About PPW Anthologies

One of the best ways to get started as a published writer is to have one’s short stories included in periodicals and anthologies. Pikes Peak Writers’ anthologies highlight our members’ work to help them do just that. You can find Fresh Starts, Dream, and Journeys into Possibility, wherever books are sold.

Dream, Fresh Starts and Journeys into Possiblity

PPW ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

We are pleased to announce the theme for 2025 is:

The Other Side of the Mountain

Your mountain might take any or many forms, but we must be able to discern the focus of your story is some kind of mountain (physical, metaphorical, or otherwise).

Who Can Submit?

PPW members only. If you are not a member, please visit PPW’s membership page to join. There’s a whole lot of other benefits!

 What We Want

• Short Fiction Stories: of 2,500-6,000 words. All genres are welcome with only a few exceptions (see under, “What We DO NOT Want”). Genres we desire include fiction, realistic fiction, speculative, contemporary, historical, literary, and commercial. If your story has a strong plot, makes an emotional appeal, and sheds light on our theme, we want to read it!
• Flash Fiction of 400-1,000 words. Genre same as for short stories.
• Format: Times New Roman, 12pt, double spaced, 1″ margins, black text on white background. Include a header with the title and page number at the top of each page. Do not include your name or any identifying information anywhere on the manuscript or in its metadata. Submissions are read blind. Acquiring editors will recuse if they recognize work as being that of a particular author.

Multiple Submissions Accepted:
Each author may submit up to three works. Each piece must be submitted separately. If more than one of your submissions reaches the final round, it will be up to the discretion of the editors as to which will be included in the final anthology. Only one piece will be accepted even if they are all magnificent.

• Polished work: Please send only revised and polished manuscripts.

 What We DO NOT Want

• Children’s and Middle-Grade fiction. Fiction intended for middle grade, early readers, and younger is not a good fit for this anthology. However, your story may have a young protagonist if your intended audience is adults or teens
• Erotica or rape scenes
• Poetry will not be accepted
• Excessive profanity or violence. Use the minimum amount your story requires
• Any overt racism, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, etc. within the narrative voice. Characters may be hateful; the story shouldn’t be
• Overt political rhetoric or religious proselytizing
• Translations or fanfiction
• Sections of longer works
• Simultaneous submissions. Please do not have your story under consideration by other agents, editors, or publishers while we are considering it
• Reprints. We are looking for original, unpublished work. Previously published work will not be accepted. This includes work published in any form on your personal or professional website
• Stories that are difficult to read or comprehend on account of an experimental voice
• Stories filled with grammatical errors.
• Stories containing lyrics from a song you did not write. Copyright matters
• Rough drafts

Important Dates

Submission portal opens June 1, 2024
You must be a member of Pikes Peak Writers to submit your work. If you’re not a member, please visit pikespeakwriters.org and click the “Join Pikes Peak Writers” button.

Submission portal will close at midnight on July 31, 2024
The submission portal will close earlier if the maximum number of 250 submissions is received. No late submissions will be accepted

Response Date is October 1, 2024
You will be notified by October 1, 2024, whether your work has been accepted or not. If you have not heard from us by that date, please do contact us. Once you have submitted your work, we recommend you relax, put it out of your mind, and write half a dozen more stories to submit elsewhere while you wait.

Rejection
As fellow writers and members of PPW, we anthology editors appreciate your writing achievements and willingness to submit your work for our consideration. We salute you and your commitment to the writing process. You’re amazing! We hope that your experience of writing to a theme, polishing your work, and submitting with guidelines has helped you grow in your writing journey. We regret, however, that we do not have the resources to offer critique on work that we have not chosen to publish.

Acceptance
We consider it an honor to be able to publish PPW Members’ work in the anthology. Expect that if accepted, your story will be subject to a deep dive developmental edit with our editorial team. The edit, covering language mechanics, story elements, structure, sensitivity issues, and more, will be conducted as a dialogue with your assigned editor through email correspondence. We will endeavor to be kind and respectful as we help you refine and polish your story in preparation for its inclusion in the anthology.

Contracts
If you receive notification that your work has been accepted, someone from the editorial team will be in touch with you concerning contracts. You will need to sign two, one is with PPW and the other with the distribution service used by the anthology.

Royalties
Each author published in the anthology will receive a royalty. The exact percentage will be calculated based on the number of accepted authors.

Promotion
As the anthology is published and promoted on a shoestring budget, its authors are contractually obligated to participate in promoting the book. This includes, but is not limited to, promotion on various social media outlets, author pages (Good Reads, Amazon, etc.), websites, and newsletters. The more effectively each author promotes the anthology; the more sales and royalties will grow. Authors are encouraged to look for ways to work both separately and together on marketing efforts.

Rights
We ask for First Worldwide English Language Anthology Rights on your work for six months from the publication date. Six months after publication, all rights will revert to the author, meaning you’ll be free to reprint your story as you see fit. A sample contract is available upon request. 

Submission Window
Submissions open on June 1, 2024, and close at midnight on July 31, 2024, or earlier if the maximum number of 250 submissions is received. No late stories will be accepted.