More Scary Kisses edited by Liz Grzyb:

We had so much fun with the first Scary Kisses that we’re doing it all again!
Do you like your romance spiced with a frisson of fear or even a chuckle at the strange things that lurk beyond the real world?

Submission guidelines

Send us your best stories in the paranormal romance vein. We are looking for submissions with romantic and paranormal or speculative elements. These can be humorous, scary, sexy or thought-provoking, but the primary focus should be romance.

1. Story length 1,000 to 8,500 words. (Longer stories may be accepted, although payment is capped at 5,000).
2. Original stories only: no reprints, multiple, or simultaneous submissions.
3. Stories may be emailed to the editor at scarykisses @ ticonderogapublications.com with the words “Submission More Scary Kisses” in the subject line.
4. Manuscript format: double spaced, large margins, sensible font.
5. The editors reserve the right to bend any and all rules for close personal friends.
6. Deadline: 1st November, 2010.

Reading period: The anthology is open to unsolicited submissions until 1st November, 2010.
Payment: 2 copies and Aus 2 cents/word (GST inc., maximum payment $100) on publication.

Scary Kisses is scheduled for release in 2011.

In January 2009 we received 18 submissions:

12 International submissions
6 Australian submissions

Of these:

We were not able to accept 15 submissions
We requested 2 submissions be rewritten

Response rate: 94.4%
1 submission is awaiting response

Fastest Response Time: 1 day
Slowest Response Time: 1 day
Average Response Time: 1 day

In revamping ticon, one of the things we’ve had to cut back on is feedback to unsuccessful writers.

In previous years, we would sometimes give 500 word responses to stories, to give writers some guidance on how to improve their writing.

Giving feedback isn’t an easy process. Good, constructive criticism is a skill that not everyone has, and even those who can do it, many find the process tiring. It can take a lot out of the critic: being balanced, getting the story’s strengths and weaknesses across, and also making sure that the feedback reads as criticism of the story, not the writer.

It can make a 100 metre dive into a glass of water seem easy.

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