Selling Stories to AANPress
An interview with Todd Sanders
After a bit of a break, Air and Nothingness Press has a new submissions call! You can learn more at the Kickstarter which runs till July 10th.
Mmeory
Speculative - Opens July 7 - August 15 - 2000 words max - 8c a word - Theme: Memory manipulation - Examples include magic spells, cyborg memory edits, very unreliable narrators, time travel gone horribly wrong.
We are open to all genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Alternate History, Steampunk, Hopepunk, Solarpunk, and beyond....
Todd asks for some specific layout specs: Margins: .5”; Font: Calibri 11 point, single spaced - if possible.
MY INSIGHTS: I’ve interviewed Todd twice, and he purchased a short story, “The Last Drop of Diesel” from me (Near Future Dystopian Mystery) for his We Are All Thieves of Somebody’s Future. I received two rejections with good advice from two previous calls before finally finding his vibe.
Todd is one of those truly unique editors who takes the time to give helpful advice if he thinks an author’s story is almost there. He is one of the gems.
He advises authors:
Authors may explore any genre with their stories and we encourage
a wide variety of ideas and interpretations.
Be wild, take chances, submit stories that are left of center. Show us your fireworks!
See the FULL interview with Todd further down this newsletter. But FIRST…
Just a reminder about these other cool calls!
Diabolical Plots (opens today)
Spec - opening July 7 - 21 - 3500 max - 10c per word - no multiple or reprints - sim subs yes - ANON subs - Speculative fiction–science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Everything should have a speculative element–that includes horror. Feel free to mix in other genres at will–a fantasy mystery or a science fiction romance. MY INSIGHTS - this is one of those biggie markets we all want to get into. I’ve cornered David and interviewed him. He also runs one of the best story market tools and trackers in the industry at Submission Grinder
Here is some advice direct from David:
For what kinds of stories we tend to buy: I think we buy a pretty wide variety of different topics and styles, though leaning a bit more to weird difficult-to-classify stories that might have more difficulty elsewhere. But also, the scores of stories we've published are all online free to read so if anyone wants to know what we tend to buy, it's a matter of public record!
Fraidy Cat Press (closes today)
Horror - Theme- Rage - July 1 -7 - 400-8000 words, $10 -$20 payment. Sub sims allowed. Fraidy Cat Press loves all things horror – from the eerie, creeping terror of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”’s systematic violence to the unhinged tilt of Laird Barron’s “The Imago Sequence” and everything in between. We want your stories that go bump in the night, your stories that creak like an intruding foot on the staircase, your best writing that screeches through the calm darkness.
This is another publication where I interviewed the founder to get all the nitty gritty hints. Robert Helfst says:
Essentially, we enjoy character-driven stories and strong writing that take place in horrific settings. This doesn't always mean that a story has to be set in the midst of spine-chilling action (although we do love those too.)
ANOMALY (closes today)
Dark Sci-Fi - July 1-7th - 8c a word - 300 words and under - no sim subs - no reprints - We're looking for dark and disruptive stories that have strong emotional resonance. We like stories that stick with us after reading, that get us thinking about the twisted use of technologies, the way the world may be, or how characters might react to an evolving technological future. MY INSIGHTS - got my first rejection after just a few days yesterday.
Cosmic Horror Monthly (closes today)
Horror: July 1 -7 - under 5000 words - 3c a word - no reprints - yes sim subs
CHM is a small press headquartered in Oklahoma city. We want to drive cosmic horror and weird fiction into the future while paying homage to the golden age of pulp literature.
We believe that the horror genre’s diversity is its greatest strength, and we wish that viewpoint to be reflected in our story content and submission queues. We are especially interested in hearing from those whose voices are underrepresented in the cosmic/weird. If comfortable, feel free to drop this information in your cover letter.
We strongly favor stories that use contemporary narrative styles.
MY INSIGHTS - 7 rejections. I’ll try again!
https://cosmichorrormonthly.com
APEX FLASH FICTION
Dark strange spec- deadline Oct 31 - 8c a word - THEME - announced today on their Patreon- max words 1000 - MY INSIGHTS - One of my biggest short story goals is to sell to Apex. (Strange, surreal and shocking fiction. Only my fav stuff!!!!) I’ve had a few of my subs get close, but no cigar. YET.
Here is a hint from Lesley Conner, the editor
I want stories that make me feel big emotions, that open my view of the world and galaxy beyond, I want stories that feel like the writer is sitting next to me and telling me a story that is meant for me only.
Todd Sanders from Air and Nothingness Press
Air and Nothingness Press has been publishing poetry, science fiction, fantasy, and short stories since 1997. The anthology I participated in tackled a tough subject: What happens when our world loses a critical resource?
