Submission Guidelines for the New Smut Project Anthologies
Character-Driven Smut [Title: TBA]Editors: T.C. Mill and Pasiphile
Publisher: The New Smut Project
Deadline: June 1, 2014
Payment: 100% of net profits will be distributed among authors in equal shares
Too often, characterization seems to stop in the bedroom. Characters either don’t exist outside what their naughty bits are doing, or what they do during sex seems to have no connection with the kind of people they are otherwise. Not so here. For this anthology, we want to see sex as only your characters can have it. We want to see real people with depth and personality, having emotionally-relevant sex as determined by the relationship they have with their partner (and that’s “relationship” in the broadest sense of the word).
As in erotic romance, sex may be essential to the development of the relationship or plot. But we are also happy to look at vignettes and erotically-themed character studies.
Show us what makes these characters tick. What’s the motive behind their steamiest fantasy? Why are they with the partner they have now? Do they have habits, or are they trying something new, even wild? Who are they? And what’s so special about this specific fuck?
(Note: “unique” doesn’t have to mean “outlandish”. Vanilla sex between a married couple is just as welcome as a first-time kinkster having an orgy. The important thing is that we come to be interested in and care about that married couple—and also, dare we say, a bit turned on?)
Scroll down to “Guidelines for Both Themes” for submission details
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Negotiation [Working Title: 50 Shades of Negotiation]
For this anthology we’re looking for stories containing something unexpected in smut: a character saying “no”.
To what? Could be anything—a kink, a specific sex act, sex itself at a specific time or forever. But the point is that our character sets their boundaries, and, importantly, that the story shows those boundaries being respected. Where do they go from there? That’s up to each writer to decide, showing the process of sexual exploration and negotiation in a compelling, supportive, and sometimes even sexy manner.
We want all sorts of resolution/ to this:
characters put off their first time to cuddle and look at the stars
a kinky asexual person and their partner decide to enjoy some light bondage but no sex for the evening
a character at first says “No,” but after taking some time to consider it, and with thenon-pressuring support of her partner, decides to try the thing she first refused
a character says “No” and never changes their mind about that particular activity, but they and their partner find something else they enjoy together
characters fail to communicate clearly before the fun starts and character A starts feeling uncomfortable. Character B picks this up from nonverbal cues and they stop and discuss it, but both are a little shaken by the close call.
Characters A and C pick up on the nonverbal cues of Character B, stop what they’re doing, and try something different, thinking nothing of it. Accommodating their partner’s needs is part of the joy of sex.
a sub safewords during a scene, and the dom panics afterwards. The two negotiate their relationship from there.
a sub safewords during a scene, and the domme stops immediately. Still, it was the sub’s first time safewording and the two want to check in on each other, which they do during some heavy petting
a dom safewords during a scene, and explores the psychological consequences with the help of their sub
Guidelines for Both Themes:
Genre & Pairing: Any. Contemporary, historical, paranormal, epic fantasy, space odyssey… Characterization & Negotiation will always be relevant. You can even toss in some horror tropes if you use them according to the guidelines (tentacles with characterization…and which perhaps negotiate). Pairings can include characters of any, all, or no gender, and by no means do they have to be only cis. Nor does there need to be just a pair of them—as many people can be sexually involved in your story as you and they desire.
For legal reasons, please do not write characters under the age of consent (18+).
Wordcount: As long as it takes to tell the story—we’re willing to look at stories anywhere between 2,000 to 24,000 words, with the sweet spot between 3,000-12,000 words.
Payment: A royalties split; 100% of profits after distribution costs will be paid out among all contributors (authors + cover artist) in equal shares.
Rights asked: We’d like the stories to be exclusively ours to publish as an ebook and print anthology for 6 months after publication. That means the story can’t be posted or published elsewhere in its entirety for those 6 months—but excerpts, especially for promotional purposes, are allowed & encouraged! After the period of exclusivity expires, authors may reprint or post their stories at will, but we’d appreciate a note along the lines of “This story first appeared in Smut Anthology, 2014”
How to Submit
Email your story to newsmutproject@gmail.com
Sage prefers to see .RTF attachments, but we also accept stories in the body of the email. Standard Manuscript Format is nice, but anything works so long as it’s readable. So no Wingdings, then.
Be sure your manuscript has been proofread and makes logical sense, although all stories will be thoroughly edited before publication.
You may send up to 2 stories to each anthology, with the caveat that we will probably only publish each author once per anthology, unless the stories are very short.
Please feel welcome to identify yourself in your cover letter as a member of an underrepresented racial, gender, or sexual group (diversity is a Thing That Makes Us Squee!), as kinky, as an expert in your story’s topic, with any previous publications, etc
Submissions are open until June 1st.
