Flash fiction (of up to 1,000 words) or short stories (less than 6,000 words) should be self-contained and sit somewhere within the realm of speculative fiction—horror, science fiction, magical realism, fantasy, slipstream, and other subgenres—though stories will only be categorized on the site as science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Regardless of the category, a submission should be highly plausible. Therefore, a story about the colonization of other planets or a story about a robot army wiping out all but three humans on the planet would not be the best fit for this magazine.

Additionally, while stories with sexuality, violence, or profanity will not be immediately rejected, these elements should be justified within the writing and will be labelled for readers’ discretion.

Acidic Fiction pays $35 per story (regardless of length) through PayPal upon acceptance. Davis writes that the magazine pays “by the story because payment per word places less value on shorter stories and prevents [them] from buying longer ones.”

This token payment purchases first world electronic rights (exclusive for 90 days, non-exclusive for another 90 days) and an option to buy world anthology rights (non-exclusive). Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but multiple submissions to the magazine are not.

Acidic Fiction tries to respond to most submissions in about seven days. This remarkable response time is all the more impressive when considering that Acidic Fiction’s hope “to respond to everyone with at least a couple of quick notes.”

You can learn more about them on their main site here.

Bio: Mandy Brown is a writer in Central Texas, the 2013 recipient of A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Tillie Olsen Fellowship, and the author of The Sting (Sweatshoppe Publications, 2013). Mandy currently teaches English at an alternative school and loves it! Read more of her writing at mandyalyssbrown.weebly.com.

Cohesion Press is a small press publishes novels in the sub genres of military horror, military sci-fi, and creature-based thrillers. They have only been around for a few years but they have already published 19 books, although many are part of the same series.

They offer 50% of gross income on all electronic and print sales. They have a lot of detailed requirements so I recommend that you read their guidelines before submitting.

Their owner is Geoff Brown, the past president of the Australian Horror Writers Association. He also runs an editing company under a similar name. They are an Australian based company.

When you submit your pitch please include a brief cover letter in the body of the email. All submissions must be made via email. The rest of your submission should be attached as a word document.

Make sure to include your contact information on the top left and total word count on the top right. Title and author name should be centered. The full synopsis (no more than 600 words in length) and author bio should be included.

Include any promotional experience you have as well as your website, blog, social media links, etc. Also submit the first three chapters (or the first 10,000 words). All of this should be one attached document. The subject of the email should be genre_[title]_[surname].

They try to respond to all submissions within two weeks. If you have not heard from them at that point, feel free to query.

To learn more visit their submission guidelines here.

With the advent of the internet writers are forced to make an immediate impact on consumers or get lost in the fray. Like literary speed dating, it is imperative we keep readers from moving to the next book on the virtual book shelf.

This is why both items–subject choice and quality of content–are equally important. But, they are important for two totally different reasons.

Spicy Subject Matter = Capture

The Fifty Shades of Grey series is a perfect example of capturing an untapped audience through subject choice. BDSM novels are not main stream, yet Fifty Shades tapped into a topic that was ‘taboo’ and capitalized on what proved to be both titillating and mysterious on a world-wide scale.

The trilogy ranked 1, 2 and 3 on the 2012 Amazon bestsellers list. The audience was captured but can interest in be sustained? That has yet to be seen. Can E.L. James continue to write and enthrall the masses without the media-hyped ‘scandalous’ lifestyle twist?

Quality of Content = Retention

Quality of content builds trust, thereby, building consumer retention. Here are three items that help to increase quality of content.

1. Research. Does the author know their topic? Having a fundamental understanding of a culture is imperative, especially if the culture is one of the essential components of the book.

Fifty Shades was resoundingly critiqued for its inaccuracy regarding the relationship dynamics of people who practice the BDSM lifestyle. Is this how an actual mature BDSM relationship evolves or is this a story of a predator and an ingénue? Know the character’s situational and emotional reality. If the emotional content is in question by the reader and the characters don’t behave authentically, an accurate description of a flogger or a St. Andrew’s cross means very little. When the characters ring false the author can lose the reader’s trust.

Research is also important if an author is going to mold or bend the subject matter to fit into a new world they are building. One cannot bend rules without knowing them first. If a reader is confident a writer knows the ‘basics’ they are more likely to suspend disbelief and let the author take them somewhere fantastic.

2. Dialogue. There is nothing more endearing than clever banter or honest, gut-wrenching prose. If the dialogue within a book is yawn-worthy the storyline loses its pace, its tension and finally its reader. Boring or superfluous conversations make bad content. No one wants to read filler.

3. Humanity. Is there a universal theme being sought after in your story? Introducing a universal theme is what drives that emotional impact.

Finally, when readers become fierce cheerleaders for, or loathsome enemies with a fictional character the writer has become successful on both fronts: subject choice and content quality. With the balance of engaging subject matter and quality content, regardless of a book’s outcome, the reader will be left with some indelible mark. The world the author has created is both sustainable and credible.

Here is an example of willingly suspending disbelief that always makes me appreciate a well-developed story: Jane Eyre’s call for Mr. Rochester to “…wait for me!” being heard by him over miles and miles of windswept moors.

At that moment, in Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë could have told me aliens were landing on my roof and I would have believed her. She brought humanity, intelligent dialogue, a socio-economic expertise and romance to my hungry literary mind and I am still here for it over one hundred and sixty years later. That’s what I call retention.

Bio: Tiffany Monique is a New England native with a southern heart. Presently living in New Orleans, she has been writing romance since her pre-teen years and has decided to open the doors to her imagination for the rest of the world. As a classically trained vocalist, movie-buff, traveler and foodie she lives in the perfect city (in her unabashedly biased opinion) to explore all of her vices, both good and bad. Please enjoy, read and review her books Audra’s Sin, Jordan’s Deliverance, A Thigh-High Christmas (Amazon.com) and drop a line to say hello via Twitter (@HeiressofEros) or her blog.