bioStories welcomes creativity and originality in your approach to your subject and maintains no conscious editorial biases. We do, however, encourage you to consider that by the inherent nature of written expression, we find that a well-wrought passage that narrates a specific story or a finite moment within a life is far more effective at presenting something essential about that life than volumes of generalizations or summary. Similarly, we encourage you consider the frequent value found in getting out of the way of your subjects and allowing them to speak for themselves. But of course we value your voice and ask that submitting writers honor the uniqueness and innovation of their original, natural narrative voices every bit as much as they strive to present their subjects with honesty and candor. The smell of dishonest representation always penetrates. We react to such smell with the same reprehension as we do to work that appears focused on accomplishing an agenda. Present yourself and your subject as they are, part of the diverse, complex, and unruly citizenry of the universe, complete with warts and moles, hangovers and hangnails. Real life is messy, filled with broken plumbing and coagulating bacon grease, unmade beds and imperfect comebacks. Real biography recalls that sometimes you have to change the dressings on healing wounds and sometimes you have to add a little starch as you iron the shirt. Human nature is idiosyncratic and frequently contradictory, and, quite often, when you look close enough, it is downright graceful.
We welcome your submissions of original work. Please read some of the work we have published to gain a view of our editorial sensibilities. We offer no restrictions on approach to material or format, but we do require that you kindly adhere to the following guidelines:
• nonfiction prose submissions only
• 500 – 7500 words; our typical piece runs an average of 2500 words (please contact the editor in advance should you have material that exceeds our length restriction and exceptions may be made)
• submit by email to editor.biostories@gmail.com and paste your submission within the body of the email. Please make certain the words “biostories submission” and your last name appear in the subject line; we do not open attachments
• we accept submissions year-round
• simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please notify us immediately if your piece is accepted elsewhere
• work submitted must be previously unpublished (in print and online)
• submissions that fail to follow these guidelines will be not be read.
A.I. Policy: please note that bioStories is not open to works that include AI processes of any sort, including the generation of prompts, titles, names, outlines, dialogue, descriptive passages, etc. By submitting to bioStories you indicate acceptance of this policy.
Editorial Suggestions, Processes, and Policies:
While we frequently publish writers with previous credits, we are equally interested in less experienced or unpublished writers with exceptional promise. All accepted pieces are subject to editing and galleys will be shared with authors for approval prior to publication. Essays first appear on our “featured essay” page. After about a week, the essay will be moved among other featured content where it will remain prominently accessible for a month. All published pieces are archived and linked on our contributors/archives page for a period of four years. We acquire first rights for published material; copyright then reverts to the author. In the future, we may contact you requesting permission to include the material in a print anthology.
We strive to make timely editorial decisions, typically within six to eight weeks. Because bioStories is produced largely as a labor of love by a limited staff, please do not contact us to inquire about the status of a submission until eight weeks have passed.
Art Submissions: We are always on the look-out for art that is representative of our mission and that fits well with essays we feature. We also seek out cover art for digital issues and digital/print anthologies. Please contact us by email with some sample images if you think you have work that might be a fit.
Payment: At present, we are unable to pay authors for their material, however, when funding allows, we are committed to compensating writers.
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