Black Cat Weekly (Mysteries)

Submission Guidelines for Black Cat Weekly (Mysteries)

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a market for original fiction only. No reprints. Our Acquiring Editors, Barb Goffman and Michael Bracken, acquire two stories every week. One slot is reserved for a solve-it-yourself mystery, and one slot is reserved for a classic mystery. That only leaves one more story each week, so it's going to be a hard sell.

ORIGINAL FICTION

We will read human-generated, original crime and mystery stories as long as they meets the following criteria:

SUBJECT: Stories must include a crime. It isn't a mystery if it doesn't have a crime. We prefer traditionally plotted stories rather than experimental or literary fiction. Think Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, John D. MacDonald, etc. The good stuff.

RESPONSE TIME: Usually less than a week.

TABOOS: No gimmick stories, no surprise endings. PG-13 rating.

FORMAT: Use standard manuscript format. (You know, double spaced, title on first page, page numbers on the upper right-hand corners, etc.)  .rtf or .docx file formats preferred.

LENGTH: 1,500 to 15,000 words preferred, but can go up to 45,000 words.

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Not for original fiction. You will be banned from this and future projects if we discover we have received a simultaneous submission.

AI-GENERATED FICTION: No. 

ARTWORK: No.

POETRY: No.

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: No. Send one story at a time. If we pass on it, you may submit another.

REPRINTS (PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED FICTION): No.

DEADLINE: Open. It's a weekly publication, running 52 fantasy and science fiction stories every year. 

PAYMENT: We use a sliding scale based on length, from $15 to $50, on publication.