Ideomancer magazine

THE MARKET

• Zine: Ideomancer Speculative Fiction
• Editor(s): Leah Bobet (interviewee), Marsha Sisolak, Jaime Lee Moyer, Claire Humphrey, Elizabeth Bear, John Bowker, Beth Langford, Erin Hoffman, Alena McNamara, Michael Colangelo, Alyssa Smith
• Pay Rate: 3 cents a word up to a maximum of $40.00 USD
• Response Time: 30 days maximum
• Reading Period: December-January, March-April, June-July, September-October
• Description: Ideomancer publishes speculative fiction and poetry that explores the edges of ideas; stories that subvert, refute and push the limits. We want unique pieces from authors willing to explore non-traditional narratives and take chances with tone, structure and execution, balance ideas and character, emotion and ruthlessness. We also have an eye for more traditional tales told with excellence. We are especially interested in non-traditional formats, hyperfiction, and work that explores the boundaries not just of its situation but of the internet-as-page.
• Submission Guidelines: www.ideomancer.com

NOTE: Horror author D.L. Snell conducted the following interview to give writers a better idea of what the editors of this specific market are seeking; however, most editors are open to ideas outside of the preferences discussed here, as long as they fit the basic submission guidelines.

THE SCOOP
1) What authors do you enjoy, and why does their writing captivate you?
China Mieville, for the twists of his sentence-level craft and the layering of his worlds; Matt Ruff, for the sheer imagination and balls; Sean Stewart, for his incredibly flawed and human and three-dimensional characters; Connie Willis, for her wry sense of humour; Dashiell Hammett, for his incredible prose; A.S. Byatt, for her ability to examine every single angle of a thematic idea; Patricia McKillip, for her ability with subtext; Emma Bull, for the way she weaves whole worlds by implication; Caitlin Kiernan, for the ability to make ugly things beautiful, or at least fascinating; Sharon Shinn, because she’s sneaky; Peter Beagle because he inevitably makes me cry.

2) What are your favorite genres? Which genres would you like to see incorporated into submissions to this market?
We’re interested in any of the speculative genres: fantasy, science fiction, horror, fabulist fiction, slipstream, interstitial, anything punk—the works. That said, we’re usually more interested by work that’s aware of the tropes of its genre and has something to say about them, as well as work with a bit of a literary twist.  Think China Mieville, not J.R.R. Tolkien!

3) What settings most intrigue you? Ordinary or exotic locales? Real or fantasy? Past, present, or future?
We’re happy to read stories and poetry set anywhere, so long as it’s done well! The quality of the setting work and the author’s skill in evoking it are more important to us than it being any specific setting.

4) Explain the type of pacing you enjoy, e.g. slow building to fast, fast throughout, etc.
Whatever pacing works best for the story you’re trying to tell; we view things like pacing as a tool for telling stories, rather than an end in itself. Again, this is a question of something done well versus a preference for a particular kind of story.

5) What types of characters appeal to you the most? Any examples?
Characters who are, above all, deeply human; who work by an emotional logic that makes the reader think yes, this is a real person instead of this is a character in a story.

6) Is there a specific tone you’d like to set in your publication? What kind of voices grab you and keep you enthralled? Any examples?
Passionate. About whatever it is the characters have to say.

7) What is your policy for vulgarity, violence, and sexual content? Any taboos?
We’ll consider anything so long as it’s actually in service to telling an interesting story.

8) What kind of themes are you seeking most in submissions to this market? In general, what themes interest you?
We tend to prefer stories in which the world just isn’t that simple.

9) Overall, do you prefer downbeat or upbeat endings?
We prefer endings that are well-crafted and work best with the story the author’s trying to tell.

10) Any last advice for submitters to this market? Any critical dos or don’ts?
There is no magic button for selling a story to Ideomancer, and no kit to build an Ideomancer story. We’re a fairly eclectic magazine, and while there are some slight trends in what we choose to publish, the only strong and constant one is stories that do what they set out to do very, very well. The best way to get a feel for what we’d like, as stereotypical as it may sound, is to read a few issues and see how they strike you. That’s how you’ll know if the stories that grab us resemble the story that you have in your hand.

