Submission Call: Ghost Stories

Our annual submission call for ghost stories.

Deadline: Submissions for this call are currently closed. Scroll down the page for more information on open calls.

Word count: 1,000-10,000 words

Submission fee: standard (see submission guidelines).

Payment and rights: standard (see submission guidelines).

How to submit: Use our standard submission form, and select 'ghost story' in the drop-down box at the start of the form.

What counts as a ghost story?

We have a loose definition of 'ghost story': it can mean a lot of different things, from an encounter with an actual phantom in the style of classic ghost stories, to more unusual supernatural phenomena and unexplained events. All types of story are welcome, so feel free to experiment: if you stray too far from the supernatural, we'll still read it as a general submission. Keep in mind that our readership (and by extension our editor) may be more likely to respond well to psychological chills and unexplained mysteries than in-your-face gore.

As always, we welcome writers and stories from around the world.

The stories we select from this submission call will feature in a future Fiction Desk anthology. If you've not yet read one of our anthologies, it’s worth picking up a recent volume before you submit, to get an idea of the range of styles we feature in our pages. Our latest, New Ghost Stories IV, is out now.