Write For Us

How To Submit

Got something to say? Want to say it through us? It’s pretty simple, just email us at themeansathand@gmail.com.

Please put “TMAH (type) SUBMISSION” in your email’s Subject line to let us know what you’re sending. Unless otherwise noted, please attach all submissions to your emails and make documents either .doc or .docx.

In the body of your email, please give us a page/word count, title, and brief 1- to 3-sentence summary of your submission, as well as a short 3rd-person bio of yourself and your work (roughly 3 to 5 sentences).

If what you are submitting is an excerpt of a longer work, please also include a link and any other relevant information about where to get the longer work.

What We’re Looking For

We’re interested in both nonfiction and fiction submissions that, as the nature of this project suggests, are about crime fiction, true crime, mystery fiction, espionage, and debates and discussions about noir/mystery fiction and true crime. This is a deliberately-loose set of guidelines, specifically because there is so much to be said. Interested in discussing a new take on Victorian-era crime reporting or how women are the new face of modern mystery fiction? Want to talk about Sherlock Holmes, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lawrence Block? Got a story about a missing cat, a theft at the museum, or a whodunit from the book club meet?

We’ll consider it all. Seriously.

As of right now submissions are open on a rolling basis. This might change in the near-future, so keep an eye out.

Non-Fiction

Essays – Got an essay about something crime/mystery-related? What we’re interested in is short nonfiction between 1,000 and 4,000 words.
Reviews – Interested in doing a review of a book/film/completed TV series that meets the criteria of our mission here? We’re interested in reviews of between 500 and 1,000 words.
Papers – If you’re interested in publishing a more scholarly or academic paper with us about crime fiction, true crime, or anything similar, what we’re looking for are papers in the 5- to 11-page range, about 7,000 words max. Longer work will not be automatically be dismissed but preference will be given to shorter works. Your citation style is up to you (be it APA, Chicago, or even MLA if you’re so inclined). Cover pages & abstracts are not required.
Interviews – Talk to someone in the crime/mystery fiction or nonfiction field and want to share that conversation? We’re looking for interviews between 3,000 and 6,000 words.

Fiction

Short Stories – If you’re interested in submitting short fiction somewhat-related to the mystery/crime genre to us, what we’re looking for there is something between 3,000 and 6,000 words.
Excerpts of Longer Prose Work – Got something coming out that you’d like to show off a bit of? The parameters for short original fiction are applicable here, with something between 3,000 and 6,000 words.
Comics – We are interested in 1- to 5-page short comics. Please, in your submission, attach pages as either high-resolution .jpg’s or .pdf’s.

What’s It Pay

Unfortunately we’re not in a position to pay for submissions that we end up publishing. If and when that changes in the future, we will be announcing something.

However, on the plus side, we don’t charge a reading fee!

What About Rights

We ask for six months’ worth of exclusive publishing/display rights starting on the date of publication, after which the rights to re-publish the work return immediately to you.

What To Avoid

Plagiarism
Excessive & unnecessary (at our discretion as readers) violence and sexual content
Serial killer stuff (just not what we’re about)

Timeframe

Please consider 3 months after your submission an acceptable timeline to hear back from us about the status of your submission. Right now, one person is going through everything, so bear with us!

What If I’m Rejected

Go get a donut or a hot dog, take a deep breath, enjoy your snack. Sit on your piece for a bit (metaphorically), consider any feedback we might have given you, and try again!

If your submission has not been accepted, it might just mean that it didn’t fit the parameters of our publication, or that it didn’t fit the theme of the latest batch of work that we wanted, or that it just needed some more work. In any case, we will be trying our hardest to respond with some critical feedback to every rejected submission.

Thanks so much, and we’re looking forward to reading anything you send!