Rate Your Story Submission Guidelines - UPDATED 5/8/13
***Currently CLOSED to Submissions***
Rate Your Story is only open to submissions from the 1st to the 7th of each month! Submissions received during the first week of each month will be read and given a free critique rating. Submissions received after the 7th, and before the new month begins, will be ignored.
Please check back periodically because we amend or change guidelines often. We advise you to follow @RateYourStory on Twitter for the latest submission updates.
All Rate Your Story Submissions must be made electronically through our currently listed submissions email on the contact page. We do not rate hard copies, nor will we visit your website to read and rate a submission. Please follow the guidelines below.
Length: 2,000 words or less. No exceptions, please.
File Type: .DOC, or .DOCX PREFERRED, but will accept PDF or story pasted in email body (please note if you submit as PDF or in the email body, various judges who offer bonus comments on the manuscript will not be able to do so).
Format: Double-Spaced, Size 12, Times New Roman or Arial font, black text
Header: Please include your email address and a word count in the header of the attachment
Email Subject Line: Please include the word SUBMISSION and the TITLE in the email subject line when emailing your submission to Rate Your Story
Please be kind and send each manuscript as a separate submission (e.g. don't attach four manuscripts to the same email). Furthermore, we ask that you only submit ONE MANUSCRIPT AT A TIME to Rate Your Story. When that manuscript has been returned to you with a free critique rating, then we will accept another submission from you. You are free to re-submit stories to RYS once they've been revised, however, we politely ask that no manuscript be sent more than three times. And, we highly encourage you to take time (weeks, not days or hours) when revising your work in between submissions.
When your email reaches our inbox, you will get an autoreply as confirmation that your email has been received. Note: If you send more than one email with the same subject line or if you send more than one manuscript, you will only receive one auto-response.
ALLOWED
Any genre of story–including humor, fantasy, satire, sci fi, flash fiction, fable, retold folk tales, etc. It can be a board book text, picture book manuscript, short story for adults, teens, or written for anyone in between. Poetry is allowed AS LONG AS it tells a clear story (such as a rhyming picture book) with plot and characters. Non-fiction stories are allowed AS LONG AS they are written in a story format with a beginning, middle, and end–such as a short memoir. No articles, please.
NOT ALLOWED
Explicit adult material (including overly erotic love scenes, distasteful use of curse words, extremely violent or threatening material, or anything deemed overtly discriminatory, racist, or prejudice against any group of human beings). We reserve the right to delete any submission that we deem 'unratable' without notifying the sender.
HOW TO SUBMIT
1) Prepare your manuscript as directed according to guidelines above.
2) Visit our contact page. Write down the current Rate Your Story submissions address listed.
3) In your submission email, be sure to include the word SUBMISSION and your TITLE in the email subject line.
4) Feel free to include any pertinent information the judge should consider when rating it (i.e. genre, target age group, written for a particular market, "I'm from Australia, not the USA"). Do not say, however, "this is a work in progress" - we judge all stories as finished stories! Although I can't guarantee each judge will give proper time to your email or cover letter, they may.
4) We prefer that your manuscript is an attachment. If you are having problems, you may copy and paste your story into the email body. Keep in mind that most formatting will be lost and your rating may be affected (lowered) by the interruption of line breaks to the person reading it.
5) If you have not received a rating from Rate Your Story within 14 full days, please feel free to send it again or inquire about the status of your free critique rating. Your submission may not have reached us. Please pay attention to whether or not we are open or closed to submissions, as this will affect response times. If you send a manuscript while we are closed to submissions, it is unlikely that you will receive a reply and your manuscript will be ignored or deleted. Please be patient and wait until submissions are open again!
Very important note: We highly respect your work, and your MSS will never be shared online by us. However, Rate Your Story administrators and judges reserve the right to use snippets or entire bodies of cover letters, pitches, or other email correspondence that are not part of your manuscript in an anonymous way without obtaining permission, for the purpose of educating others on good (and bad) practices when submitting your work for representation or publication. Sending us your submission is interpreted by us as your agreement to these terms. This policy is very similar to other online writing blogs such as those practiced by QueryShark, etc. The intention is to help writers learn from others and to provide specific examples to clarify best practices. Thank you!
Very important note: We highly respect your work, and your MSS will never be shared online by us. However, Rate Your Story administrators and judges reserve the right to use snippets or entire bodies of cover letters, pitches, or other email correspondence that are not part of your manuscript in an anonymous way without obtaining permission, for the purpose of educating others on good (and bad) practices when submitting your work for representation or publication. Sending us your submission is interpreted by us as your agreement to these terms. This policy is very similar to other online writing blogs such as those practiced by QueryShark, etc. The intention is to help writers learn from others and to provide specific examples to clarify best practices. Thank you!
