Submission Guidelines

Submissions are closed for time being.

It is with great reluctance that we at QM find ourselves forced to close to new submissions.

Rumors that this is entirely due to laziness, or losing our password to open the files or that we have finally drunk ourselves blind and can no longer read them are all at least partially exaggerated.

In short, we have become too successful.

Whereas, in our infancy, we had to hit up friends, use blackmail photos and buy stories from drunks under bridges with sips of cough medicine, we now receive close to a hundred stories per month. Since we only publish six on average, we are generating quite the backlog.

There are far too many good stories that we don't want to reject, so we have been pushing our acceptances out further and further, but we still exceed our quota every month. We are swamped top the point where we cannot give each story the care it deserves.

Therefor, we have decided to close submissions until the end of the summer. We have enough stories to fill the next few months, so you will be assured an uninterrupted supply of pure Muse to keep the monkey on your back happy and keep up with your Joneses. By August, we hope to have the slushpile down to a reasonable level that we can clear out the old and start fresh with an new crop of eager young writers for the Fall.

Meanwhile, we have left our submission guidelines up, mostly because we're lazy, but partially to allow you to get your story ready for Fall.

Contents
| What are we looking for? | Payment | Copyright Policy | Word Limits | Submission Format |
| Paper Submissions | Artwork Submissions | Response Time | Rejections | FAQ |

Quantum Muse is interested in stories and artwork. We are not looking for poetry at this time. Ray has an English degree and was forced to read enough poetry already to become snobby about it, and Mike is a Philistine who lists his favorite poets as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Our policy on poetry is best expressed as a Haiku.

Painful Poetry
Submissions make me yearn to
Taste Death's sweet release

We have three general categories: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Alternative. What the heck is Alternative? At Quantum Muse we define an Alternative story as one that does not fit easily into any one genre. Essentially, we'll publish any story that catches our fancy.

We pay a flat rate of Ten American dollars ($10.00) per story, plus 50% of any fan donations given to your story. If you live in another country, the conversion is your responsibility.

All cash payments will be made with PayPal. If you do not have a PayPal account, you can sign up here:
U.S. Residents click here
Non-U.S. Residents click here

If you do not wish to sign up with PayPal, we can offer you the following items in lieu of a cash payment:
A Quantum Musings anthology paperback book
T-shirt
Coffee Mug
Mouse Pad
Book Bag

Stories are kept in our archives for a period of six (6) months. During this time, it is possible to receive additional moneys from fans who enjoyed your story with the special tip cup provided at the bottom. Tips will be sent by PayPal when the story has been removed from the archives.

We only pay for one-time publication rights; after publication, all rights revert back to you, the author.

All payments, cash or otherwise, will be made 6 months after publication. Please be aware that international shipping could take as long as 4 weeks after mailing.

If you really hate the idea of PayPal, or fear new online technology -- well, you're not quite right in the head dealing with an online science fiction site in the first place, but who am I to judge? If you don't want to go this route, email us and we'll send you a paper check with our usual speed, rivaled as it is only by evolution and continental drift. Payment by check, including tips, will not be made until 6 months after publication when the story is removed from the archives (plus an additional thirty days for each time you email me to ask where your money is. If you think I'm kidding, try me).

If you have any questions about payment send it directly to cindy@quantummuse.com. She is more forgiving of you writers.

We ask that you do not submit stories based on copyrighted characters. Our lawyer was recently disbarred and we cannot afford to violate copyright law, no matter how flattering your Star Trek story is. We assume you own the rights to the story you submit to us. If you do not, and we mistakenly publish it, don't expect us to take your side in any way when the lawyers come knocking.

We also ask that you not submit pornography. We are not attempting to infringe on your First Amendment rights, nor are we a bunch of book burning, Puritan fascists. Sexual content or strong language will not immediately disqualify a piece provided it advances the story, or is essential to plot or character development. Pandering or titillating for its own sake is inconsistent with our stated goal of providing aspiring authors an open forum for displaying their talent, and providing our readers with the finest fiction that a lack of money can obtain.

We have an 8,000 word limit. You may submit longer works if they can be serialized. Serialized works have special guidelines. We must have the whole, completed work in our grubby paws. We hate it when the author dies before finishing a series, and we do not want to disappoint our readers. Each installment must resolve enough of the plot to be satisfying but must have a strong lead in to the next installment.

We prefer electronic submissions. Simply save your work as ASCII text (plain text with paragraph breaks) and be prepared to paste it into either a form (preferred) or an e-mail.

Do not use Microsoft Word. MSWord uses code to represent commas, quotes, etc. If you try to paste Word into our HTML editor, the code shows up instead of the punctuation.

For example:
"Hey Joe! What's up?"

Will look like this:
8200; What&8221;s u;

Which makes us say
"Hey, Bill Gates! &*@# you, you @$$ &*@#!"
And want to reject your story.

Word Perfect pastes fine into everything else, so it's not like it has to be difficult. Microsoft just sucks and wants us to use their lousy HTML editor, which our Web Goddess hates, on account of it's just a bunch of bugs with a line of code wrapped around them.

If you must submit a dead tree version, it must also include a 3.5 inch disk saved in one of the above formats. If you want a reply, and if you want to see your manuscript again, include a return envelope with postage. If not, we will file your submission in our biomass heating unit.

If you send something via snail mail, send it to:
Quantum Muse
5 East Eglin Blvd.
Londonderry, NH 03053

Remember, it is much easier to submit electronically. We like electronic submissions because we store the electrons in a massive battery bank and use them to power the computers at Quantum Muse.

For artwork submissions, please click here.

Accepted works will be published in a timely manner. We define timely. Due to the volume we receive, expect a story to be considered for publication (or rejection) about three months after submitting it. Increased submission volume, or life in general, can increase this time, so please be patient.

A short biography of the author should be included with the story if the author would care to become famous. After initial publication, works will be archived. Stories will be removed at the author's request. For example, if you happen to sell the story to Hollywood, we at Quantum Muse understand.

Quantum Muse is in the business of publishing writers, not rejecting them. We do our poor best to offer the best reading material to our fans, as we're sure you try your best to create a piece worth reading. We know that writing is 10% talent and 90% created on a learning curve made of sleepless nights and binge drinking. In other words, it takes time and effort to create a masterpiece.

| What are we looking for? | Payment | Copyright Policy | Word Limits | Submission Format |
| Paper Submissions | Artwork Submissions | Response Time | Rejections | FAQ |

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