No More Unsolicited Submissions at Tor.com
If you’ve ever thought about submitting a short story to Tor.com, you have until January 7th. After that, submissions will be closed permanently.
Tor.com made the announcement December 21st, citing a growth in acquisitions through the editorial staff: “As more of our stories are being brought in by consulting editors, fewer slots on our schedule can be filled by submitted stories. As such it’s time for a change.” Since the “slush pile” has been getting less and less play, the company has decided to no longer accept any unsolicited submissions.
An “unsolicited submission” is any story that comes to a publisher without an agent or editor as an intermediary. Basically, the author will personally submit the work directly to the publisher in the hopes that someone will read it, like it, and recommend it for publishing. Many authors have been discovered this way, and Tor even acknowledges that they’ve found some prizes in the slush. Since 2008, Tor.com has been a top market for short fiction. The loss of this avenue for authors without agents is unfortunate.
Tor.com will continue to accept submissions through January 7th. You can read their submission guidelines here — until they go away.