And if you’re in doubt? Just send it along. The worst thing we can say is “not this time.”

Good luck!

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For more scoops, go to marketscoops.blogspot.com.

D.L. Snell writes with Permuted Press. He edited Dr. Kim Paffenroth twice, John Dies at the End once, and provided a constructive critique to Joe McKinney on his next major novel after Dead City. You can shoot D.L. Snell in the head at www.exit66.net.

To reprint this article, please contact D.L. Snell.

Ink, Pulp, and Glue Are Harder To Move

Recently, Dorchester Publishing made the decision to make its titles available solely in digital and print-on-demand formats (read article here). Dorchester, a mass paperback publisher, operates one of my favorite imprints, Leisure Books, which puts out novels by guys like Brian Keene and Richard Laymon. So of course this change will affect me. But that’s not the point.

I love printed books as much as the next guy, the smell and the meat of them. But they’re right up there with couches on the list of things I’d rather not move. They’re heavy, they fill up way too many boxes, and because of varying sizes, they never stack right in alphabetical order (by author’s last name), so I always have to reorganize them after the move. Luckily, most people don’t move that often. But let’s not overlook the major disadvantage of printed books: cost.

Typically, ink, pulp and glue are heavier and more expensive than bytes on a server. At least the ink and pulp that I read is. So over time (a long, long period of time), an e-book reader might pay for itself. Maybe. Take into account, too, that printed books cost more for publishers. One reason Dorchester (Leisure) is digitizing and printing on demand is because their paperback sales dropped twenty-five percent last year. Think about it: publishers put up all of this money for traditional print runs with the hope that the book will at least recoup the cost of printing and the author’s advance. That’s a lot of money, especially to invest in first-time authors. And then people stop buying the product?! This is how publishers begin to build debt, usually to the author. No wonder publishers are starting to dread moving books as much as I do. Poor sales are bad for publishers, and therefore bad for authors--which, in turn, is bad for readers.

Honestly, I think the whole digital and POD model is built to put the cost of production on the reader. It's exactly as if publishers found a way to make us pay for printing. It's like their bailout.

But that's not really the point, either. Point is, the physical world is too heavy and dense. It takes a lot of power to move it. Much of the time, it takes a lot of money too. (Ever hired movers or rented a U-Haul? Ever paid for both?) Okay, so I'm stretching the metaphor. But maybe, just maybe, Dorchester is right to think that e-books make for a more lucrative business model. Maybe e-publishers will have more money to invest in marketing and in their authors, and still come out ahead. Maybe. And as a reader, I’d be willing to make the move to e-books--if someone can answer one burning question...

Which is more environmentally friendly? Printing books, or manufacturing, using, and maintaining servers and e-book readers? I’d really like to see a comprehensive study that takes into account everything from bleaching paper to recycling batteries.

If you know of such a report, or if you want to get all Neo-Luddite and smash someone’s Kindle, there’s this little space for comments down below. I welcome all rants.

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For more scoops, go to marketscoops.blogspot.com.

D.L. Snell writes with Permuted Press. He edited Dr. Kim Paffenroth twice, John Dies at the End once, and provided a constructive critique to Joe McKinney on his next major novel after Dead City. You can shoot D.L. Snell in the head at www.exit66.net.

To reprint this article, please contact D.L. Snell.

Arkham Tales magazine

THE MARKET

• Zine: Arkham Tales 
• Editor(s): Nathan Shumate 
• Pay Rate: 1 cent per word 
• Response Time: As soon as we can get to it – honest!  (Usually about 3-4 weeks.) 
• Reading Period: Year round. 
• Description: A PDF magazine of weird fiction encompassing pulp adventure, weird horror (including Lovecraftian influence, obviously), the supernatural and the fantastic. 
• Submission Guidelines: http://arkhamtales.leucrotapress.com

THE SCOOP

1) What authors do you enjoy, and why does their writing captivate you?
It’s too predictable to say that I like Lovecraft, so I won’t.  (Wait, I just did.  Dammit.)  I really enjoy all kinds of writers, from Robert E. Howard to Raymond Carver to Orson Scott Card to Robert B. Parker, as long as they’re confident in their use of the language and the art of the storyteller.