We Are All Thieves of Somebody’s Future asks that very question. The call allowed for some wild imaginings, looking into the loss of food, trees, oil, dragons, breathable air, or even intangibles like love, happiness, or time.
“The Last Drop of Diesel” follows the adventures of Emma and Cliff, an enemies-to-lovers duo at the exact moment the world runs out of fossil fuels. These two characters also star in my first novel, City Lights to Country Nights. (Currently on sub with Cherry Weiner.)
Let’s chat with Todd. (Note, most of this interview had been pulled from my two previous sit-downs with him.)
AF: Do you have any advice for writers hoping to sell you a story?
TS: I suppose I have rather quirky tastes. I am a voracious reader and have a good foundation in the last 100 years of science fiction and fantasy. So, I like to now read things that reinterpret and remix aspects of those genres in new ways.
I am not very interested in safe, mainstream stories. I hope authors who submit to me are interested in taking chances and writing things that they might not otherwise write because of the markets they generally submit to.
AF: If you could go back in time to when you were starting your writing career, what would you tell yourself?
TS: That you will be very surprised where it has taken you.
AF: Tell us about the creation of Air and Nothingness Press.
TS: I began in 1997 by self-publishing a book of my poetry and then became a translator of the French surrealist poet Robert Desnos. I published five books of his writings over the next ten years as well as my own work. The first book of his I did was actually a full cloth-covered hardcover edition, letter-pressed with four hand-printed woodcut plates and old school binding; this was before the current interest in letterpress so it was a bit a task to educate myself, find the right people, and get the books printed back in 2000.
In 2017, I began working with science fiction and fantasy authors, namely Steph Swainston and Jamie Lackey, publishing short story collections and then on to anthologies and bigger projects. I publish between four and five books a year and the current books are all of a branded size with french flaps and interior cover printing. My day job is being a graphic designer, and since this is all a labor of love, I explore ideas of design and layout and am known for a well-defined design style. I recently started a sideline publication project – AaNX – which is an eight-page full-color newspaper formatted piece that allows me to combine text, images, and graphic design in ways I cannot do with the books. I aim to do one or two issues of that a year.
AF: How has your background in architecture and graphic design helped you with your publishing company?
TS: Architecture is a wonderful education in the art of solving problems and working simultaneously with a host of different and sometimes contrary issues. After being employed as an architectural intern for several years I moved into the field of graphic design and have been a freelancer for the last 30+ years. I have the (perhaps) luxury of not needing bookstore sales as my sole revenue stream, so I am not subject to some of the standard rules regarding cover design and shelf display. I am able to take all of my experience in other design fields and apply them to the kind of books I enjoy creating. I like to say the books I publish are bespoke editions. I am most interested in limited edition, physical copies of books and do not really do much in the way of ebooks.
AF: Some of your calls are in shared world environments. Why is that?
TS: Both “Polis” and “The Librarian” series of books use a shared world organizing principal (as will “Our Dust Earth”) for authors to work with. I enjoy the idea of linked short stories feeling like chapters in a novel. Though they are single author collections, Terry Dowling’s “Rynosseros” series as well Cordwainer Smith’s “Instrumentality” stories and Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” stories use this shared world organization. With multiple authors, it lets each writer have their own voice and freedom to explore a shared world either micro or macroscopically in their own way, while having the stories linked by a common overarching narrative.
AF: There’s an interesting meld of genres used in your anthologies- why such an eclectic mix?
TS: I publish limited editions, and the press is my own creation (no board of directors or partners or staff) so I have the luxury of exploring ideas and genres that might be less popular among larger presses, but things I personally enjoy and want to see out there. Stories I cannot find elsewhere. Having a mix of genres in the books means I get to publish a wide array of authors and they can work to their best benefit with what suits their writing styles and interests. I think the anthologies overall are the better for this and appeal to a larger readership.
AF: What kind of writing do you do yourself?
TS: I am a poet and translator, and mainly write prose poetry, often with a scientific bent. Over the years I have become one of the principal translators of the French poet Robert Desnos here in the US. Translating is an interesting process and has taught me much about the structure of Desnos’ writing and his own choices and mechanics, which in turn informs my own work.
AF: How does your publishing company turn a profit, if it does?
TS: The press is a labor of love. While I eventually make back the cost to print the books and pay authors (I pay professional rates for all stories I publish) I don’t pay myself any sort of salary for my own work. I find success in publishing new authors (often allowing them to join the SFWA – Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) and giving them a first chance to get their voices out there. I am also happy that I get to work with talented authors from around the world who might be otherwise marginalized in the mainstream publishing world. So profits are slim but the work is rewarding.
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