Tor.com Publishing will soon be reopening to unsolicited novella submissions! Starting May 1, 2018, Lee Harris, Carl Engle-Laird, and Ruoxi Chen will be reading and evaluating original novellas submitted by authors to https://tor.moksha.io/publication/tornovellas. You can find full guidelines here, and we highly recommend you read the guidelines before submitting. We will be open for two weeks beginning on May 1 around 9:00 AM EST (UTC-1:00) and ending on May 15 9:00 AM EST (UTC-1:00).
This open period is intended for authors who have completed works ready or close to ready for submission. We will reopen slush a second time in July 2018 for authors who are actively working on (or beginning) something that would fit our list. In other words, don’t panic if you’re not ready to submit in May! We would rather see a polished novella in July than a rushed one in May.
Until the end of this open period, Tor.com Publishing will be considering novellas of between 20,000 and 40,000 words in both the science fiction and fantasy genres. If it’s speculative and fits the bill, we want to take a look at it.
Lee Harris, Carl Engle-Laird, and Ruoxi Chen all actively request submissions from writers from underrepresented populations. This includes, but is not limited to, writers of any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class and physical or mental ability. We believe that good science fiction and fantasy reflects the incredible diversity and potential of the human species, and hope our catalog will reflect that.
In addition to reviewing the guidelines, we also encourage you to take a look at our existing list to get a sense of the work our current authors are producing and Tor.com Publishing’s vision and tastes. Good luck—we look forward to reading your work.
Even though I understand english, I’m still more comfortable writing in portuguese. Do you accept submissions in other languages? If you don’t, and I hire someone to translate my novella, will you still accept it as a submission?
Awesome! I just finished another revision of my story, I think it’s time to submit.
Not sure if I am member of an underrepresented population. How many middle aged college educated potbellied hillbillies do you have?
Yes! I’ve been waiting for this. I have a novella that wasn’t quite finished the last time they had open submissions. Hopefully I ought to have another for July.
This is the opportunity I need right now. I really appreciate it! Now, time to write!
Hello!
I put in my submission this morning but I still haven’t received a confirmation. Is there a way to check if it went through? The original screen said I was #9 in the queue.
Thank you,
Jeff
@6 – Hi, Jeff. Yes, it’s there.
Hello,
I have a story I’d like to submit, but it is a tad outside your word range. This weighs in at just under 45,000. Would that disqualify it from consideration?
I’m going through it now to see what, if anything, I can delete, but I’m doubtful of breaking the 40k range. Of course, your editing may drop it more than I can.
Paul
Hi Guys
Is there a prefered manuscript format/style you guys prefer submitters use?
Regards
Dom
Hello there,
I am sorry but I can’t find the dates for the July 2018 window, only the May window. Please advise. – L
@1 – Unfortunately we don’t accept submissions in other languages, but we will consider works in translation provided that English language rights are available.
@8 – Hi Paul – we’re only considering submissions between 20k and 40k with no exceptions.
@9 – Hi Dom, please use standard manuscript formatting (readable font, 12 pt, double-spaced, standard margins, in .doc, .docx, or .rtf).
@10 – Hi L, please keep an eye out on the site and our social media feeds for details on the July window.
Question about the July reading period. Under your “What we are NOT looking for” does this include Clockpunk? I realize this is not pure Science Fiction/Fantasy but it does have fantastic elements, is speculative in nature (at least mine is), and is horribly under represented. Thanks for the time.
I submitted my manuscript K-bird at the beginning of May. Seems it is stuck #4 in the line. Why the delay?