2) What are your favorite genres? Which genres would you like to see incorporated into submissions to this market?
Personally, I enjoy all of the traditionally “male” genres: SF, horror, adventure, detective, suspense, etc.  As far as submissions go, everything should have that dark fantastic touch that defines them as “weird fiction,” but I would like to see more stories which successfully combine science fiction elements with that “weird” feeling.

3) What settings most intrigue you? Ordinary or exotic locales? Real or fantasy? Past, present, or future?
Any setting can be intriguing if it is imbued by the author’s voice with depth and connection to the story.  I don’t think I’ve ever rejected a story because of setting, but I’ve never accepted one because of story either.

4) Explain the type of pacing you enjoy, e.g. slow building to fast, fast throughout, etc.
Abraham Lincoln, when asked how long a man’s legs should be, said they should be long enough to reach the ground.  Pacing is like that; a story’s pacing should be consonant with the story it’s trying to tell.  I’ve rejected stories because they’ve tried to throw as much plot at the reader in the fewest number of words, and I’ve rejected stories because they took a simple idea worth a short-short and padded it far beyond its manageable length.  If a writer can convince me in the story that the pacing he chose is the best way to tell that story, I’ll go with it.

5) What types of characters appeal to you the most? Any examples?
I like to see a variety of characters.  Some stories are built almost entirely on the strength and novelty of the main character; others use a generic stand-in for the author (Lovecraft did this a lot) who remains almost featureless.  A rule of thumb: the less well-defined the character, the stronger the events around him need to be—a plain character in an unimpressive plot doesn’t work for anyone.

6) Is there a specific tone you'd like to set in your publication? What kind of voices grab you and keep you enthralled? Any examples?
“Weird” is a hard focus to explain. In general, it means that there has to be something to the stone both fantastic and slightly dark or alien, and this should be reflected in the tone or voice.  I’ll let you in on a secret: the author’s voice is the single most important factor to an acceptance at Arkham Tales.  If the story hasn’t convinced me within three pages or so that the author knows and loves the English language and uses it with enough confident to keep me reading, even though I don’t really know what the story is about yet, I’ll move on to something else.

With that said, there’s no single voice that can or should be the “house style” for our magazine.  We want variety; the unifying element is that the author’s voice should be strong and confident and evocative.  Look at that list of authors earlier; Robert E. Howard and Robert B. Parker are worlds apart in their writing style, but what they both have in common is a consistent and strong writer’s voice.

7) What is your policy for vulgarity, violence, and sexual content? Any taboos?
My main policy is, “Don’t try to shock me.”  I don’t look for splatterpunk; I find that kind of gonzo excess numbing and counterproductive.  Don’t try to “sexy up” your story with excess, because I’d much rather be unsettled than grossed out.

8) What kind of themes are you seeking most in submissions to this market? In general, what themes interest you?
Probably the closest thing to a common theme behind Arkham Tales is the one Lovecraft articulated, that realization of humanity’s infinitesimal place in the cosmos can be maddening in its overwhelming scope.  That said, I don’t want to turn the magazine into a nihilistic dirge-fest; voice and tone are a lot more important than a single theme.

9) Overall, do you prefer downbeat or upbeat endings?
I don’t have anything against upbeat endings as such, but I know as well as you do that authors often engineer them because the hero is expected to win, and thus the author cheats on the protagonist’s behalf.  On the other hand, too many downbeat endings try to involve a shock or twist that is obvious from the opening page.  The ending, happy or sad, grows out of the story that leads up to it; rather than an upbeat or downbeat ending, make sure you have the right ending.

10) Any last advice for submitters to this market? Any critical dos or don’ts?
I have a long list of pet peeves (I much prefer past tense to present, I can’t abide changing the viewpoint character in the middle of a scene, and I don’t want to wade through three opening pages that are stuffed with dull exposition and background), but here’s the primary point:  I want confident storytellers who know how to tell a story and why they told this particular story the way they told it.  You can have the greatest story idea and the best ending, but if the prose is clunky and uncertain, then your idea won’t show through your words and I’ll never get as far as reading your ending.

