Deadlines: March 31 (Spring Issue), June 30 (Summer Issue), September 30 (Autumn Issue), December 31 (Winter Issue)
Reading Periods
March 1 - March 31 (Spring Issue)
June 1 - June 30 (Summer Issue)
September 1 - September 30 (Autumn Issue)
December 1 - December 31 (Winter Issue)
Anything sent to us outside these reading periods will be deleted unread.
Fiction
We here at Bete Noire are looking for stories that are well written, character driven and have a dark bent to them. We are open to most genres as long as they have a dark side. This includes horror, dark sci-fi, dark fantasy, crime, mystery or dark humor. However, vampires plus sparkle equals rejection.
Please don't send us sword & sorcery or space operas. Tolkien and Lucas have their place, but not here. Also, we don't and can't accept "fan fiction" which includes anything based on a video game, book, movie or any other creator's work or conception unless you have written permission from the creator. If you don't own the copyright to the characters in your story, we cannot publish your work. By submitting to us, you, as the author of the work, accept responsibility for any possible copyright infringement.
Please don't send us "Slash" or "Fem-Slash" or anything graphically describing sex. Sex is okay as long as it's integral to the story but don't overdo it. Please don't use gore for gore's sake. Again gore is okay as long as it's integral to the story. Though we cringe at the thought of violence toward children or pets, we understand that this type of violence does occur in real life, but we just don't want it in our magazine. Stories with acts of violence toward animals or children will not have a chance with us. Any story that insinuates an act of sex or sexual violence between an adult and a child will be rejected. This includes ALL children, alien, robotic or otherwise. If you think your twist will be an exception, think again. NO STORIES WITH S3X, VIOLENCE OR S3XUAL VI0LENCE TOWARD CHILDREN, PERIOD.
Please use spell check and proof your work before sending it to us. As writers, you should be doing this already, but it surprises us on how often this isn't done.
Multiple submissions are okay, but please send them under a separate email (this includes poetry) and only three submissions per author per reading period. Simultaneous submissions are also okay as long as you let us know if you sell your work elsewhere.
Please Note: We don't care if you name is Stephen Janovski or Stephen King. We don't care if you're friends with the editors at The New Yorker or Cemetery Dance. What counts with us, is the merit of your story, so please don't expect us to accept your work simply because of who you are or who you know.
Formatting
Stories should be between 50 and 4000 words. This word count is firm, please query first if your story exceeds this length and we will take a look. If your word count exceed this length and you don't query first, you will be rejected.
Please follow proper manuscript format. If you don't know what that is, please follow this link. http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html
Specifically what we are looking for is as follows:
* Use Courier New or Times New Roman fonts only.
* Double space between lines.
* Indent paragraphs.
* No extra space between paragraphs.
* All words meant to be italicized, bolded, or underlined in the final print, please make sure they are italicized, bolded or underlined in your manuscript.
* All stories must be submitted as an attachment in .doc, .docx, or .rtf
Stories submitted in the body of an email will be deleted unread.
Poetry
Poetry submissions are welcome and can be of any style. You can submit up to three poems per reading period. Please submit them in separate emails and attached to the email in either .doc, .docx, or .rtf files. Poems sent in the body of an email will be deleted unread. Poems can be up to fifty lines each. Query if longer.
Please be aware that we reserve the right to reformat your story or poem as necessary to fit the specific format for our magazine. We will not rewrite your story or poem without first sending you a proof, but on occasion, we may have to alter line placement to eliminate blank space. We may also center all lines. If you have a problem with this, please don't submit to us.
Rights
We are asking for First English Language Print Rights or Reprint Rights if your story is a reprint. Also, we are asking for World Electronic Rights exclusive for six months (for downloadable version.)
We are planning to run "Best of" anthologies. Please keep this in mind as we could be asking for reprint rights in the future. Remember, just because you are accepted into the magazine does not guarantee a spot in the "Best of" anthology.
Reprints
We do accept reprints for inclusion in our magazine. Please let us know at the time of your submission when and where your work first appeared.
Payment
$10 US flat for each accepted work plus a PDF version of the issue in which your work appears.
All payments are made via Paypal. If you do not have a Paypal account, sign up for one, it's free. We don't not send payment in any other form.
Return Time
Please give us one month to review your story. If you have not heard back from us after two months, feel free to send us an email.
Send submissions to: submissions@betenoiremagazine.com
In the subject line put: submission and the title of your story.
Send inquiries to: inquiry@betenoiremagazine.com
More information here.
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