Welcome to the Silver Pen Writers Association group of publications. From this web page, you will have an opportunity to submit your work to these fine venues:

•   Fabula Argentea (FA) is open to all genres as well as literary fiction.
•   Youth Imagination (YI) is now closed to submissions. The December 2022 issue is our last one.
•   Silver Blade (SB) publishes cutting edge science fiction, slipstream, and classic and modern fantasy.
•   Liquid Imagination (LI) is now closed to submissions. The October 2022 issue is our last one.

 General guidelines common to all of our publications:

  Give us something unexpected and well written.  Technique, voice, characterization, and language will all play a part in our decision to publish.  Amaze us with your writing, use of language, sense of story, and memorable characters.  Give us a story readers will not be able to forget and will eagerly recommend to others. 

  If you want us to take your work seriously, please edit and proofread carefully prior to submission.  Manuscripts with significant typographical, spelling, or grammatical errors—where we feel compelled to grab a red pen after reading the first couple of pages—will likely be rejected outright without being read further.  The following are “hard sells” here:

•   Stories possessing several of the cliché elements listed here.
•   Fan Fiction
•   Anthropomorphism (Please query prior to submitting a story about a talking cat, or bird, or dog, or whatever)
•   Porn (Tasteful erotica may be considered by FA, but you must inquire first).

  Our editorial policies respect the artistic license of our authors.  However, there are occasions when changes are needed that go beyond basic spelling, grammar, and punctuation corrections. In any case, the author will always be given final approval, prior to publication, over substantial edits made by our staff. We appreciate your willingness to work with us in this regard.

 Format and Deadlines

  All submissions should…

•   Have 1 inch margins, single spaced lines, with extra space between paragraphs
•   Refrain from using fancy headers or footers, text effects, background colors or images.
•   Use a standard font (Arial, Calibri, Times Roman, Courier) in 10, 11 or 12 point size.

  Three of our publications come out once a quarter, in the first week of the months below:

•   Silver Blade:  February, May, August, and November (except for poetry, submissions closed during March, June, September, and December)
•   Fabula Argentea:  January, April, July, and October

  Submissions for upcoming issues cut off roughly a month before the publication date. We read submissions continuously and all works that arrive after a cut-off date will remain in the queue for the following issue. We try to respond within two months of receiving a submission. Please inquire on status after 60 days if you have not received a response from us.

 Rights and Royalties (revised January 27, 2014)

  Silver Pen pays a flat fee of $8 for short stories and poems, $3 for flash, $15 for Longer Stories (7500 to 20,000 words), and $15 for Featured Poets (invitation only). A $2 bonus will be added for authors who accept payment via Paypal  (which shall be the assumed payment method unless you specifically state  otherwise). Note: Only authors in the United States have the option of receiving a mailed check. Everyone else MUST use PayPal or forfeit payment.

  In exchange, we require:

  For previously unpublished WORK

  The AUTHOR grants First World Rights to the PUBLISHER.

  The AUTHOR grants Anthology Rights to the PUBLISHER.

  The AUTHOR grants Archival Rights to the PUBLISHER

  For previously published WORK

  The AUTHOR grants World Reprint Rights to the PUBLISHER.

  The AUTHOR grants Non-exclusive Anthology Rights to the PUBLISHER.

  The AUTHOR grants Archival Rights to the PUBLISHER

•   Assurance that submitted work is not currently published elsewhere (including freely accessibly “public” Internet sites);
•   Authors must warrant that they are the sole author of the work, that the work is original, and that no other entity has reserved the rights required by Silver Pen for publication;
•   Authors must warrant that the work does not contain libelous material or material copyrighted by another party.

 Other important Points

•   Pieces posted for critique on a controlled-access website (user ID and password required to access) do not count as “published.”
•   submissions –at— silverpen.org is used solely for author communication and inquiries. Writers are strongly encouraged to add it to their trusted sender email address list.
•   All submissions must be submitted through our Submittable web page. Works sent to submissions –at— silverpen.org will be deleted without reading them.
•   We allow simultaneous submissions, but please let us know immediately if your work has been accepted elsewhere. We are an all-volunteer organization and our time is limited.
•   Multiple submissions are welcome, but we will not publish more than one piece by an author in any single issue (exception: Poetry submissions to SB). 
•   If you use Duotrope, please remember to report your responses. It helps keep us honest.

  Now, click one of the buttons below to submit your work!