Your writing can be any genre, and from any perspective.
However, it must spur discussions and require the reader to expand their mind. If you need an example, read “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by the amazing Ursula K. Le Guin. Another way to think of it is this, we are looking for The Trolley Problem in short story form. A great example of something we have published is “The Waiting Room.” As You Wish is a good example of the type of children’s story we publish.
If you think more in movies, think “Ex Machina,” “Blade Runner,” “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind,” and “Looper.” For TV, think “The Good Place,” “Westworld,” and “Star Trek, TNG. Or, better yet, listen to our podcast!
The point is, we don’t care if it’s sci-fi, fantasy, romance, contemporary women, historical fiction, western, or whatever, but the short story should have a deeper point for a longer discussion. 90% of what we turn down is not because of the quality of the writing, but because it’s simply not the kind of thing we publish.
If you just want the hard stats, we have an acceptance rate around 10% and stories in the 2500-4000 word range seem to do better with our readers.
We do not accept novels, poems, or artwork.
What length are you looking for?
Children’s Stories: Under 1,500 words
Young Adult: Under 3,500 words
Adult: 1,500-7,000* words
What does this pay?
Accepted short stories from unsolicited submissions are $0.01 per word (limit $30).
Do you accept reprints and/or simultaneous submissions?
Yes. Just make sure you are not in violation of any other agreements you signed.
How long will it take to hear back?
We continue to be a victim of our own success and get more and more submissions every month. As such, read/response time is running about 2-3 months. Consider no news, good news. Rejections are easy (and fast). Potential acceptance means going to a larger committee for discussion, and that takes a bit of time. Check/report your submissions on Duotrope.
We also have a “Fast Pass” submission process that gets you priority reading for just $3 and a response in 3-5 business days.
Why are so many of the stories you publish science fiction?
We would love to publish fantasy, biography, western, horror, erotica, etc. We just don’t get many submissions in these genre that fit the “trolley problem” guidelines, but if they did, we would happily publish them.
Do you need readers?
Yes! There is no better way to improve you writing then by reading what other people wrote! We would love to have more volunteer readers! Just email us at:
info@afterdinnerconversation.com
to learn more.
* For some reason, shorter submissions (2,500-4,500 words) tend to fare best. Anything longer than 5,000 words, and you should assume we will read just the first page or two and start skimming as it’s really rare we will publish something that long.
It’s nothing personal, it’s just that longer submissions tend not to have enough ethical question density and the length comes from being verbose and descriptive rather than adding ideas of substance to the story. That said, this is just the trend we see, it is not a requirement. We have about a 10% acceptance rate.
Email your submission to:
submissions@afterdinnerconversation.com
with “After Dinner Conversation - Submission” in the Subject Line.
More information here.
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