PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
So you’d like to submit your short story or poem to Books ‘N Pieces Magazine? We’d love to see it. Sorry, we are unable to pay for the material we accept since we have no advertiser support: see the SUBMIT page for details.
Our guidelines are simple:
• Maximum word count=2000 words. Not 2001 or more. No matter how good the story may be. (TIP: If you have a great story, you can query us at editor@booksnpieces.com and ask.)
•Have a great story. Don’t tell a sliver of a story, don’t tease a story (especially if you are using the short story to promote a novel), no excerpts (unless otherwise approved), and no stolen work.
•Your story MUST HAVE a beginning, middle, and end, to what you are trying to convey; the character must CHANGE throughout the story.
•Show DON’T tell. Narration is all well and good if it serves a purpose. Readers want to SEE the story, not be told it.
•Don’t get too creative with post-dialog attributes––he said, she said, is just fine. You don’t need, “This stinks,” he spat. Unless he really spits, don’t say it. “I don’t like the curtains,” she said leisurely. Unless it took her a very long and comfortable time, do not use that word.
•Avoid stupid words that do not exist, are overused, or misused:
And while “he said,” and “she said,” are all fine, when you have two people talking, you can quickly figure out who is talking. Just use that the first time and intermittently, but not after every sentence.”
Proper dialog format is as follows: “I really like the curtains,” he said. (Punctuation goes INSIDE the quote marks, not outside.) It is NOT, “I really like the curtains!” He said. By the way, exclamation marks are for exclaiming––you know, vibrantly emphatic!!!!! And you only need ONE! If you need a great booklet that covers this and more, buy STOP: Fix Your Story Before You Submit by Eric Stillwell. It’s only 99 cents on Amazon. Click HERE to buy it.
Please prood proof your work before you submit it. If you care that little about your work to submit it without having gone through it, what response are you expecting from me? Excellent proofing methods include reading it aloud, having someone read it to you, recording it and playing it back, and other methods. You will be amazed at the mistakes you find.
Please avoid ALL CAPS. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SCREAMING, AND EVEN IF YOUR CHARACTER IS SCREAMING, IT SHOULD BE IN lower case.
IMPORTANT: Please make sure that any quotations, citations, selections from other materials you use, are not copyrighted. While you are allowed to use “fair use” selections, you need to be familiar with the laws that protect these works. This includes songs and quotes. When in doubt, ask.
Please do not submit formatted work. Text is best. The fancy font that made you feel good will only irritate us, as we have to strip it back to text before I use it. No offense.
Please do not TAB indent. Just use a RETURN key. Indents happen on OUR end. I know it looks weird to you, but we prefer it that way.
Should your work be accepted for publication, it will pass through an editing process. While we endeavor to retain your work as closely as possible, editing may require us to adjust your work for reader clarity, in addition to grammatical corrections. We may elect to change the title of your work; however, we will contact you and work with you on that.
TIPS: Learn how your writing can be powerful. Below are two links to short stories that you should read. Each offers a different style, and you can use them as an example of what makes a powerful story.
If you have other questions, please contact William@Booksnpieces.com and include B&P in the subject line. I look forward to reading your submissions.
Sincerely,
William Gensburger
STOP: Fix Your Story — Before You Submit It
Every year, thousands of manuscripts land on an editor’s desk, and most of them get rejected without a single word of explanation. Not because the story is bad, but because it never gets the chance to prove otherwise: a misplaced comma, an inconsistent character name, a page that looks like it wasn’t proofread, and the editor has already moved on to the next submission in the pile. This book exists to make sure that never happens to your work again.
Written by an industry insider who has seen exactly what gets manuscripts tossed aside, STOP: Fix Your Story is the no-nonsense guide every writer needs before hitting submit. Skip the three-hundred-page grammar textbook. This is a fast, practical walkthrough of the mistakes that quietly sink otherwise strong submissions: punctuation slips that scream amateur, overwriting that buries your voice, formatting errors that get a manuscript rejected before it’s even read, and the plot and character problems that make an editor lose interest by page three.
Inside, you’ll find clear, real-world examples of what works and what doesn’t, a complete breakdown of professional manuscript formatting standards, a step-by-step self-editing process that takes you from first draft to submission-ready, and the most commonly confused words and misspellings that slip past spell-check every time.
Whether you’re preparing your first short story submission or polishing a manuscript that’s been rejected one too many times, this guide gives you the editor’s-eye view you’ve been missing. Stop guessing what went wrong. Start submitting work that looks, reads, and feels professional from the very first page.
Your story deserves to be read. Make sure nothing gets in its way.
“A useful tool that helped me get a story published” — Anna P.
Whether you’re a first-time writer or a seasoned author, this is the checklist you’ll wish you had before hitting “send.”
STOP: Fix Your Story Before You Submit by Eric Stillwell. It’s only 99 cents on Amazon. Click HERE to buy it.
