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Guidelines

The Weeknight Writers e-zine is a semi-annual electronic publication created to showcase the talent and skill of our community of storytellers. Only Weeknight Writers members are eligible to submit. You can join the Weeknight Writers community at any time for publication eligibility—plus year-round support in your writing, editing, and marketing journey.

The Weeknight Writers e-zine will be published every February and July, with submissions periods opening in March and August. Every issue will have a specific theme, with each year’s themes being tied together. The 2027 themes will be Growth and Entropy, with submissions for the Growth issue running from August 1st to 31st, 2026.

The best stories from each year’s e-zine issues will be compiled into a Best Of anthology the following year, with the first one publishing in 2028.

Writer support

Weeknight Writers will provide three levels of support for writers planning to submit to the anthology:

  • Brainstorming sessions: Two brainstorming sessions will be held the month before submissions open. This will be an opportunity for Weeknight Writers to discuss the possibilities of the anthology’s theme and get a feel for the ideas that excite people.
  • Beta reading: Fellow Weeknight Writers will beta read your story! Some folks have offered a set number of beta reading spots in advance. If those slots are already full, you can post about your story (with the title, genre, word count, a one-sentence description, and content warnings) in #seeking-feedback and find a beta reader this way. These will be community members, not the community leaders, as we want to judge stories with fresh eyes upon submission.
  • Editor feedback: During submission, you will have the opportunity to tell us if you want feedback on your story. We will provide feedback to all writers who say they want it, regardless of whether or not we accept their stories.

General story guidelines

We publish stories that fall under the broad umbrella of speculative fiction: fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Stories must also match the theme of the specific issue you’re submitting to.

We love longer stories and will accept stories of up to 6,000 for the e-zine. However, our budget for the Best Of anthologies will be limited. For every 6,000 word story we publish, we could instead publish two 3,000 word stories. As such, longer stories will have to deeply impress us to earn placement in our Best Of anthologies.

Inclusion

Weeknight Writers is committed to inclusion within all of our community initiatives. We welcome stories by and about all marginalized people, including racialized people, LBGTQ+ folks, people of marginalized religions, people of marginalized genders, disabled people, mentally ill people and neurodivergent people.

Dealing with difficult topics

At Weeknight Writers, we believe fiction is one of the most powerful tools humanity has for dealing with difficult subjects. We therefore refuse to flinch away from stories that include depictions of bigotry, abuse, or other difficult topics. However, we will not accept stories that portray things like bigotry or abuse in a positive light.

You are welcome to submit stories with graphic violence or explicit sex, though we are less likely to accept these stories.

Rights and payment

The Weeknight Writers e-zine requires first worldwide electronic publication rights (with exclusivity for one year), plus the option to include your story in a Best Of anthology the year after your story was initially published.

We strongly believe authors should be paid for anything we charge money for. As our e-zine will be 100% free for readers, authors will not be paid for publication within it. Our Best Of anthologies will be paid products, and authors will therefore be paid for their stories’ inclusion, with rates ranging between semi-pro ($0.05/word) and pro ($0.08/word) based on funding.

Reprints

We generally do not accept reprints, but we are open to making exceptions. If you have a reprint you believe fits with the theme of an upcoming publication, please reach out via email or DM with the title, genre, word count, and why you think it would be a good fit for our upcoming e-zine.

Simultaneous submissions

We work hard to keep our reading times quick, responding to writers within one month of receiving their stories. As such, we do not accept simultaneous submissions. We will revisit this policy if our reading times increase.

How to submit

Every issue of the e-zine will have a 40-day submission window, with the theme announced six weeks before submissions open. We will release a submission form within the Weeknight Writers premium community when the submission window opens. Please do not email us your submission unless you are pitching a reprint.

Formatting

Please send your email with the subject heading “Submission: Story Title, Your Name”. 

The body of your email should include the following elements, in the following order: 

  1. Your first & last name
  2. Contact information:
    1. Email Address
  3. The Title of your story
  4. The Genre of your story
  5. The final word count of your story

All submitted story manuscripts should:

  • Include your name & email address in the top left corner of the title page as well as the Title centered in the middle of the page. This is ALL that should be on the title page. The story should begin on page 2.
  • Use Times New Roman font
  • Use 12pt font with 1.5” margins
  • Number your pages
  • Double-space the manuscript
  • Left align the document
  • Include the following information on a Header or Footer: page number, Author Name, Title
  • Please submit in .doc, (Word) .docx (Google doc export), or .odt (Open Text) format

Illustrations

You may submit one illustration with your story as long as it fits the following criteria:

  • The file was not created by, or with the assistance of, generative AI
  • You have full rights to the image, including commercial use rights, and documentation to prove this
  • The file is formatted as a PNG (if your story is selected for the Best Of anthology, we will request a PSD or other high-res version of the image)
  • The file can fit comfortably within one page (full page images should be at least 1400px wide, portrait or vertical rectangle-shaped artwork (no squares) and we recommend a height/width ratio of 1.5 (1400px wide x 2100px high))

There will be space for image submissions within the submission form. If you have an image and you’re uncertain of its eligibility, you can email us separately at weeknightwriters@gmail.com.

First Issue: Growth – Releasing in February 2027

Submissions period: August 1 – 31st 2026 – The submission form will go live on August first.

The first issue of the Weeknight Writers e-zine will be all about growth! How you interpret this theme is entirely up to you, but here are some potential thoughts to get you started:

  • A character growing a magical garden
  • Toxic plants growing out of control and smothering a community
  • An injured character regrowing a limb through magical or scientific means
  • A grieving character growing strong enough to face their grief head-on rather than running from it
  • A person (or creature) physically experiencing a difficult growth spurt or puberty-like experience that changes their body/their relationship with their body

You do not need to use these ideas – anything you can think of that relates to the theme of growth is welcome!