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GUIDELINES FOR WRITERS
Orchid: A Literary Review
P. O. Box 131457
Ann Arbor, MI 48113-1457
e-mail: editorsATorchidlit.org
(We do not accept unsolicited e-mail submissions.)
Orchid's editors welcome submissions of fiction and interviews on the craft of fiction. We consider fiction of all lengths: short shorts, short stories, novellas, and novel excerpts. We do not consider unsolicited poetry or previously published work. And, yes, we do consider simultaneous submissions. After all, we've heard that the average story is submitted twenty (or more) times and rejected twenty (or more) times before being published. At that rate, without simultaneously submitting, it would take at least five years to place a story. That just seems mean. We're really nice people. Well, Keith's not really even though he acts like he is. Amy is . . . working on it.
We also accept cover artwork that tells a story. Visual artists may wonder what the heck is meant by "cover artwork that tells a story." Paula Fox has said that stories begin with a small question and end with a large question. Consider that statement and take a look at the cover art for issues one through four and you'll get an idea of what kind of cover art we're looking for. You can view the unadorned cover art by clicking the COVER ART link at the bottom of the page.
To assure a response, every submission must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. All submissions and correspondence may be addressed to "The Editors" at the address shown above. Please do not address submissions to Keith Hood or Amy Sumerton. Amy doesn't mind it so much because she's enamored with seeing her name in print but it kind of ticks Keith off. Keith is one of the founding editors and he does have an eensy weensy bit more authority than Amy (stop laughing, Amy). Therefore, all submissions should be sent to the attention of "The Editors."
Please type (double space) your manuscript on one side of the page only. Contiguous paragraphs should be indented and not separated by white space. Number pages consecutively and use margins of at least one inch. We prefer that submissions arrive in envelopes no smaller than 9 x 12. (This is because Keith is an anal retentive control freak and because Amy is obsessive-compulsive about small details.) Orchid does not accept responsibility for lost or damaged items. Amy can hardly keep track of her car keys and sunglasses, so what do you expect?
We pay writers a minimum of $15 and a maximum of $150 per story. We pay $75 for interviews. Contributors receive three copies of the issue in which their work appears and a 50% discount on additional copies. Orchid acquires first-publication rights. Copyright reverts to author upon publication. We request that Orchid be credited with first publication.
Advice for Cover Letters:We recommend composing a cover letter in harmony with an article by C. Michael Curtis found at the the website for Poets & Writers magazine. Click on the Advice for Cover Letters link or go to www.pw.org/mag/curtis.htm.
We know that you may be too doggone tired to click on the "Advice for Cover Letters" link. Therefore let us say that we don't want the cover letter to tell us what the story is about. We'd also rather not know about the life history of your pets and/or children. We could go on but we won't. It might be simpler to check the link www.pw.org/mag/curtis.htm and read the comments of St. Michael.
Some words about our response time to submissions: We will make every effort to give some kind of response to your submission within six months of our receiving it. In the past our response time to submissions has been less than exemplary but that was before Amy Sumerton came on board as executive editor. Amy is an editorial angel and, as is the case with angels, Amy performs miracles. She has overseen the recruitment of additional readers and established weekly staff meetings to make sure that manuscript consideration and other necessary business is handled in an efficient manner.
None of this explains why Keith cries when submissions are adressed to him. In any case submitters should know that addressing manusripts to specific editors (see previous paragraphs) may cause Keith to have crying jags.
Are these guidelines weird? Are they psychotic? Then again, think J. D. Salinger and the Glass family. Move from there to "The Royal Tenenbaums." Isn't a lot of great fiction weird and a little psychotic? Read/Subscribe to Orchid (and other lit journals) to know what we're talking about. You'll be spiritually richer for having done so and the spiritual wealth increases as you subsribe to more and more lit journals.
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As you can see, reading mountains of manuscripts gives us crazy eye. Closely following our guidelines can help to reduce our general level of craziness, our stress levels, and our alcohol consumption. Consider it a community service.
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The P & W link for C. Michael Curtis has some primo advice. Also check out the Poets & Writers magazine podcast,
How to Publish Your Short Story: A Panel Discussion (2.01.06)for some interesting discussion from the editors of the New Yorker, Paris Review, Open City, and One Story. Ever wonder how much the New Yorker really pays. The answer is in the podcast.
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