Closed for Submissions Effective 10/31/2019

Crimson Streets will be closed to new submissions starting 11/01/2019.  All submissions received by midnight October 31st, 2019 will be read and evaluated for publication.  Additional information will follow within the next few days.

What is Pulp?

According to Wikipedia, the pulp “magazines were best known for their lurid and exploitative stories and sensational cover art. Modern superhero comic books are sometimes considered descendants of ‘hero pulps’; pulp magazines often featured illustrated novel-length stories of heroic characters, such as The Shadow, Doc Savage, and The Phantom Detective.”

Pulp magazines and the self-named pulp fiction which appeared in them were often seen as low quality, run of the mill literature. Literature for the masses.

In the context of Crimson Streets, Pulp is not a genre.  It is not to be confused with Hard Boiled Detective fiction or Noir Fiction, although these themselves may be considered pulp.

Fiction

Crimson Streets is looking for fiction with a focus on action and atmosphere over characterization. Stores can fall into the adventure, aviation, detective/mystery, fantasy, hard-boiled, gangster, horror/occult, masked-vigilante, noir, railroad, war, and western/cowboy genres.  We publish everything that could fall under the banner of pulp with the exception of Science Fiction.  Science Fiction is a special case and deserves its own home.  That’s not to say that stories from other genres couldn’t have Science Fiction elements, after all, where would Dick Tracy be without his wrist radio or a mad scientist be without his planet-destroying device?

We are looking for stories from 800 to 6,000 words.  We are not interested in poetry, fan-fiction, or stories that fall outside of the broad umbrella of pulp.  (If you think your fiction could win an award or be taught in an English class, then it’s probably not suited for Crimson Streets.)  A work of fiction should be a quick read.  While publishers of a more literary bent intend to be the “art house cinema” of the short fiction world, we intend to be the “action movie at the cineplex.”

We may be interested in serializing longer works such as novellas, but these only accepted if complete and then broken down for publication.

Articles

In addition to fiction, Crimson Streets will also publish a limited number of articles on topics related to the pulps.  Ideas that come immediately to mind are on “Law Enforcement in the Pulp Story” or  “A Guide to 1930s and 40s Slang”.  Any article that would help an aspiring author of pulp stories may be of interest to us.  (For an example, see Steven Long’s series of Pulp Archetypes which appear irregularly).

Submission Format

We do not accept print submissions.   Every submission should be accompanied by query letter in which you briefly describe your submission in one or two paragraphs. Be sure to provide your address, phone number, and email address.  Please send your submission in either a Microsoft Word (.doc) file in Rich Text Format (.rtf) to editor@crimsonstreets.com.

Word Rate

Crimson Streets is a web now/print later publication.  When stories and articles are accepted, they first appear on the website at www.crimsonstreets.com in the new fiction feed.  From time to time anthology editions of Crimson Streets will be printed that collect the stories and articles from the website.  

Our standard rate is 1 cent per word of final, edited length.

Simultaneous and Multiple Submissions

Please do not send more than one submission at a time, or a submission which is currently being considered by another publisher.

Reprints

Crimson Streets does not accept reprints at this time.

Artwork

Art, with the exception of one-shot cartoons and covers, is commissioned specifically for each story or article. We maintain a file of portfolios from artists who are interested in working with us. We refer to the file when we have stories that require illustration. The goal is to match the story with the artist whose style is best suited to the task.

We do our best to make illustrating Crimson Streets an interesting job for the artist. Rather than dictate specific illustrations, we try to provide several possible scenes from which the illustrator can choose. We also welcome illustration suggestions from the artist. Our belief is that a work you wish to create is going to be much better than one you are ordered to create.

Art should be delivered electronically via email, DropBox, Google Drive, or like service.

Cartoons

As mentioned, one-shot cartoons are the only art work that we purchase straight from submissions.

Covers

Admittedly, the cover is the glamor spot for artists. Covers are contracted a little differently than interior illustrations. Let us know if you are interested in being considered for cover work. Preference is given to our established illustrators. Usually, we will ask to see some samples of your work and perhaps a rough sketch or two.  Covers should be provocative, at least by the standards of the 1930s and 40s with a cover-much but hide-little aesthetic.

Art Rates

Our standard rate for lead-in illustrations is $16.50.  Lead-in illustrations may be color, line art, or grey-scale, 4.25” x 5.5”, 300dpi. (To be reduced to 72dpi for the website.) 

We pay the stunning rate of $10  for single panel cartoons under the same terms as articles and stories. Cartoons can deal with any subject linked to noir, hard-boiled detective, masked-vigilante, pulp adventure, or associated genres

Portfolios

Please do not send us original work unless you already have a contract with us. Your portfolio should contain a representative sampling of your style or styles. The majority of the illustrations in Crimson Streets are black and white, but we do also use limited color work. Please include samples of both, though you may wish to emphasize the monochromatic pieces. We look not only for overall quality in a portfolio but also consistency.

Rights

By sending your submission to Crimson Streets you are offering us the right to first publication of the work in any format; perpetual rights to publish the work thereafter across multiple editions, formats, and media either singularly or in combination with other works; and exclusive rights to the work for eighteen (18) months from date of first publication.

Contracts

Crimson Streets uses an online, digital contract management service named  Concord for digital signatures and contract management. Shortly after receiving an acceptance email from us, you will receive an email from Concord with a link to the contract for your review and digital signature. Due to the global nature of our contributor base, we do not offer paper contracts. Crimson Streets does not publish any work without a signed contract.

Payment

Payments are made by PayPal where possible. Payment is made within 14 business days of contract signature and delivery of final copy or art.

Contacting Us

The best avenue to reach us is editor@crimsonstreets.com.

Snail Mail:

Crimson Streets
℅ Roger & Janet Carden
7120 Apple Mill Road
Efland, NC 27243

Thank you

Again, we would like to thank you for your interest. For us, working with our contributors is one of the greatest rewards of publishing a magazine. We look forward to seeing your work soon.