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For more scoops, go to marketscoops.blogspot.com.

D.L. Snell writes with Permuted Press. He edited Dr. Kim Paffenroth twice, John Dies at the End once, and provided a constructive critique to Joe McKinney on his next major novel after Dead City. You can shoot D.L. Snell in the head at www.exit66.net.

To reprint this article, please contact D.L. Snell.

Often Inspired Magazine

THE MARKET

• Zine: Often Inspired Magazine
• Editor(s): William V. Burns
• Pay Rate: Individual 2000-5000 word short stories from $25 to $100
• Response Time: One to two weeks after contest end or submission
• Reading Period: One week
• Description: Often Inspired is a magazine that celebrates the bond between writer and reader. We exist to encourage writers to improve their craft by showing examples, having fun, and constructively giving advice and counsel.
• Submission Guidelines: Editorial Guidelines | Contest Rules

NOTE: Horror author D.L. Snell conducted the following interview to give writers a better idea of what the editors of this specific market are seeking; however, most editors are open to ideas outside of the preferences discussed here, as long as they fit the basic submission guidelines.

THE SCOOP
1) What authors do you enjoy, and why does their writing captivate you?
John Steinbeck, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Rex Stout— they have in common just enough description to get the job done, precise dialogue, good solid plots, and colorful characters that pull you right into a story.

2) What are your favorite genres? Which genres would you like to see incorporated into submissions to this market?
I enjoy: Mystery, Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction—unsurprisingly these are the submissions we accept.

3) What settings most intrigue you? Ordinary or exotic locales? Real or fantasy? Past, present, or future?
The mundane can be made fascinating by skillful writing, the exotic can be painted in your mind by a colorful author, real or fantastic, past present or future. If you bring me into the scene, that's what I love.

4) Explain the type of pacing you enjoy, e.g. slow building to fast, fast throughout, etc.
Pacing should be fit to the genre—mysteries build a pattern of clues, and then have a faster pace towards the end; fantasy has a consistent pace where cycle leads to cycle of exposition; horror just starts and then builds, builds, builds until you shriek. But any story can be subtle and slow in its pace throughout if you have a compelling tale.

5) What types of characters appeal to you the most? Any examples?
Earthy. Direct. Poignant. Lennie and George from Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. The characters in The Maltese Falcon by Hammett.

6) Is there a specific tone you'd like to set in your publication? What kind of voices grab you and keep you enthralled? Any examples?
I want our magazine (and our forum) to be friendly and accessible to readers and member authors. Fun, creative, fascinating. People who are creative and love to share, but have that competitive fire. We run a contest/meet centered around National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org) and you see the fire in our writers come out in November.

7) What is your policy for vulgarity, violence, and sexual content? Any taboos?
We like to keep to a standard of PG-13 for most of our work. Some curse words are inevitable in describing conflict, anger, or outright terror. We don't accept stories that overuse profanity and vulgarity. Please don't submit toilet humor or needlessly gruesome work. Think mature themes, but not obscenity.

8) What kind of themes are you seeking most in submissions to this market? In general, what themes interest you?
Our scope is wide. Think big. We avoid fanfic, slash, or writing heavily derivative of someone else's work (except when we run parody).

9) Overall, do you prefer downbeat or upbeat endings?
Both are good. Lift or fall, but take me somewhere.

10) Any last advice for submitters to this market? Any critical dos or don’ts?
Polish your work. Correct your spelling and grammar. Format your paragraphs so we don't confront a wall of text. Keep politics, religion, and topical subjects out. Make your work timeless. Don't disappoint the reader and we'll get along just fine.

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For more scoops, go to marketscoops.blogspot.com.

D.L. Snell writes with Permuted Press. He edited Dr. Kim Paffenroth twice, John Dies at the End once, and provided a constructive critique to Joe McKinney on his next major novel after Dead City. You can shoot D.L. Snell in the head at www.exit66.net.

