driftwood

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What We're Looking For...

• We strongly recommend reading a few of our issues to get a sense of the fiction we publish; the same senior editors who read the short fiction will read for the novellas.

• Our published fiction share little in common outside of a love of language; well-crafted sentences and a honed rhythm are a must for Driftwood contributors. We stray away from young adult, fantasy, romance, and mainstream mystery fiction. While we're interested  in experimentalism and stream of consciousness (not auto-writing), we do expect a story to have narrative momentum. Oftentimes, we're most drawn to stories with a hint of surrealism, magical realism, or some other sort of -ism, but we publish a little bit of every genre.

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Timeline​

• Novella submissions are currently open but may close at any time to allow our editors to catch up. 

• Novella submissions typically take four to nine months; our target is six. Feel free to reach out to us if you've been in consideration for longer.

• If your work is selected, our editors will work with you to polish the work as much as possible for publication.

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Guidelines​​​

• Fiction only.

• 15,000-30,000 words recommended. We’ll consider works slightly outside of these parameters, but don’t push them too much. 40,000 words, for instance, is a novel, not a novella.

• A standard, 12-point font and single-spacing is preferred. 

• Excerpts of the novella may have been published individually, but 50% of the novella may not have appeared in a single prior publication.

• Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please let us know immediately if the work has been accepted elsewhere.

• Submit works written in English only, no translations.

• Please submit your manuscript in a .doc, .docx, or PDF format.

• Base submission cost is $20. Additionally, we are offering a $30 dollar submission option that will include a print copy of our next novella. We will ship to the address provided on your submittable account.

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Awards​

• Selected novellas will receive 10 copies of their printed novella and a cash reward based on word count (see below). If you are close to the upper limit within your tier, we'll bump you to the higher payment tier if accepted; please don't add filler to up your word count, as this will likely weaken the story and lessen your likelihood of acceptance. If accepted, any novella submitted before 5/3/2023 will not receive less than $400. 

  • 10,000 - 17,500 Words: Awarded $300​

  • 17,500 - 22,500 Words: Awarded $400

  • 22,500 - 30,000 Word: Awarded $500

• A print run of the novella will be sold on our website, through affiliate bookstores, and will be nationally and internationally distributed by Ingram. 

• The winner will also have the opportunity to be interviewed about their work; the interview will be published in the novella following the story.

• After the first 100 copies are sold, the writer gets 20% royalties. Copies bought by or awarded to the writer do not count toward the number of copies sold.