines are valid through September 30, 2021.
CURRENTLY CLOSED TO SUBMISSIONS
ABOUT THE MAGAZINE
Black Cat Mystery Magazine is a relatively new publication, having debuted in September 2017, which showcases short mystery fiction. No poems, no articles. Just fiction. These guidelines are designed to help writers craft stories for publication in Black Cat Mystery Magazine.
We want to feature stories by a mix of new and established authors. We don’t care about race, gender, age, height, weight, sexual orientation, political attitudes, or much of anything else about our authors. We don’t care if this is you five hundredth story or your very first story. We care about writing quality. Period.
JUST THE FACTS
FREQUENCY: 4 issues per year
EDITOR: Michael Bracken
PUBLISHER: Wildside Press LLC.
WEB SITE: bcmystery.com or wildsidepress.com
SISTER PUBLICATION: Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine
OTHER MAGAZINES FROM WILDSIDE PRESS: Weirdbook and Adventure Tales.
BCMM SUBMISSION INFO
SUBMISSION WANTED STARTING SEPTEMBER 2021!
Black Cat Mystery Magazine will open for general submissions September 1 through September 30, 2021. BCMM will consider submissions from all subgenres of crime fiction, but please read and follow the rest of the guidelines before submitting.
RESPONSE TIME
We will do our best to respond within 1-2 weeks. Sometimes even sooner, unless we are seriously considering the work. In that case, it may take longer. Please don't wait six months or a year to query if you don't hear back—it means something has gone seriously wrong. We don't take that long.
QUERIES
It is not necessary to query us about a story you’d like to submit. If it fits our content guidelines, just send it along during the open submission period. We do not want early or late submissions.
WHAT WE WANT
- Contemporary and traditional mysteries, thrillers, suspense stories, private eye stories, cozy stories, and edgy, noir-tinged stories.
- Stories with characters who feel real, in situations that are possible (and plausible).
- A crime in the story. If there's no crime, it isn’t mystery fiction.
- Great writing!
WHAT WE DO NOT WANT
- No simultaneous submissions. (WE MEAN IT!)
- No previously published work.
- No flash fiction.
- No poetry.
- No revenge stories.
- No stories that feature sadism for the sake of sadism.
- No stories that feature supernatural elements: no vampires, werewolves, ghosts, or otherworldly monsters—unless thoroughly debunked by the story’s end.
- No genre fantasy, horror, science fiction, romance, or westerns...unless it features a crime. And even then it will be a very hard sell. Try the fantasy and science fiction magazines instead.
- No gimmick or "surprise ending" stories.
WHAT WE SECRETLY WANT (BUT DON'T OFTEN SAY)
- Stories that have the potential to launch series. If we like a sleuth a lot, we'll want to see the sleuth again. So make us love your characters!
- Happy endings, where the villains get theirs in the end. Unless the villains are the heroes...
- Characters who are real and believable.
- Transformational stories, where characters grow and learn and change based on the story.
- Stories that surprise us. Twists are great—but there needs to be more than just a surprise twist.
- Stories that take the familiar and bend it in new and surprising ways.
- Smart characters are better than lucky characters when it comes to finding clues.
- None of these are hard and fast rules. Exceptional writing can make any type of story perfect for us.
LENGTH:
Best length is between 1,000 and 8,000 words. We will look at material up to 15,000 words in length—but it better blow us away to take up that much of an issue!
PAYMENT:
Our pay rate is three cents per word ($250 maximum) on or before publication, plus 2 copies of the magazine.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Stories should be sent via EMAIL to the editor, Michael Bracken, NOT to Wildside Press.
Be sure to include your byline under the story title—it’s amazing how many authors forget to do so!—and please include both your mailing address and email address on the first page. (Upper left-hand corner is standard.)
WHERE TO EMAIL
Stories should be sent via EMAIL to the editor, Michael Bracken, NOT to Wildside Press. We will post his email address when the submission window opens.
IMPORTANT -- A BIT MORE ON FORMATTING
1. Paragraphs should be double-spaced. Indent all paragraphs using either the tab key or an indented paragraph style. Please do not leave extra line spaces between paragraphs.
2. Never underline, use italics.
3. Please, please, please—proofread your story before sending it. Yes, typos happen, but after the third or fourth one on a page, we will stop reading.
4. Use a simple, easy-to-read font like Times Roman. If we can't easily read a submission, it will be rejected.