To reprint this article, please contact D.L. Snell.

Basement Stories Magazine

THE MARKET

• Zine: Basement Stories Magazine 
• Editor(s): Carol Kirkman and James Dent 
• Pay Rate: 1¢ / word (fiction and nonfiction), $10 flat (poetry) 
• Response Time: Hopefully less than 30 days. Query if longer.
• Reading Period: Reading period for Issue 2: July 1 – September 1 
• Description: A science fiction, fantasy, and horror 'zine about the extraordinary in the ordinary, the wonderful, and the fantastic. (More in guidelines.) 
• Submission Guidelines: basementstories.org

NOTE: Horror author D.L. Snell conducted the following interview to give writers a better idea of what the editors of this specific market are seeking; however, most editors are open to ideas outside of the preferences discussed here, as long as they fit the basic submission guidelines.

THE SCOOP
1) What authors do you enjoy, and why does their writing captivate you?
I am in awe of short fiction writers like Ted Chiang and Tim Pratt who, in a very limited space, are able to create memorable characters and settings while still saying something significant. The short story “Impossible Dreams” by Tim Pratt made me look at movies in an entirely different way. But I also like stories that are just beautifully weird, like anything by Becca de la Rosa, and some of Neil Gaiman’s short stories – that kind of thing isn’t necessarily sustainable over a whole novel’s length work, but in short doses lyrical madness is amazing.

2) What are your favorite genres? Which genres would you like to see incorporated into submissions to this market?
I’m a fan of all the subgenres under the umbrella of Speculative Fiction – cyberpunk, urban fantasy, space operas, whatever. The only genre I really can’t stand is Sword and Sorcery, or at least, those stories and books that seem to be copy/pasted from Mr. Tolkein. I don’t know if I wasn’t exposed to Lord of the Rings young enough or if I’m just too impatient to keep all of the different clans in The Game of Thrones straight, but S&S just never rubbed me the right way. I think there are ways to do great big, sweeping, epic fantasy right – examples would be N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, or Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora.

I’d really like to see – and I’m not entirely clear if this is a genre or not – more time travel stories, because I love love love time travel, as well as more hard science fiction.

3) What settings most intrigue you? Ordinary or exotic locales? Real or fantasy? Past, present, or future?
I tend to not like any fiction in historical locales, if only because I'm an amateur history buff and my inner know-it-all starts searching for historical inaccuracies, which can really impede my enjoyment of the story. By all means, though, give it a shot if you think you’ve got your facts straight.

Beyond that, I’m game for pretty much any setting. I love both fantastical and ordinary locales, set in both the present and the future, though I’m always really interested to see what people are going to do when they set their stories in the future. A concrete setting can really make a story feel richer and more exciting.

4) Explain the type of pacing you enjoy, e.g. slow building to fast, fast throughout, etc.
I like stories that start off with a bang, that demand my attention and never let go. Which is to say, I think, that I’m much more of a fan of fast paced stories.

5) What types of characters appeal to you the most? Any examples?
Religion, appearance, creed, gender, orientation – none of it matters, as long as you make me care about them. I cannot emphasize that enough.

6) Is there a specific tone you'd like to set in your publication? What kind of voices grab you and keep you enthralled? Any examples?
What I really want to capture with Basement Stories is that sense of impossibility, of wonder and excitement and dread, that comes out of well told fantastic tales.  I want to believe six impossible things before breakfast.

This doesn’t mean I’m not looking for darker stories, that every story has to have a childlike sense of joy. But I want stories that bring out the extraordinary in the ordinary, that make people laugh or think or cry, that suck them away from their cubicle or desk or bedroom and make them live in another world, for a brief time.

7) What is your policy for vulgarity, violence, and sexual content? Any taboos?
The only taboo I have is racial slurs. It’s one of the few things that will make me just walk away from a story. Other than that, go for it, as long as the swearing or sex or explosions is in service of the story, and not purely to titillate or shock.

