Guidelines

Vestal Review. Don't flash without it.

Vestal Review now publishes its print issues twice a year in a perfect-bound edition. Some of the content is available on the Web. We welcome your submissions, but please read our guidelines first.

We don't read new submissions in December, January, June and July. All submissions sent during this time will be deleted.

Because of the great number of submissions, we are accepting only two submissions per author in a reading period (the time between two consecutive issues). Each submission is to be sent separately. We would regretfully delete any submissions after the initial two.

Our reading periods are:

1. February-May
2. August-November

Effective immediately, all submissions should be done using our submission manager. We will not consider any other forms of submissions.

Submit to Vestal Review

Use this e-mail to inquire about the status of your submission (please wait for four months before sending it):

submissions[at]vestalreview.net

Please start the subject line with the word "Query." Do not use this e-mail for anything else including submissions.

Vestal Review accepts only original material. No reprints, please. Even if it has been displayed on your own Web page, we consider it published. If the story has been posted and reviewed at a password-protected e-workshop with a controlled list of participants, we consider this a plus.

Vestal Review is a magazine for flash (short-shorts) fiction. We realize that there are different definitions of what a flash story is and all of them have merit. In our definition, a flash story is no longer than 500 words and it has a plot. If it's longer than 500 words and/or has no plot, we are not interested. We are also not interested in porn, racial slurs, excessive gore, or obscenity. On the other end of the spectrum, no children's or preachy stories either, please. Our target audience is people over 18, so R-rated content is OK, but not X-rated. Most genres, other than children's, syrupy romance or hard science fiction, are accepted, and we love humor.

Don't forget that the title is an important part of the story. Make it pertinent but don't tell too much. We generally don't favor one-word titles.

The cash payments:

Stories up to 100 words (excluding the title)--10 cents a word.
Stories between 101 and 200 words--5 cents a word.
Stories between 201 and 500 words--3 cents a word.
Stories of great merit receive up to $25 flat fee; 3 cents a word is a minimum pay in any case.

In addition, every contributor will get one free copy. The preferred method of payment to all authors is PayPal, but arrangements can be made for an alternative way.

In exchange for these fees, we ask for first North American serial rights and First Electronic Rights. In addition, we ask for no posting of the accepted story anywhere on the Web, or in print in the United States or Canada, for 30 days after its exclusive appearance on the Vestal Review Web site. After this period, all rights revert back to the writer but we ask that you acknowledge Vestal Review in any subsequent printing of the material published here, be that on the Web or in hard copy. We are also asking for one year archiving rights and anthology rights. Anthology rights are secondary, meaning that the author may sell his or her story to any other anthology market providing that 30 days passed after the Vestal Review publication.

If your story is accepted for publication, you will be expected to sign the following

contract.

Please don't send a contract before your story is accepted.

Being writers, we understand the frustration of waiting for months and months for an editor's reply. Our target is to reply within four months, and we do allow simultaneous submissions. Please inform us immediately if your story is accepted elsewhere. If your story is accepted for Vestal Review, please withdraw it from other markets immediately.

These guidelines are created to make the editors' lives easier and our replies faster. If you won't follow them, we will have to return your submission unread!

A cover letter is great. Please enclose a 2-3 line third-person bio. We would like to know whom we are dealing with. Don't forget your legal name and the postal address so we can mail you the check. We will not consider an anonymous submission.

So, please send us your best and let's work together.

The Editors