It’s twenty years since I started to collect stories for the original Leatherwomen, and anthologies have refused to die. With the explosion of e-book publishers of erotica, there has never been a better time to get your stories out into the world – and after twenty years, I’m eager to collect all sorts of delicious smut. From sweet and romantic to edgy and kinky, show me what you’ve got!
Not all of these have been placed with publishers, which is why rights/money might be vague. I’ll be looking at the best options for each book and will finalize offers as I make the deals – the minimum for any story will be $25. Some books might offer a royalty share; others will be flat fee only. No simultaneous submissions, please! However, you may submit more than one story per anthology or you can send me stories for them all, you prolific demon, you! Reprints must be more than seven years out of print from the last publishing.
Submission Guidelines
Please indicate WHICH ANTHOLOGY you are submitting for in your subject line.
For all submissions – send a MS Word .doc (NOT .docx) or a .rtf file to AntoniouEdits (@) gmail (dot) com. Do not paste the story into the body of an e-mail. Include your full contact information, e-mail address and mailing address in both the e-mail and on the attached document. Format neatly according to professional guidelines, and include a brief personal bio.
I prefer a story length between 3000-7000 words. Shorter? Then that story better pack a punch. Longer? Maybe you should consider publishing a novella.
These are erotica collections, so make sure your stories contain sex. Sex is defined as any activity that increases the potential for orgasm; so by all means do not limit yourself there. While your story might be dark or edgy for a particular book, please do not include murder, suicide or unhappy endings. Do not expect an answer until after the deadline has passed, although I reserve the right to answer earlier if I want to.
The Best of Leatherwomen: Deadline – Dec 31, 2011
Did you write for me back in the day? You’ve moved, changed your name, changed your gender, come out of the closet, gone into the closet. You’re older and wiser and still the same, though completely changed; married with kids or living on the lam in Ecuador. And all I had for you was an actual physical address! Find me, please! We’ll make a combined collection from all three of the groundbreaking Leatherwomen anthologies and you can get paid again for work you so long ago we all rode dinosaurs to the play parties.
Additional Guidelines – you wrote the story for me before. If you don’t have the original file, relax, I’ll have it re-typed.
Leatherwomen 2012 – Still Kicking: Deadline – January 31, 2012
Is leather dead? Hell no! But it has changed and so have leatherwomen. Celebrate the thrill of skins and kink and the hot women who embody the name leatherwoman in this new universe of kinky potential. The bars might be closing, the gay men might be heading off to cyber hookups, and the bike clubs are out of gas, but there will always be strong, defiant, perverse, sexy, demanding, blood-letting, fist-pumping, fetish-exploring, no-limits women waiting to embrace the experienced pervert or seduce the curious newcomer. These…are their stories.
Like the previous Leatherwomen anthologies, stories may contain characters of any physical, emotional and sexual identity you believe falls under the name leatherwoman. BDSM, latex, punk, heterosexual, queer, single, couples, poly, orgies – if you believe your story and your characters belong in this crew, then convince me. Extra points for non white/American/party-going/lifestyle characters and situations, and much love for pushing the boundaries of identity and politics. Make it romantic or ironic; sweet or scary. But fill it with power and presence and desire.
Other guidelines: No poetry this time around. These stories can be dark & sinister and edgy, but not depressing, please!
Hot Butches/Hot Femmes: Deadline – December 31, 2011
Two companion volumes, one goal – to celebrate the classic identities of butches and femmes, those who love to play with gender!
Your story must feature at least one butch or femme (depending on the volume) matching the title description. They can be the point of view character, the protagonist or the lust object of the story.
From there, the field is open. Mix and match from the classic pairing of one butch + one femme, or spread the love. Two butches wrestling for top? Three femmes on a steamy trip to a spa? Training up a new baby butch? Romancing the flirtatious femme? Seducing a stone butch? Play with the tropes and stereotypes and poke at the boundaries. Characters do not need to be cisgendered, monogamous, or anything else “assumed.”
And make it romantic. Don’t dial back the sex – keep it hot and spicy! But these are celebratory books, so I am looking for happy endings. Kink/leather/BDSM themes welcome, but not required – the flavor here is gender and gender expression.
Complimentary submissions for each book are also welcomed; turn the narrative voice around and show me different chapters in the story of your characters lives. (But please don’t tell the same story two ways unless it’s very different; the bar is higher if you try that.)
Other guidelines: Happily ever after endings, or at least happy-for-right-now.
No Safewords – A Marketplace Collection: Deadline – February 28, 2012
Do you have what it takes to enter The Marketplace? For the first time since The Academy, I am opening the doors to my exclusive playroom, for this first collection of fan fiction!
Yes, you can write a Marketplace story – and this is your chance to really push the limits! Use any character, any setting. Delve into the online Marketplace wiki (http://marketplace.wikispot.org/) to brush up on existing characters or create your own. Fit the story to what already exists or imagine a sort of alternative universe to my alternative universe. You can even add elements that do not exist in the books – want to make it paranormal? Set in the past/future? Care to slash together characters you thought should have hooked up? Do you think there should have been more gay/lesbian/straight/rubber/steampunk/food fetish/Canadian/sexy accountant stories in the books? Now is your chance to write one!
I am the sole owner of the Marketplace series and all derivative works set in that universe. Therefore, I reserve the right as the owner/creator of the universe to refer to or use any character that an anthology contributor introduces, but by the same token, you the writer also keep the right to use that character yourself in your future work, although the MP setting will not be yours to continue to play with. Neither of us would have the right to stop the other from using a version of the character or name in future work. Fair ’nuff?
Submission Guidelines and additional details on all of the Calls for Submissions can be found on my Calls for Submissions Page: http://blog.lantoniou.com/?page_id=1455
