Upper Rubber Boot Books

Send speculative fiction, including: science fiction, literary stories using SFnal tropes, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, steampunk, slipstream, alternate history, utopian and dystopian, fantasy, and horror. We’ve listed these genres in descending order of our interest in them: we’re tremendously interested in science fiction, and not as interested in horror (but still willing to read it; genres we’re not willing to read are not listed above at all).

There’s no theme for this series. Publisher and editor Joanne Merriam wants well-written stories with interesting characters doing interesting things, and she has a special interest in feminist writing, LGBTQ writing, writing which reflects alternative lifestyles and diverse characters, writing from traditions outside the English-language publishing world, and writing from the American South and Canadian Maritimes.

• Word/page count: Between 5,000 and 20,000 words, per story.
• Payment: Royalties of 15% for ebook sales. (URB generally pays a higher royalty rate for ebook sales, but we’re constrained here by Amazon, where we anticipate making most of our sales — they keep 70% of the cover price for ebooks that sell for under $2.99. Price points may range from $0.99 up, depending on length.)
• Publication history: Must be previously published, unless it’s a translation, in which case the original must have been published in its original language (and we’d prefer, but do not require, that the translated story be previously published as well). Non-exclusive reprint rights must be available. Unpublished works may be submitted by invitation only. In the case of this series, we also ask that the work not be available for free anywhere online (it’s okay if it used to be, as long as it isn’t now and won’t be in the future).
• Multiple submissions: Up to 3 stories may be submitted at a time.
• Simultaneous submissions: Since we will be asking for non-exclusive rights, this is fine as long as the other market is also non-exclusive; please note that this means we will expect you not to withdraw a submission because it has been accepted elsewhere.
• Deadline: None. This is an ongoing series.

To submit: Send to joanne at upperrubberboot dot com:

• your complete manuscript as a .RTF (if submitting more than one story, please submit separate .RTFs for each story)
• a bio of 100 words or fewer
• a description of the story of 100 words or fewer, suitable for display on Amazon/B&N/iStore/etc. (no spoiling the ending!) should your work be accepted
• a listing of previous publication credit(s) for the work
• if your story was ever reviewed, quotes of the reviews will be helpful

Put “SOLES” in the subject line to defeat my spam filter.