Submissions
Mixtape Stories is seeking fresh short stories in the speculative and science fiction milieu.
What Kinds Of Stories Are We Looking For?
We are interested in engaging stories that pull an audience in through its characters and pacing. We are open to most sub-genres within science fiction and speculative fiction, be it offworld dramas, time travel, alternate realities, what have you. We particularly like absurdism and stories with humorous elements and that have deeper themes. Mixtape Stories eagerly welcomes voices from diverse ethnic and national backgrounds as well as those from the Pride (aka LGBTQIA) community whose experiences add to the human story.
What We Do Not Want
We are not seeking gore, gritty horror (light horror with a happy ending is okay), grim endings, or explicit violence. And while we are fine with stories inspired by personal spiritual or religious experiences, we do no seek anything overtly proselytizing or condemning a particular religion or religion in general.
Requirements, Format And Length Of Story
The story needs to be your original work or that you have rights to submit. It can be a reprint so long as you are allowed to sell you story to other outlets.
The stories do not need to be in script format as we will work to adapt the story into an audio drama. Word count is anywhere between 2,500 to 6,000 (preferably 3,000-5,000) words.
If you are submitting a novellete (up to 20,000 words) we will consider the story; however, that costs us money, so it will be a hard sell and the maximum we will pay is $450.
Payment
We pay $0.06 per word for the original script (after you approve our adaptation script).
How And What To Submit
Email your story as a Word document to michael@mixtapestories.net and in the subject state “Submission” and the title of the story. In the body of the email provide a one page query letter that includes the story’s title, word count, and an elevator pitch of about 4 to 5 sentences. Also you must confirm that the story is your original work (also mention if it’s a reprint) and not drafted from AI. You may also include your website and prior publications (if any) and contact information to include email.
Selecting The Story
We will read every short story we receive. If we don’t select your story, it’s more likely that’s a good story but it’s just not for us.
The Process
If we select your story, we will adapt it into an audio drama script, and send the adaptation to you for final approval. Once you approve the adaptation script, we will send you payment.
At the beginning of the episode, we will provide a brief bio on you as the author, whatever you’d like us to say such as awards, nominations, and where listeners can find your work, and then we will begin with the adaptation.
Your Rights and Mixtape Stories’ Rights
You, naturally, retain all rights to your original story and will be given the credit in the beginning of the episode. Additionally, our agreement is non-exclusive, meaning you are free to have other podcasters, streamers, whoever adapt your story.
Mixtape Stories owns the adaptation episode, where we decide the actors, background music, sound effects.