Submissions are open for Manawaker Studio’s Flash Fiction Podcast. We are currently reading for Season 9, which will run from Feb to Dec 2024, and include approximately 48 stories.
The Flash Fiction Podcast is just what it sounds like. Most weeks, a new short-short story is put out in podcast form by Manawaker Studio, produced and hosted by CB Droege.
The podcast is supported by Manawaker’s patrons on Patreon.
There is no requirement of submitted stories other than length. The ideal length is around 800 words, but stories as short as 250 or as long as 1500 may be considered. All genres will be considered, but the story must remain accessible to all ages, which mostly means no erotica or gore-horror. The editor has a particular love for sci-fi stories, so those may get slightly stronger consideration. We also prefer stories that have a plot. Vignettes are great, and necessarily make up a large part of what we accept at this length requirement, but having a proper beginning, middle, and end will score extra points. We tend to get a lot of stories which are essentially a misidentification twist. If being able to see the characters from the beginning would have ruined the story (or some similar ‘trick’ on the audience), we probably don’t want it.
Most of what we accept is sci-fi stories, so if you are trying to decide which flash to send, send the one with robots and spaceships. We’re also almost always low on light-hearted stories. Note that we are not necessarily looking for humor (in fact, a story which is mostly a set-up for a punchline or pun is a hard sell) but we get a lot of submissions which leave the listener feeling sad or angry, which is fine and necessary, but it’s nice to get triumph or joy mixed in there once in a while. We will currently not accept any stories about the corona-virus pandemic.
Submitters may submit up to three works at a time. The preference is for rtf files and standard manuscript format, but doc, docx, pdf, or even just pasted into the body of the e-mail are all fine too. And, you won’t be rejected just because your format isn’t perfect. Whatever form you are already storing the stories in, is probably okay for us. As long as we can get it open, we’ll read it. If we can’t get it open, we’ll let you know. An exception to this: We will not accept any submissions in the form of links to other sites or services. This means: No medium drafts or google docs, etc.
Previously published work is okay, as long as you let us know where it was published previously, so we can credit them in the podcast. It’s the submitter’s responsibility to ensure they have the rights to their work before submitting.
We do not accept work generated by algorithm.
Simultaneous submissions are okay, just make sure you tell us right away if the non-exclusive audio rights to your work are no longer available at any point, and please withdraw the submission in a reply to your original submission, so that it’s easier to find.
If your work is accepted, you will grant Manawaker Studio the right to edit and produce the work non-exclusively as part of the weekly podcast (which is posted on the Manawaker website, iTunes podcast store, Google Music, Spotify, and several other aggregators which pull content from those services.) and in an audiobook collection, which may remain ‘in print’ indefinitely. The work or parts of it may also be used for promotional purposes by Manawaker Studio.
At no point will Manawaker studio require any sort of exclusive rights to any story, and the original creator will retain all copyrights.
If you are a translator submitting a translation of another author’s story, please include a copy of the contract showing that you have the rights to translate and distribute the other author’s work.
Compensation for the use of an accepted work will be a token payment of one cent per word (half for reprints) with a minimum payment of three dollars (USD) and a max of ten dollars.
A sample contract sits here, if you are interested.
All submissions should be sent to submissions@manawaker.com with ‘FFP Submission’ and your last name and title of the story or stories in the subject line. Include a description of the pronunciation of your name, and third-person bio (65 words max) (for the contributors page on the website – If you send us a first-person bio, we’ll convert it to third with neutral pronouns) in the body of the e-mail. If you’d like a URL for an online portfolio or blog or social media (especially Instagram, since that’s the one primarily used to disseminate info about the podcast) included, give that as well. If I know your insta handle, I’ll tag it in the episode release announcement.
Response times will vary ranging from a couple weeks to a few months. Every sub sent in should get a note in response. If you don’t get that note within a few days, send a query.
Note: all submissions received before 26 Jan 2024 have been read and responded to. If you sent something in before that, and have not heard back, then something went wrong. Please query (use the subject line: FFP Query – do not reply to your own submission for queries, that will just push it to the end of the queue) so that we can figure out what happened to your submission.
There is no deadline for submissions, as this is an ongoing project.
Any questions about the project or these guidelines (or any queries after submissions) should be sent to contact@manawaker.com.