Submissions

Submissions Call (Open)

Short stories may be submitted in any and all fiction genres and cross-genres such as literary fiction, science fiction, contemporary, fantasy, horror, romance, historical fiction, etc., as long as it is within the following terms. We also highly recommend reading the works we have published so far to have a good idea of what we publish.

1) Only verifiable African writers are eligible (writers born in Africa, or having domiciled in for over 10 years, and/or holding citizenship in an African country, or having at least one parent who was born in Africa).

2) The submitted work must be an original work of the submitting author, nothing that infringes the copyright of, or is derived from, another author’s work of fiction (this includes AI-generated content), is pornographic, hate speech, etc.

3) No reprints (must be unpublished originals, not previously published in print or online). 

4) No simultaneous submissions (only submitted to ZamaShort and no other publications).

5) No multiple submissions (submit only one work at a time, if it is accepted or rejected you can then submit a different work).

6) Single works with multiple authors will not be considered.

7) Submission format: Microsoft Word .doc/.docx (or Rich Text Format .rtf), UK English.

8) Word Count: Minimum: 3000 Words, Maximum: 10k Words. For this type of publication, the sweet spot is around 5-6k words but submissions in the range indicated will be considered.

9) Currently this is an open call so there is no deadline for submissions.

10) All works to be submitted to: submissions@zamashort.com 

Email Subject: ZamaShort Submission: (Author Name) (Story Name)

Email body:

Name of Story:
Name of Author:
Genre of story (multiple if cross-genre):
Author Bio (100 words max):
Anything you might want to add about your submission or otherwise (500 words max).

Email attachment:

1) Your short story in .doc .docx or .rtf in above submission format
2) Proof of eligibility/background as per term one. Preferably in .pdf format, or a photo image of an official document (Birth Cert/National ID/Passport/etc.) of yours and if required additionally the same for at least one parent.

Submissions that fail to align to all these terms may be discarded.

11) To be edited by Ivor W. Hartmann and published by ZamaShort (a StoryTime Publishing imprint), for any problems or queries please contact: info@zamashort.com

12) All AI-generated submissions will result in a permanent black-listing.

Payment: The ZamaShort imprint is an equitable profit share endeavour through equal partnership with all authors published, and annual revenue payouts.

Rights licencing: All works published begin with a one year only exclusive first world rights licence for publication and distribution, thereafter this converts to fully non-exclusive. All rights of all works published remain with the author.

Anthology: All works published will be part of an annual ZamaShort anthology.