Our Next Horror Anthology | Now Accepting Submissions

Mishmashers Publishing is currently accepting submissions of Horror and Horror-Adjacent stories for our next installment of Readers Digested.

(Email: "Mishmashersdotcom@Gmail.com")
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[Nick]

Mishmashers Publishing prides itself as an experience for the hodgepodge reader – that means we accept fiction from a variety of different genres. We do not accept fetish horror, or erotica (and reserve the right to additional restriction should the situation ask for it). All submissions must be in English.

All stories submitted are effectively submitted to an eventual Anthology that’ll be sold at Comic Cons and book expos, as well as on Amazon for Kindle and Paperback.

We will accept previously published submissions, but not content available online. Mishmashers is not a stickler when it comes to exclusivity, per se. We will accept a story that has appeared in an Anthology someplace, somewhere, someway. However, we will not accept stories that are available online for free. This negatively impacts both our SEO and that of the other publisher. If the previously published stories are available online behind a paywall they will be considered.

We’re alright with simultaneous submissions. Gotta hustle, we get that. But, if someone publishes your submission before we do, please let us know so we can remove it from our queue.

We accept multiple submissions. Currently, Mishmashers will accept up to three stories at once.

Our rates are currently non-negotiable and based on our budget.

For flash fiction (stories of 1,000 words or less), we’re paying authors $5 per story. For short stories (i.e. stories in the ballpark of 5,000 words), we’re paying authors $25 per story.

In time, our rates will increase. For now, we’re a small company and all of our investment comes out of pocket. Every book convention we attend. We eat the cost. Every hotel room. Every paperback that needs bound and printed. All the impulse buying!? If the rates don’t agree with you. We understand. This is our passion and we don’t want anyone jumping in with us if they’re not one-hundred percent onboard.

We may be interested in stories of a higher length (thus warranting a higher price point). Please feel free to ask.

Our expectation of exclusivity is a ninety-day period and the potential for inclusion in an eventual Anthology series. That is, ninety days of which you continue to abide keeping the content unavailable online for free. If it is found that you’ve not complied, you will no longer be considered for the project. If for some reason you don’t want included in the Anthology, please tell us during submission. Failure to do so could disqualify you from further participation in the project.

Our content fluctuates between free and subscription. If you wish your content to remain exclusively behind a paywall. Please let us know ahead of time. Otherwise, we’ll assume we’re free to act at our will.

Payment is sent through PayPal. Payment will be sent before the story is published.

Copyright protection is very important to us. As you can see, we’ve disabled selections, drag and drop, right click, and the ability to download images. If any work is ripped off in any way, we’re willing to help creators seek justice in any way we can.

 

[Jake]

How long will you have this open? This might be the encouragement I need to finish The Monsters We Hide.

 

[Nick]

How long will you have this open? This might be the encouragement I need to finish The Monsters We Hide.

Thankfully, it's an ongoing series, so anything that doesn't fit the timeline of Vol. 3, could theoretically fit the timeline of Vol. 4. Volume 2 will publish sometime in the next couple months, whereas I could see 3 being released in October of this year.

We are also hoping to do a Fantasy Anthology someday soon.

 

[Jake]

I could definitely probably write up some things for a fantasy anthology; but, that's good. It gives me a time frame to work in, which seems to help with my motivation and drive.

 

[Nick]

I could definitely probably write up some things for a fantasy anthology; but, that's good. It gives me a time frame to work in, which seems to help with my motivation and drive.

Definitely probably is good! I have a few fantasy novels under my belt (and more to come), but I rarely dabble in short-form fantasy fiction. I know Scott has a handful of them (but we try to diversify each Anthology - keep it from being a one-man show, so to speak). I believe Bradley Walker has a fantasy story as well.

Overall, we definitely have more in place for the horror anthologies (it's where all of this began, after all), but we want to expand.

Here's a photograph from one of the conventions we attended,

 

[Jake]

I mean, I have no problem writing the stories. My problem was always the daunting concept of publishing costs with everything else I had going on in life. I mean, I don't even really need to rake in a profit for most of my work. I write more for other's enjoyment than anything.

 

[Nick]

I mean, I have no problem writing the stories. My problem was always the daunting concept of publishing costs with everything else I had going on in life. I mean, I don't even really need to rake in a profit for most of my work. I write more for other's enjoyment than anything.

Right. Makes sense!

 

[Tramuson]

Speedy.

 

[Jake]

Right. Makes sense!

Though, I'm not going to fault people for wanting to make a profit on their work.

 

[Nick]

Speedy.

When we first announced Readers Digested, Vol. 1, we collected a lot of stories (more or less, enough to make Vol. 2), we have some stories in mind for Readers Digested, Vol. 3 as well. Long story short, for Vol. 3, we need about four flash fictions, four short stories, and one more novelette and we will be off to the races with it. (Scott has already submitted and I have submitted. I believe Bradley Walker will submit one or two stories. Ashley Grand will probably do a flash fiction and short story as well. Maybe Mark Schorr will as well. We'll see.)

 

[Nick]

Though, I'm not going to fault people for wanting to make a profit on their work.

For certain. That's the dream of it.

Every time we bring our books to these Comic Cons, etc., we make out pretty alright. However, we're hardly ever breaking even on it.

