Story Submission Tips

Increasing your Chances of Getting Selected for Deep Magic E-zine

Deep Magic E-zine is a professional science fiction and fantasy online magazine. Since re-launching our magazine in June of 2016, on average, we only select approximately 1.5% of the stories that are submitted to us. But, don’t despair. Our First Readers are eagerly searching for well-written stories with tension and deep characters. You can greatly increase your chances of being selected by simply knowing what it is that we’re looking for. Before you submit your story, be sure to check out these resources we pulled together for potential Deep Magic authors.

#1: Read Our Published Short Stories

If you want to write for our audience, you need to know what they’re tastes are. Our readers have a range of stories they’re interested in, but they generally have a similar tone and emotionally move the reader. Our stories often leave the reader feeling hopeful, inspired, or awed. Our audience is intellectual and they enjoy fun stories, stories with a clever twist, or stories they can reflect on for days. We highly recommend you read at least one issue of Deep Magic; this is the best way to know what types of stories we’re looking for.

You can check out our issues on Amazon.

#2: First Reader Q&A

Listen to Deep Magic First Reader, Abby Thorne, to find out what she looks for when she reads each submission. She also shares examples of actual stories we loved and published. Here are some topics she covers:

Submission guidelines: For example, we are a “clean reads” e-zine. This is what makes us unique among our SF&F peers. Be sure to read our guidelines before you submit.
Grammar: Poor grammar or line edit errors is a red flag for first readers. We do have an editor, but First Readers see hundreds of stories. Your story should reflect how much time and care you’ve put into writing and editing it. Abby shares tips on how to fix grammar errors, but we will also add that writing critique groups or hiring an editor are also good options.
Strong Beginning: Make sure the beginning of your story rocks. Keep First Readers engaged past the first page by writing a compelling beginning.
Satisfying Ending: Don’t leave your short story readers on a dramatic cliff hanger. (More details on this in the article below.)

#3: Top 3 Mistakes We See Most Often

We worked with Eschler Editing to write an article on the top 3 mistakes we see from short story writers. This is a great article for all short story you write, for Deep Magic and every publisher.

#4: Submit Again

Don’t be afraid of rejection. Even if your story isn’t the perfect fit for us, it might be great for another publisher. Keep writing, keep improving. We’d love to see a new story from you every time we open up for submissions.

Deep Magic E-zine

Deep Magic E-zine publishes professional authors each month along with newer authors. It’s our passion to find new author voices, to publish them along side best selling SF&F authors, and share their stories with our amazing readers. Thank you for being a part of this process. It’s an honor to receive so many wonderful short stories each month and we wish all authors much success with their stories.

~ The Deep Magic Board

Legal Disclaimers

By submitting your work for publication in Deep Magic, a fantasy and science fiction e-zine published by Amberlin, (An Idaho S-Corp) you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by the following terms. You, the person submitting work to by published, shall be referred to as “Author.” The following terms apply to all submissions made by Author to Amberlin.

1. Ownership.

Amberlin shall submit a publishing contract to Author setting forth the terms of the ownership of the Work and the rights purchased by Amberlin. The Work shall not be published until the contract is fully executed by the parties and all essential terms of the contract are met.

2. Payment/Consideration.

The terms of payment shall be established by the contract between Amberlin and Author. For first world-wide rights, Amberlin currently pays $.08 per word for the first 7,499 words, with payment capped at $599.90 for stories longer than 7,500 words. For re-printed stories, Amberlin currently pays $.02 per word for the first 10,000 words, with payment capped at $200 for stories longer than 10,000 words. Articles and non-fiction submissions are rarely accepted without solicitation by Amberlin, and Amberlin does not currently pay for articles and other non-fiction work. Payment terms are subject to change, but once a contract is executed, payment terms shall be fixed by the terms of the contract.

3. Author’s Rights in the Work for Original Works.

By submitting a Work to Amberlin, Author represents to Amberlin that Author has the ability to convey the following rights for original Work:
A. First world-wide publishing rights of the Work in electronic, print and audio format;
B. Exclusive world-wide rights to publish the Work in all formats for one year from the date of publication of the issue of Deep Magic in which the Work first appears;
C. Exclusive world-wide rights to publish the Work in print for two years from the effective date of this contract as stated above;
D. Non-exclusive rights to continue to make the Work available in Deep Magic electronic magazine in the issue in which it was originally published and to include the work in print, electronic and audio formats for use in one or more collections, “best of” or anthologies indefinitely.

4. Author’s Rights in the Work for Reprinted Stories.

By submitting a Work to Amberlin, Author represents to Amberlin that Author has the ability to convey the following rights for reprinted Work:
A. World-wide publishing rights of the Work in all formats for one year from the date of publication of the issue of Deep Magic in which the Work first appears;
B. Exclusive world-wide rights to publish the Work in print for two years from the effective date of this contract as stated above, with the exception of the rights previously granted by Author as described in the Author’s Guarantees section of the contract;
C. Non-exclusive rights to continue to make the Work available in Deep Magic electronic magazine in the issue in which it was originally published and to include the work in print, electronic and audio formats for use in one or more collections, “best of” or anthologies indefinitely.

5. Indemnification.

In the event Author submits a Work for publication in Deep Magic, and the Work is plagiarized, libelous, illegal for any other reason, and/or if the Author submits a Work for which the Author lacks intellectual property rights, or otherwise lacks the ability to convey the rights requested in the Amberlin Publishing Contract, Author shall indemnify and hold Amberlin harmless against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, or other harm caused by submitting the Work.

6. Governing Law.

The relationship between Amberlin and Author shall be governed by the laws of the state of Idaho. All lawsuits between Author and Publisher arising as a direct or indirect consequence of Author’s submission of the Work to Amberlin shall be filed in the State of Idaho, County of Madison.