Calls for Submissions

OPEN SUBMISSION CALLS FOR RACONTEUR PRESS, 2023-2024

Guidelines for all our anthologies:

5,000 to 8,000 words. Length and genre are negotiable, as long as the story fits the concept, and is entertaining. Any submission must be in Times New Roman (preferred, but you can use Georgian or other readable font), 12PT, double spaced, with your name, title of the story, and your email on it. Name the file as [STORYTITLE]-[YOURLASTNAME]—[ANTHOLOGYTITLE]. Send it in a .docx format as an attachment—no links. Refer to the submission guideline graphic below for how to format your story—It has all the information you need! Feel free to download it for reference.

Raconteur Press will hold the rights for one year after publication, after one year the rights will revert to the author, but we continue to pay you as long as the anthology is selling. Authors receive an equal percentage share of the proceeds from the anthology, along with the Press, our editors, and administration. Yes, you read that right. We don’t take 80% off the top and split the 20% left over between all the authors. We’re all in this together. This is why our anthologies are limited to ten stories.

IMPORTANT: PLEASE do NOT submit stories until the date the call opens. We don’t want to hang on to your piece for longer than necessary. You might find another market for it, or it decides to grow into a novel, or…..so go ahead and write it, but tuck it away, and revisit it before submitting. 

Raconteur Press uses Pubshare (pubshare.com) to distribute payments and handle tax forms for anthology authors, so authors who contribute must have a free pubshare account.

IMPORTANT: when you set up your Pubshare account you MUST choose the method by which you want to receive your royalties. There are currently two choices: PayPal at the beginning of each month, or paper cheque each quarter. BE SURE that you have chosen a method of payment and input the required information. If you don’t Pubshare will hang on to your royalties until you choose and method of payment and input the required information.

Submit to: racpresssubmissions[at]gmail.com

(Questions about our publishing schedules can be addressed to Production[at]raconteurpress.com)

Finally, if you want to ensure your manuscript is read and is seriously considered for publication, read this.

Coffee Adventures

Submissions for this anthology are now closed. Thanks!
Opens: 4/8/24
Closes:6/28/24
Contracts: 7/13/24
Publication: 8/9/24

The Super Generation

This anthology has so many capes. SO MANY. It’s closed now, and thank you!
Opens: 5/12/24
Closes: 7/12/24
Contracts: 7/27/24
Publication: 8/23/24

The Big Ones: Stories of an Alternate WWII
With Guest Editor Dr. James Young

The short story must involve some aspect of World War II. Think “What if Force Z had fighter escort?” to “Trinity ends with a ‘click’…then silence.” The only stipulation is the point of deviation has to be realistic to the technology of the time. If you’re giving the U.S.S. Nevada rail guns at Pearl Harbor, this is the wrong anthology for you.
Opens: 5/26/24
Closes: 7/26/24
Contracts: 8/10/24
Publication: 9/6/24

Moggie Noir Volume 2

Cats. Noir. Spectacular Tail. Do it again.
Opens: 6/9/24
Closes: 8/9/24
Contracts: 8/24/24
Publication: 9/20/24

We Be Trippin’

If you’ve watched our #RaconteurRoadTrip adventures in the North Texas Troublemakers Facebook group, you know we’ve had some…interesting adventures. So why not do an anthology? Tell us travels full of hijinks and strange circumstances, danger, humor, and odd encounters as we journey through the universe, the neighborhood, or across town. What about that time where you and your buddy got lost on the way to the great noodle bar on Asteroid B-643? Or that bunch of folks trying to deliver [item redacted for safety] through a hostile corridor in space? Then there’s the endless side trips and NOW WHAT?! of travels interrupted by…a camel. The more adventure, the better!
Opens: 6/23/24
Closes: 8/23/24
Contracts: 9/7/24
Publication: 10/4/24

Wyrd West Volume 2

Because we KNOW we’ll get a bunch, here we go with Volume 2! Witches, and werewolves and cowboys, oh my! Strange things are done in the midday sun, especially when there’s magic around. Tell your tales about monsters and magic in the Old West.
Opens: 7/6/24
Closes: 9/6/24
Contracts: 9/21/24
Publication: 10/18/24

Coffee Stories Volume 2

Because we KNOW how many of us drink the stuff—we’re going to need TWO volumes of this one. The perfect cuppa joe. The nectar of the gods. The safety liquid you hand your partner in the morning. We love the stuff, and can’t get enough. But how did we FIND that flavorful bean? We invite our authors to visit our favorite coffee merchant, King Harv’s Coffee, and pick a variety from his amazing list. Then write a fantastical story about the detective work, the journey, the adventure of finding the oh-so-perfect plant. Don’t limit yourself to this planet! OR SF! Sword and Sorcery works too!

From Dave at King Harv’s Coffee: It all began when we took over the dome at the old South Pole station for  the use as a coffee greenhouse.  As you undoubtedly well know, the coffee was banned from world trade to by that ridiculous Antarctic treaty, and it became clear to us that coffee grown on alternate planets and celestial objects was the only thing that made economic sense. Shockingly this has never been reported on in the main stream media!
Opens: 7/27/24
Closes: 9/27/24
Contracts: 10/12/24
Publication: 11/08/24

Space Cowboys 6

This anthology series hit a nerve with the reading public. Something about the rugged individualism of the cowboy strikes a chord in us all. A certain romanticism exists in the feeling that cowboys inhabit a simpler world; one that’s clearer, brighter and makes more sense than our day to day existence.

Cowboys have a certain reckless reputation and that doesn’t fade away when you move them into space and onto alien worlds. Men and women who face hardships and rope a living out of an unforgiving landscape without waiting for orders from a distant authority. They do what needs to be done and take care of their animals, their people, and themselves.

Opens: 8/4/24
Closes: 10/5/24
Contracts: 10/26/24
Publication: 11/22/24

December Titles TBA

Yep, we’re holding open a couple of spaces at the end of the year. July has a special surprise, and we get some great ideas as we go along, so we’ll fill those in as we go.

Pogue One

Space Marines, void commandos, orbital drop troops: humanity’s finest. They are exemplars of soldierly comportment in intergalactic conflict. Throughout human space, grunts in power armor get all the glory. Even in conventional armed forces, however, only 15% or so of those are infantry.

We want stories about the other 85%. What are their adventures? The truck drivers, the bulk fuelers, supply sergeants, pay clerks, airframe mechanics, the guy who fixed the soft-serve ice cream machine on Seti-Alpha-Five (God bless that guy). Welcome to Pogue One.

Opens: 9/29/24

Closes: 11/30/24

Contracts: 12/14/24

Publication: 01/10/25