Lorelei Signal - Guidelines

THE LORELEI SIGNAL

Submission Guidelines

Welcome to The Lorelei Signal

The Lorelei Signal will be a quarterly Fantasy electronic magazine - one that will feature strong female characters.
This does not mean your female character has to be the main hero or villain in the story.
What it does mean is no shrinking violets, or women who serve only to get into trouble so the male hero has to
rescue them.

Each issue we hope to "print"; 4 short stories, 1 flash fiction piece and 2 poems that meet the following guidelines:

My primary guideline is simple:
Write a good Fantasy story with a strong female character as one of the main characters.

What I am NOT looking for - erotica / slash / or other such stories.
Although well written love scenes that are IMPORTANT to the story may be considered on a story-by-story
basis.

1) Stories should be no longer than 10,000 words.
However, tell the story - if it takes more than 10,000 words to tell the story properly so be it.
Just try to cut it down if possible - but remember the story is the important part.

2) Stories must feature a strong female character.

3) I will accept reprints as long as it has been at least 1 year since the story was previously published, rights have
reverted back and you tell me where it previously appeared.

4) Please keep the graphic gore down to a minimum (only what's needed for the story).

5) Please keep the obscene language to a bare minimum (again, only what's needed for the story).

6) I will also consider Science Fiction.

7) Humor similar to what has appeared in the "Chicks in Chain Mail" series of Anthologies will also be considered.

8) Simultaneous Submissions will be considered IF:
a) You tell me up front
b) You inform me immediately if the story has been accepted elsewhere
If I have too many occurrences of finding out a story was accepted somewhere else when I contact an author to
tell them I would like to accept their story for The Lorelei Signal - I will no longer accept simultaneous submissions.

All stories received will be considered first for The Lorelei Signal and also for Sorcerous Signals.
Please do not submit to both e-zines

FORMATTING:

If you have a Fantasy story you think meets the theme of this magazine then send it to me via email in plain text as
part of the message body. Even though I have decent anti virus software on my computer - if you send me an
attachment you are risking me deleting your email unread. I will not respond to emails deleted for failing to
properly follow the guidelines.
Your work should be as professional as you can make it, as if you were presenting it to a professional magazine
for publication.
Do not indent.
Please single space with a double space between paragraphs and use _to indicate italics_.

RESPONSE TIMES:

I plan on waiting until the end of each of the reading periods before reading the stories that have come in. So if you
submit early in that period you will have to wait a few weeks before I start on the submissions.
Each submission should also receive an acknowledge email within a few days of it being received by the editor.
Response times will depend on the number of submissions being received, my personal time schedule as well as
any writing deadline's I may have. However, I do hope to keep response times down to less than 2 months.
I will make every effort to respond to each story with something other than a form letter.

RIGHTS:

Author's grant to the Lorelei Signal one-time rights to publish in electronic format.
We request 6 months exclusivity, after which they are free to market the story elsewhere.
Authors are also encouraged to post a short excerpt on their own website with a link to the Lorelei Signal.
Please note if you are not sending a reprint this does constitute first electronic (and 1st serial rights) for your story
if it is accepted.

The Lorelei Signal also requests non-exclusive print anthology rights for possible inclusion in an end of year
Anthology issue.
If an author's story is selected for this anthology they will receive $10.00.
If an author's story is not selected for the Anthology covering the year their story appeared, The Lorelei Signal no
longer has any claim to the anthology rights without the permission of the author..

SUBMISSION:

Please provide the following information in a "cover letter" at the beginning of your submission:
Your name (pen name if desired) / e-mail address and web-site if you have one.

Also let us know if you are open to receiving feedback from readers. If so we will provide a link to your email
address with your story. If not specifically stated we will assume you do not want the feedback link. Please title
your email as LORELEI SUBMISSION: (the title of your story)

Something to be aware of, stories used in magazines such as this, are a matter personal taste.
While I may not accept your story for the magazine, it does not constitute a personal rejection of you -- only that
your story may not have met my personal vision for the zine.

REVIEWS:

The Lorelei Signal is also looking for reviews of Science Fiction and Fantasy.. Please title your email as LORELEI
REVIEW: (the title of the story you are reviewing). There is no payment or donation button for reviews.
Reviews may be submitted outside the normal reading periods.

PAYMENT:

Each story will contain a PayPal donation button, so readers can show their appreciation to the author. Money
received through this method will be split 60/40 between the author (60%) and the magazine (40%). Authors will
be paid at the end of the quarter in which their story appeared. As issues will remain archived for a period of one
year after publication, authors will again be paid when the story is removed from the archive if it generates any new
revenue.
Authors will receive an initial advance of $5.00 for short stories and $2.00 for poems and flash (<1000 wds)
fiction pieces within 30 days of receipt of signed contract.

I am hoping to publish an anthology at the end of the year which will feature the best stories from each issue.
A poll will be set up to allow readers to vote for their favorite stories each issue. The fan favorites will the ones
selected for the anthology along with some picks from the editor.

Authors will be paid $10.00 for the rights to print their stories in the anthology.
Payment will be made at the time the anthology is prepared for printing.

All payments will be made through PayPal.

ARTWORK:

We are also looking for artwork that fits the theme of the magazine.
Payment will be made the same way as the stories - with links for reader appreciation donations to be split
between the magazines and the artist.

Any artwork used in the anthology will be paid the same $10.00 fee.

Please send samples of your work to the editor (yes, I will accept these as attachments).
If I like your samples you will be offered the chance to do an illustration for an upcoming story.

READING PERIODS:

The Lorelei Signal is currently a quarterly magazine scheduled for publication during the following months:

January / April / July & October

Our reading periods for each issue will be

Jan 15th - Feb 15th (Jul - Sep Issue)
April 15th - May 15th (Oct - Dec Issue)
July 15th - Aug 15th (Jan - Mar Issue)
Oct 15th - Nov 15th (Apr - Jun Issue)

As I do not wish to end up with a backlog of stories waiting to be published, each issue will be
filled from the stories submitted during the noted reading period for that issue.

ADVERTISING:

For information on advertising in The Lorelei Signal, click here.

Thank you for your interest in the Lorelei Signal and I hope to hear from you -
even more I hope to receive a wonderful story from you.

E-mail the Editor

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