Call for Talent
Cellar Door, the literary and visual arts publication is now looking for submissions for its second issue that will be released in the first quarter of 2011! We will be accepting short stories, comics, artwork and poetry. Below you will find the general guidelines for each medium and a list of deadlines.
The Theme
The theme for the second edition of Cellar Door is going to be Unraveling. Think of Things Fall Apart by the wonderful African author Chinua Achebe...think Sweater Song by Weezer...think of crumbling...and unworking...and ideas that are being broken and strung back together. Let us know if you have any questions.
The Guidelines
Written
Written submissions should be formatted in standard manuscript form (double-spaced, twelve point font and one inch margins). Please submit in RTF (Rich Text Format) as an attachment in an email containing your name and contact information. The subject line should be composed in this way: YOUR NAME / TITLE OF WORK. If your work is accepted you will be asked to write a short biography including such information as previous publishing credits and any personal information you’d like to share.
Short stories should be no more than 10,000 words (with the occasional possibility of serialization).
Poetry submissions should contain no more than three poems at a time.
All written submissions should be sent to Cellar.Door.Book@gmail.com.
Artwork
All art submitted should be in black & white or grayscale. Though we may give it a try in the future, for no we are not accepting any photography. Files must be .TIF (preferred) or .JPG and 300 dpi.
Keep in mind that the book’s dimensions are 6 by 9 inches wide. We will be accepting full-page illustrations, spot illustrations, and comic pages. Full bleed images are acceptable and if you have any questions on how to create them properly feel free to ask.
Every story printed in our publication needs at least one full-page illustration. Many stories will also need spot illustrations. If you are interested in illustrating a story instead of a comic short or an individual illustration, please send either A) a link to your online portfolio or B) three .tiff or .jpg images that best represent your style. Please indicate that your interest is to illustrate a story. Once we receive an example of your work, we will determine if we would like you to contribute to our publication. If we do like your artwork, we will send you a story to illustrate and any specifics that would go along with that story.
Please send all art submissions and relevant questions to CellarDoorBook@gmail.com. The subject line should contain YOUR NAME/Art Submission.
Comics
Being that comics/graphic novel serializations are a hybrid of written and visual work please follow these guidelines:
First submit a proposal (no more than a page) outlining the story and some of its primary plot points and/or characters. Include only a minimal amount of artwork if you believe it necessary. If you are in need of an artist please note it in your email.
If your proposal is accepted you will be asked for a script and artwork sample (if applicable) and arrangements will go forward from that point.
Also, if you already have a finished work you’d like us to consider we would be more than happy to take a look at it without the process listed above.
Comic/graphic novel serialization proposals and relevant questions should be sent to Cellar.Door.Book@gmail.com.
Response Time
Though we try to get back to all contributors in a timely manner we do get behind in the game now and then. Please feel free to contact us in regards to the status of your piece if you have not heard from an editor within 30 days of submitting.
Compensation
Beyond exposure in the quarterly, the contributor is guaranteed one copy of the book in which his/her work appears.
Measures are being taken to obtain financial compensation as well but I have no firm details or planned rates at this time.
Rights
By submitting your unpublished work, you understand that, if accepted, Cellar Door is acquiring First North American Serial Rights which gives us the right to publish your work for the first time in the North American market. You, the author retain all other rights to the work and will be contacted for permission if we plan to include it in any future collections. If the work is not published within six months of acceptance all first rights are null and void.
Any use of your material in the format of Podcasts and MP3 will be protected under the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial - No Derivatives 3.0 license (see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ for full details). Basically this protects your work from any attempts to use it commercially or creating derivatives not approved by the creator of the work.
Any questions should be directed to Cellar.Door.Book@gmail.com. The editorial staff of Cellar Door look forward to hearing from you!
