General guidelines

Big Pulp publishes genre fiction and poetry of all kinds, in anthology magazines, as well as in themed collections. We define “pulp fiction” differently than most and very broadly – we look for character-driven stories that are challenging, thought-provoking, thrilling, and fun, regardless of how many or how few genre elements are packed in. In our opinion, a great deal of literary fiction could be considered genre.

We have a dark sense of humor and love stories that defy genre conventions. We strongly urge writers targeting our publications to try one of our books or magazines to get a sense for our tone and preferences.

For some ideas about what kind of stories we like, buy some books, read some of our online selections, or click here. Purchasing our publications also helps ensure we’ll be here when you want to submit!

Length

Fiction and non-fiction – 2500 words
Poetry – up to 3 poems

Fiction and non-fiction longer than 2500 words will be considered.
Please do not submit fiction longer than 10,000 words.

Rights

We request first North American serial rights. Reprints will be considered, but please inform us that the work has been printed previously. You must have the rights to your work. Our general rule is that we prefer not to publish work that is available online or archived elsewhere. We will consider work that has appeared in print, provided the work is not generally available (ie: not in a collection currently available for sale).

Simultaneous submissions are okay. Please submit only one fiction or non-fiction piece or up to three poems during any submission period, regardless of length. Please do not submit additional stories or poems until you hear from us regarding your previous submissions.

Payment

Fiction – 1¢ per word up to 2500 words (minimum $5.00; maximum $25.00)

Poetry – $5 per poem, regardless of length

Payment is made upon publication. We pay electronically via Paypal only. We are not able to mail cash or checks.

Format

Submissions must be sent electronically in MS Word or RTF as an attachment to your e-mail. Please format your document as you would if you were sending a hard copy (ie: double-spaced, indented, one paragraph break, etc.). Times New Roman is our preferred font. DO NOT embed your submissions in the body of your e-mail. These will be rejected without being read.

We receive a lot of manuscripts that do not follow basic formatting practices. Here are some tips:

• Set your first line indent or use the tab key. Do not hit the space bar multiple times at the beginning of a paragraph to create an indent.
• Do not format your paragraphs with space before or after. Do not double space at the end of each line.
• Do not hit the paragraph key multiple times after a paragraph unless you want a big space there.
• Times New Roman, 12 point, double spaced manuscripts are beautiful to behold. Esoteric fonts, 18 point type, and manuscripts formatted in all bold are NOT.