8) What kind of themes are you seeking most in submissions to this market? In general, what themes interest you?
I think speculative fiction has always been, since its inception, about The Big Questions. Why are we here? What does it mean to be human? What do technological changes occurring now mean for the future? Will we have a future? In particular, work that addresses our humanity, what makes us human as opposed to alien life forms or magical creatures or artificial intelligence. That being said, I’d look at anything with any theme, as long as it’s interesting.

9) Overall, do you prefer downbeat or upbeat endings?
I like endings that I will remember years and years later, though I do have a soft spot for downbeat endings. A good example: “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin. I read that story once when I was young and my brain was still squishy, and I remembered the ending perfectly, for years, long after I’d forgotten the title or author.

But more importantly, and this is something I feel a little silly saying, your story should have an ending. Just because the fiction you are writing is short, it should still have a definite conclusion, not just a sudden stopping point. A successful ending can make a good story magnificent, just as a lack of an ending can easily lead to rejection.

10) Any last advice for submitters to this market? Any critical dos or don’ts?
Spend time on your titles – they’re the suit your stories wear to their job interview. A good title can make the story.

This might seem kind of obvious, but make something happen in your story – let the characters be changed by the events of your story, let it have impact. And let the story have an impact on your reader. Stories matter.

On a less serious note, we’re always looking for more visual art. I always, when I’m reading magazines, wish there was more of a visual aspect, so if you’ve got it, please send it.

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For more scoops, go to marketscoops.blogspot.com.

D.L. Snell writes with Permuted Press. He edited Dr. Kim Paffenroth twice, John Dies at the End once, and provided a constructive critique to Joe McKinney on his next major novel after Dead City. You can shoot D.L. Snell in the head at www.exit66.net.

To reprint this article, please contact D.L. Snell.

Improved Scoop Questionnaire

Recently, I retooled the Market Scoops questionnaire to mine richer answers from editors. Since y’all are the ones affected by my choices, I’d love to get your feedback. So here’s what I did...

After calculating some quick statistics, I realized that certain questions almost always receive the same answer. For example, old question number eight—“What are the top three things submitters to this market should avoid?”—limits editors to a commonsense response: we all know we ought to spell things correctly and properly format our manuscripts—duh! So I’ve completely removed that question, along with old question number nine, “What trait are you seeking most in submissions to this market?”

In their place, I have added two new questions, one about theme and the other about tone and voice. I also have tacked on new dimensions to a few existing questions and have reordered them logically, I hope.

Now here is where you come in. I have pasted the new questionnaire below, with the new questions and elements highlighted in red. If you like it, if you hate it, if you think you could do it better, comment and let me know—I’d love to hear from you!!!

1) What authors do you enjoy, and why does their writing captivate you?

2) What are your favorite genres? Which genres would you like to see incorporated into submissions to this market?

3) What settings most intrigue you? Ordinary or exotic locales? Real or fantasy? Past, present, or future?

4) Explain the type of pacing you enjoy, e.g. slow building to fast, fast throughout, etc.

5) What types of characters appeal to you the most? Any examples?

6) Is there a specific tone you'd like to set in your publication? What kind of voices grab you and keep you enthralled? Any examples?

7) What is your policy for vulgarity, violence, and sexual content? Any taboos?

8) What kind of themes are you seeking most in submissions to this market? In general, what themes interest you?

9) Overall, do you prefer downbeat or upbeat endings?

10) Any last advice for submitters to this market? Any critical dos or don’ts?

Aspen Mountain Press

THE MARKET

• Publisher: Aspen Mountain Press
  Aurora Regency/Aurora Historicals
• Editor(s): Celina Summers
• Pay Rate: 35% US download price; 40 % after 100 sales
• Response Time: 1 month
• Description: Aurora Regency and Aurora Historicals are imprints of Aspen Mountain Press, a multi-genre, royalty-paying, independent e-publisher. (More in guidelines.)
• Submission Guidelines: www.aspenmountainpress.com

NOTE: Horror author D.L. Snell conducted the following interview to give writers a better idea of what the editors of this specific market are seeking; however, most editors are open to ideas outside of the preferences discussed here, as long as they fit the basic submission guidelines.

