Note that as of 10 Nov 2025, ALL SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED until we get through everything that's been submitted over the fall season. We'll REOPEN for submissions with a call for a new anthology in January or February. This change will be announced in our newsletter as well as on BlueSky, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
submission Requirements
We’d love to read your flash (sub-1000 wds) horror stories and plan to publish one per month in our “featured stories” zone. Through its first two years in operation, our press has found its niche in publishing work exposing the terror of the trivial—stories forcing us to feel the horror in life’s mundanities.
Read the “who we are” info for more helpful brain-sparking info before reading on.
dos
Follow the shunn manuscript format
Review your work carefully before submitting
Add an author bio and a cover note introducing your story in a sentence or so
Consider the sort of thing we publish by checking out our featured stories and, even better, our anthologies.
Consider that what’s mundane to one may not be mundane to another… the voice of the story should bring the terror of the mundane for that character to the fore.
Send your submissions to editor [at] whisperhousepress [dot] com using the subject line “FEATURED STORY SUBMISSION: [author name] [story name] [word count]”
If you’re submitting a novella (we’re looking for 20-40k words), send a log line, synopsis (1-2 pages), and the first ten pages of the work.
don’ts
Don’t send us anything where the dog (or cat, or whatever) dies.
Don’t send us anything depicting sexual violence
Don’t send us anything in the mail.
No A.I., goddammit.
Don’t send us previously published work (on your own website counts… “published” means made available for public consumption in any capacity).
Don’t email us asking if you can submit stories that bust the specified word count (200-1000).
Don’t send more than one story in any 180-day period.
extra
If you’ve submitted to one of our anthologies and have received a personalized and encouraging response, feel free to submit that story for this page.
If you received our canned-but-heartfelt thanks-but-no-thanks note, please don’t resubmit that work here.
While all work is judged on its own merit, we encourage submissions from members of underrepresented and historically marginalized groups
If you’ve been published with Whisper House Press’s Featured Stories before, please wait 180 days after your last story publishes before submitting again. If you’ve been published in one of our anthologies, feel free to submit!
Rights and Contracts:
If we like your stuff (and this is more tricky: if we think it’s a good fit for our mission and brand), we’ll offer you a simple contract to give us permission for first-printing rights and for a period of 180 days of exclusivity from the date of publication prior to releasing rights back to you for reprinting. For novella contracts, the story is different, but the information is all right here.
Simultaneous Submissions?
- Yes, but notify us if you place your story elsewhere.
Word count (not including title):
- for flash / micro fiction: 200 to 1000 words
- for novellas: 25-40k words
Payment:
- $10 per accepted short story, flat rate
- $300 advance per novella, flat rate, plus 50% royalties following earning out advance and our covering costs of initial production (again, see the contract linked above)
Translations?
- No, unless your native language is English. We’re not equipped to handle other-language subs.
Questions?
- Email the above address with the subject line “FEATURED STORY QUERY”.
Response timeline:
- We aim to respond inside 45 days to all submissions. If you don’t hear from us after that window, feel free to inquire politely.
Whisper House Press 