On average, I would say we sell about thirty copies each convention (we sell at about $10 apiece for each book).

Assume that's $300 in-profit. Subtract the cost of printing, that amount is cut to about $175 total. Subtract the cost of the booth itself (sometimes, that is as high as $150, other times, it is, maybe about $25). We are left with about $100 in-profit. Next, you have hotel cost, food and drink, and transportation, and before you know it, it's very much an expenditure we take at a loss most times.

It's fun though, and it's nice to be able to have a back and forth with other writers, or have readers tell us they bought our books at a previous convention, and so on.

 

[Jake]

For certain. That's the dream of it.

Every time we bring our books to these Comic Cons, etc., we make out pretty alright. However, we're hardly ever breaking even on it.

On average, I would say we sell about thirty copies each convention (we sell at about $10 apiece for each book).

Assume that's $300 in-profit. Subtract the cost of printing, that amount is cut to about $175 total. Subtract the cost of the booth itself (sometimes, that is as high as $150, other times, it is, maybe about $25). We are left with about $100 in-profit. Next, you have hotel cost, food and drink, and transportation, and before you know it, it's very much an expenditure we take at a loss most times.

It's fun though, and it's nice to be able to have a back and forth with other writers, or have readers tell us they bought our books at a previous convention, and so on.

I would imagine that it's also nice to have people ask you to autograph them or ask about the progress of a sequel or just genuinely expressing appreciation for the world you'd created.

 

[Nick]

I would imagine that it's also nice to have people ask you to autograph them or ask about the progress of a sequel or just genuinely expressing appreciation for the world you'd created.

Definitely. We have had a few instances where someone has bought one of our books at a previous Con and then came back to our booth months later and dropped $50 on a bunch of our stuff. Very cool. It's what I hope to bring to other writers, and also to expand upon. We hope to venture out to Cons in Chicago and St. Louis this year. Could double our sales / exposure.

 

[Jake]

Have you looked into putting copies of your books in local libraries as well?

 

[Nick]

Have you looked into putting copies of your books in local libraries as well?

We have, but, ultimately, that isn't an avenue we've decided to go down. It wouldn't hurt, but I doubt it'd lead to any reads, per se.

What we need to do is double-down on our digital market. It's difficult to identify exactly what works and what doesn't. I have my second fantasy novel sell 250 copies in five days (and I have no idea how it happened - I'll recreate the same things I did and never capture that same lightning in a bottle). It's easy to have moments of major successes, and then, have it not lead to the momentum you thought it would.

I am hoping when we go to Chicago (which is a five-day Con), we will be able to sell in the neighborhood of 100 books in a three-day period and actually receive some Amazon reviews and online feedback from it.

 

[Jake]

Yeah, I never realized how valuable those Amazon reviews were. I have people that gave me great reviews, mostly family and some friends and then I'll have strangers give it a bomb review without saying what turned them off about it. Most people who have read my sole published work seem to have nothing but positive things to say other than the minor nit-picking about grammar and sentence fragments because I rushed to publish without fine-tuning.

Hopefully the Chicago convention pays off. It couldn't hurt to do some promotions where you mark down one of your older books to half-price or even free if bundled with the newer books. I know it may not be feasible with being a smaller publishing house though.

 

[Nick]

Yeah, I never realized how valuable those Amazon reviews were. I have people that gave me great reviews, mostly family and some friends and then I'll have strangers give it a bomb review without saying what turned them off about it. Most people who have read my sole published work seem to have nothing but positive things to say other than the minor nit-picking about grammar and sentence fragments because I rushed to publish without fine-tuning.

Hopefully the Chicago convention pays off. It couldn't hurt to do some promotions where you mark down one of your older books to half-price or even free if bundled with the newer books. I know it may not be feasible with being a smaller publishing house though.

Unfortunately, we won't do any markdowns, since the $10 price-point is already a major markdown in itself. I feel it is important not to sell ourselves too short. Everyone worked hard on them, after all.

I haven't received a negative review on my books yet, but Scott has (he has one Amazon review where somebody offered him one-star and said they couldn't get through twelve pages of it). It was harsh, but I don't think he sweated it, nor should he. Some people are assholes and don't consider the individual. The only bad part is that the review stays, and that may be one of the only things a person sees.

 

[Jake]

Unfortunately, we won't do any markdowns, since the $10 price-point is already a major markdown in itself. I feel it is important not to sell ourselves too short. Everyone worked hard on them, after all.

I haven't received a negative review on my books yet, but Scott has (he has one Amazon review where somebody offered him one-star and said they couldn't get through twelve pages of it). It was harsh, but I don't think he sweated it, nor should he. Some people are assholes and don't consider the individual. The only bad part is that the review stays, and that may be one of the only things a person sees.

Yeah, it also supposedly knocks the book down in the overall ranks on the search pages which can be harmful in and of itself. If I can manage to get the horror story finished in time, I'll definitely spread the word with family and friends again which should help get you some more hits. Can't promise sales but eyes and clicks definitely help.

 

[Nick]

Absolutely, everything goes hand-in-hand. And, if nothing else, I am very proud of the work I've created. That means something to me that I feel I've done what I set out to do - make something.