Now taking submissions for Teapot Tales:Volume 3

Teapot Tales: A Collection of Extraordinary Fairy Tales (Teapot Tales: Volume 3)

Do you like to write fairy tales?

Every year we bring out a new volume of our Teapot Tales anthologies with proceeds to benefit the Chapter Book Challenge. This will be the third volume and the theme is returning to fairy tales.

The stories are flash fiction (minimum word count 300 words/maximum word count 1,000 words) and are to either be a new take on an old fairy tale (sometimes called twisted fairy tales or fractured fairy tales) or completely new fairy tales.

Submissions are only open to Chapter Book Challenge members (it's free to join and the sign-up sheet is on the ChaBooCha blog). Previous Teapot Tales anthologies are "Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales" (Teapot Tales: Volume 1) and "Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea" (Teapot Tales: Volume 2). The anthologies are sold through Amazon, but will be expanding to other retail outlets. All authors retain the copyrights to their stories to publish in their own collections or on their own websites. Up to three stories may be submitted. Artwork (line drawings) is also accepted.

We also run a competition each year for the book cover creation. If you'd like to create a cover for consideration in the competition, the title needs to say "Teapot Tales" in large print and "A Collection of Extraordinary Fairy Tales" in smaller print. Keep in mind that the title needs to be able to be read even when the book cover is seen in thumbnail size. ChaBooCha members vote on the cover. Covers need to be in by August 31st, to be voted on within a week of that date. The winner of the competition will have their cover used for the anthology and, within the anthology, will get credit for creating the cover.

All work must be your own.

Deadline for story submissions (and artwork) is August 31st

Now Taking Submissions for "Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea"#ChaBooCha

Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea

This is the second volume of the Teapot Tales anthologies. The first one was "Teapot Tales: A collection of Unique Fairy Tales," published in 2013.

The theme for the 2014 Teapot Tales anthology will be " Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea." In fact, the full title of the next Teapot Tales anthology will be: "Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea," or something very similar.

1. Your stories must be about pirates, mermaids or other creaturess of the sea. But "monsters of the sea" can be loosely interpreted and basically, your story should have the sea or the ocean somewhere in it. Think of it in terms of sea-related fairy tales.

2. Stories do not have to be FOR children, but they do need to be child-friendly in that there should be no bad language, no sex and, although kids love gore and violence, please keep it PG.

3. Stories cannot be less than 300 words and cannot be over 800 words. Last time, the limit was 700 words, but several went over. This time, I am hoping everyone can keep it concise enough to stay within the allotted word count. The point of the title "Teapot Tales" is that each story is a short piece of flash fiction - a story short enough that a person can sit and enjoy a cup of tea while enjoying a story or two. People should be confident that they can sit and read a story in a short span of time, easily fitting story-reading into those briefly-snatched, relaxing moments throughout the day.

4. You MUST be an officially signed-up member of the Chapter Book Challenge in order to submit a story to the Teapot Tales anthology. You can sign up here. (You can read more about the Chapter Book Challenge by browsing this site or clicking on the "about" section at the top of the blog.)

5. Please follow the formatting guidelines as stated on Melusine Muse Press's page. Go here to read the formatting guidelines.

6. Proceeds from sales of the anthology go towards supporting the Chapter Book Challenge. Right now, the proceeds help pay for the prizes (we do a lot of prizes during the challenge) and the posting of those prizes. In the future, if proceeds increase, they will also help towards advertising ChaBooCha to bring in more members, advertising of the Teapot Tales anthologies (and other ChaBooCha anthologies) to help get them to a wider audience, donating our anthologies to libraries, setting up a more professional website and more. The goal is to grow membership of the Chapter Book Challenge, so we can better help each other towards our publishing goals. The Chapter Book Challenge is FREE to join and will remain so.

7. Illustrations (line art - black on white) will also be accepted.

8. Author bios must be sent in - around a paragraph each, links may be included, and must be written in 3rd person. These will be included in the book.

9. The deadline for the Teapot Tales submissions is July 31st, 2014, but I would prefer to get submissions in earlier.

10. E-mail submissions as a file attachment to Rebecca (at) Fyfe (dot) net.

You may submit up to three stories.

Anthologies will be made available in both kindle and print formats.

Deadline: July 31st, 2014

Authors retain all rights to submitted stories. If your story is accepted, you will be e-mailed a contract.

Now taking submissions for "Ghostly Echoes: Spooky Tales from Around the World"

Ghostly Echoes: Spooky Tales from Around the World

Melusine Muse Press is now taking submissions for a new anthology of spooky stories and Halloween-themed stories.

There is a 1,200 word limit (with a 300-word minimum).

Stories should be kid-friendly, but do not necessarily have to be written FOR children. Your best bet is to aim for stories that would be okay for 10 to 14 year old children to read.

These stories need to be spooky. Ghosts, goblins, demons, ghouls and anything else that can be thought of to frighten is welcome.

Stories are preferred, but we will accept some (a few) poems.

Artwork will be accepted (black and white/line drawings) and is encouraged.

We will also take book cover submissions. (If no one can create a suitable cover, Melusine Muse Press' artists will provide one. If several possible covers are submitted, participants will vote on their favorite.

As with Teapot Tales and Jingle Bells, proceeds will go towards the Chapter Book Challenge. The book will be made available in Kindle and print format. For print format, we are going to need to have the edited stories in and ready no later than July 31st, 2014. Otherwise, we cannot guarantee that the print version will be available by Halloween.

If you are American, your story will keep its US spellings and colloquialisms. If you are Australian or English, your story will also retain the spellings and colloquialisms for your area.

The Kindle version will maintain the clickable linking format that it had in Teapot Tales, and unless your are new at writing for Melusine Muse Press and the Chapter Book Challenge, your bio from Teapot Tales or Jingle Bells will be used (unless you request a new one). If you are new, an author (or artist) bio will be needed.

We will need to reach a minimum of 25 stories for this to be published in print form though.

You may submit up to three stories.

It is not limited to only ChaBooCha members! Anyone who can write an enjoyable story can submit a story.

Deadline: July 31st, 2014

Authors retain all rights to submitted stories. If your story is accepted, you will be e-mailed a contract.

A few late submissions will be allowed, on a  case by case basis.