Stage 1:
Our submissions process has changed. Please read the submissions and formatting guidelines here.
When your story arrives, it is sent to a random reader who gives it an initial assessment.
Stories that are approved are sent to other readers, each of whom also gives it a score. If the story is given a good enough score, it is forwarded to our editors. We rely on unpaid readers who lead busy lives so occasionally it can take up to three months. Please be patient at this time.
At this stage, you will receive advice that your story has been accepted or rejected.
A rejected story will be returned with any reader comments attached. An accepted story will be put on hold for selection by our editors.
Stage 2:
By this stage, the story is considered good enough to go into an issue of Andromeda Spaceways Magazine (ASM). Editors of upcoming issues then select the stories they want to publish. With the number of submissions we receive, only about 1 story in 20 makes it into print. If your story is really good we may want to hang on to it for the next issue if it doesn’t make it into the current issue.
Sometimes it can be a few months before we can give you a definitive decision to publish or release your story. Please take a delay at this stage as a compliment that your story is really good and we’re working hard to see whether we can fit it in somewhere. If you would like to submit your story or poem somewhere else you can always withdraw in our submissions engine.
If no editor selects it for an issue, the story is reluctantly released and sent back to you (again, possibly with reader comments attached).
Stage 3:
If your story is selected for publication, you will be contacted to confirm you still wish to be published in ASM. From this point onwards you’ll be working with one of our editors to make your story the best it can be, all ready to be published.
Isn’t your story selection process a bit arbitrary?
Arbitrary? Yes, it is. It is possible that your story could hit a reader on a bad day and get rejected out of hand. It’s possible it could be the best story ever written, but languish in the submissions pool for two months and eventually be dropped because it doesn’t happen to fit into any of the upcoming issues. That, unfortunately, is life in the world of publishing. We do our best, though. The important thing to remember is that every other magazine goes through some variation of this process. We’re just more open about it than most.