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, 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 not 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 your story to other outlets.
Do NOT submit a story in script or screenplay as we will work to adapt the story into an audio drama ourselves. 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, it is a very hard sell.
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 that it's 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 can begin production.
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.
Your Story Is Adapted For Free
The cost for Mixtape Stories to produce an episode ranges from $200 to $800 to hire professional (human) voice actors, and the occasional purchase of sound effects and background music. The result speaks for itself as the audio dramas you are listening to are of the highest production quality, and the producer (Michael) treats every story with the same passion as if it was his own. So while Mixtape Stories cannot pay for your story, you get something far more valuable, an adaptation that’s the next best thing to TV or the movies.