THE SCOOP

1) What authors do you enjoy, and why does their writing captivate you?
I enjoy all kinds of authors. I read many genres, so my tastes are eclectic--ranging from Jane Austen to Georgette Heyer to JK Rowling and Jacqueline Carey. I find that all of these writers inherently tell a good story, the kind of story that leaves you waiting anxiously for the next installment of it. That's what I look for in submissions I consider.

2) What are your favorite genres? Which of these genres would you like to see incorporated into submissions to this market?
Fortunately, Aspen Mountain Press publishes most fiction genres so I find that my needs as an editor are met. Right now, I'm busily getting Aurora Regency ready for launch, and we are focusing initially on Regency romances and fiction set between the Georgian and Victorian eras. I would like to see that expanded into Elizabethan/Tudor England and medieval Europe in the very near future, and I always have a soft spot for western romances and Greco-Roman mythology.

3) What settings most intrigue you? Ordinary or exotic locales? Real or fantasy? Past, present, or future?
At the moment, I'm focused upon settings that are historically and socially accurate. At Aurora, we are stringently fact checking everything in our novels from where specific shops are on streets to popular slang and dances. Accuracy is a must at Aurora. But at Aspen Mountain, I really adore stories in fantasy/sci fi/steampunk settings that are rich and fully developed. Nothing fascinates me more than outstanding world building.

4) Explain the type of pacing you enjoy, e.g. slow building to fast, fast throughout, etc.
I think a great story has levels of pacing. It's like you're climbing a mountain. Sure, the majority of it is straight up but every once in a while you need a plateau, where you can sit down for a minute, catch your breath and reflect on what has already happened. To me, the same thing needs to happen in a good story.

5) What types of characters appeal to you the most? Any examples?
I want real characters--characters that could walk right by me in Walmart and be credible. A perfect character is boring. Give me a character who thinks he's perfect and then destroy everything he holds dear. How he reacts to adversity is what makes his story interesting.

6) What is your policy for vulgarity, violence, and sexual content?
Aspen Mountain Press publishes stories at any heat level. My epic fantasy series with no sexual content (but fairly graphic battle scenes) is published through AMP. We have specific guidelines listed on our submissions pages at www.aspenmountainpress.com.

Aurora Regency and Aurora Historicals are a bit different. Traditional Regency romances do not have sexual content at all in keeping with the historical accuracy we espouse. That's why spicier Regencies will be released through Aurora Historicals while traditional Regencies will be released through Aurora Regency.

7) In general, do you prefer downbeat or upbeat endings?
I prefer an ending that is in keeping with the story. Traditional Regencies--in fact, most romances--require a happily ever after ending and that's what we seek. In other genres, a happy ending is neither necessary nor required.

8) What are the top three things submitters to this market should avoid?

1. Not knowing the difference between pornographic and erotic.
2. Not providing a manuscript as clean and technically perfect as it can be. Seriously--spelling/grammatical errors will get your manuscript rejected faster than anything else.
3. Not being prepared for the eventuality that this manuscript will be edited thoroughly and correctly. If you think your manuscript is perfect, you will not enjoy the editing process. There is no such thing as a perfect manuscript.

9) What trait are you seeking most in submissions to this market?
We are seeking well-written, engaging stories that force a reader to care about what happens to the characters.

10) Any last advice for submitters to this market?
When you submit a manuscript to AMP or any other publisher, follow their submission guidelines EXACTLY. Make it easy for an acquisitions editor to go through your submission: format it correctly, write a proper query letter, take the time to put it in the preferred font and spacing and make certain it's as technically clean as you can make it.

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For more scoops, go to marketscoops.blogspot.com.

D.L. Snell writes with Permuted Press. He edited Dr. Kim Paffenroth twice, John Dies at the End once, and provided a constructive critique to Joe McKinney on his next major novel after Dead City. You can shoot D.L. Snell in the head at www.exit66.net.

This article may be freely reprinted in any e-zine, newsletter, newspaper, magazine, website, etc. as long as all links and this message remain intact, as well as Snell's byline and bio. The formatting may be adjusted to fit the venue, but the content of the article must not be altered without written permission from D.L. Snell.