Stories for Children Magazine, an Ezine for children ages 3 to 12, publishes short stories, articles, poems, coloring pages, word and picture puzzles, book reviews, arts & crafts, recipes, and interviews with children's book authors and/or illustrators.
- Stories for Children Magazine is now a paying market for its adult contributors.
- We can send checks only to contributors in the United States. If you are outside the United States, you will need to setup a PayPal account for payment.
- Content should be age appropriate. We encourage you to study back issues for content and style. Click here to purchase a back issue.
- Stories for Children Magazine is not a themed magazine, but there are holidays and subjects we’d love to cover in each issue. Submissions based on a theme are due at least six months in advance of that particular issue. All other submissions are accepted any time of the year.
- Stories for Children Magazine only accepts email submissions.
- Response time is about eight to ten weeks for initial review. (Phase 1 acceptance) It can take up to five months for final decision.
- Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please notify us immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere.
- Send only one submission per email.
- We currently publishing only 6 issue a year.
For Adult Authors (18 and older):
Only email submissions are accepted. The only attachments allowed are Word document files with the .doc extension. Example: “mygreatstory.doc.” If you do not have MS Word, cut and paste your submission into the body of your email.
Send a separate email for each submission. Your email subject line must have the title of your submission, category, age group, and publication issue if tied to a particular theme.
Make sure you include: A cover letter, the title of the piece, the theme or issue if any, exact word count for all submissions including poetry, age group, category, and a short bio. All submissions must be single-spaced with no indentations, and a blank line to indicate paragraphs.
We do not accept author/illustrator submissions.
FICTION CATEGORIES:
READ ALOUD STORIES (ages 3-6): Easy-to-read stories, humorous tales, fantasy, fables and myths. WORD COUNT: 150 TO 400
EARLY READERS (ages 7-9): Realistic fiction, humorous tales, satire, fantasy, fairy tales, science fiction, fables, light scary stories, mysteries and myths. WORD COUNT: 400 to 800
MIDDLE READERS (ages 10-12): Realistic fiction, humorous tales, satire, fantasy, fairy tales, science fiction, fables, scary stories, mysteries and myths. WORD COUNT: 500 to 1200
Note: No rhyming prose in story format will be accepted.
POEMS & REBUSES: Include only one poem or rebus per email with cover letter. Length for poetry should not exceed 16 lines and should use simple beats and short lines. Length for a rebus should not exceed 250 words max. Our readers prefer simple, fun, rhyming poetry and rebuses.
NONFICTION CATEGORIES: Nature, animals, science, technology, environment, foreign culture, history, and biographies to name a few.
Use at least three primary sources with up-to-date information. This means Internet resources (Wikipedia should not be used), adult reference books or magazines, interviews with experts, previously published books--but not children's books. You cannot use only Internet resources. Your bibliography will be checked. We highly suggest you have an expert in the field you’re writing about review your article for accuracy.
We also like to see engaging articles that read more like a story or have a “wow” factor. Kids read enough book reports and textbooks at school.
DISCOVERY (ages 3-6): Learning about the world around them. WORD COUNT: 150 to 400
HOW AND WHY (ages 7-9): Understanding the how and why of things. WORD COUNT: 400 to 800
TELL ME MORE (ages 10-12): Covering the basics and digging deeper for a better understanding of their world. WORD COUNT: 500 to 1200
PUZZLES/GAMES: One page
ARTS&CRAFTS/RECIPES: One page and attach a photo of the finished project.
REPRINTS: Stories for Children Magazine will publish reprints where the author still owns the rights and includes the information of the title’s first publication prior to our magazine. We will check with the first publication to make sure the transfer of rights is still with the author.
Photographs: Photos are welcome as attachments in jpeg format. Proper credit must be given to the photographer. There is no payment for photographs. All photographs submitted must have a photo release permission form attached to be accepted.
FOR YOUNG WRITERS (17 and under):
Please follow the Adult submission guidelines above. Make sure to put "Youth Submission" in the subject line. Also make sure you include the Minor Release form as an attachment with your email.
Note: Stories for Children Magazine currently is not a paying market for youth contributors. This may change in the future.
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FORMATTING YOUR SUBMISSION:
1. Send only Word Doc. Formats (i.e—name of file.doc) as an attachment; otherwise, you need to copy and paste your submission into the body of your email.
2. Email subject line must have: the title of your submission, category, age group, and publication issue (i.e.—Mr. Pop's Bad Day, story, ages 3-6, for March 09) or (i.e.—Mary’s Party, poem, all ages, any issue)
3. Your name, contact information, word count, and age group must be in the top right-hand corner of your submission.
4. Only use Times New Roman or Arial 12pt font.
5. All submissions are to be single-spaced with no indentations and a blank line between to indicate paragraphs.
6. If using a PEN NAME, clearly state this in your cover letter.
7. Please include your bio with your submission. (Note: We are no longer able to keep a list of our contributors on the Stories for Children Magazine website. However, those who are published with us can share any updates in our “Good News” column).
8. If writing an article, your bibliography should be a separate attachment or at the very bottom of your submission.
EMAIL SUBMISSIONS TO THE CORRECT DEPARTMENT:
Fiction: fictionasst@sfcmagazine.com
Poetry & Rebuses: poetryasst@sfcmagazine.com
Nonfiction: articleasst@sfcmagazine.com
Crafts, Puzzles, Games, Activities, Recipes and Youth Submissions: vsgrenier@sfcmagazine.com
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FOR ILLUSTRATORS:
Stories for Children Magazine is now a paying market for its publication. To be considered as a contributing illustrator at Stories for Children Magazine, send samples of your artwork in Jpeg format only to: ArtDirector@sfcmagazine.com with “ART SAMPLES” in the subject line.
Submission Guidelines:
1. All samples must be 72 dpi. We require that you submit two samples and a web link or five samples if you do not have an online portfolio.
2. Include a short bio.
3. Answer the following questions in the body of your email:
· List any previous ART publication experience. (Being published is not required, and new talent is strongly encouraged to submit.)
· If you are chosen to contribute, can you successfully meet a deadline? (Our deadlines are about two weeks after assignment is given.)
· How did you come across our website?
What Happens Next?
Your samples will be kept on file until we contact you. If you are chosen to be one of the contributing illustrators, you’ll receive an email almost every month with information about the upcoming issue and artwork deadlines.
Our cover illustrators are chosen carefully each issue based on a variety of factors. Every issue, several illustrators may be approached and asked if interested in illustrating the cover before we assign it.
All artwork published in our magazine must be submitted as a Jpeg at 300 dpi. Dimensions should be between 1024 x 800 or 600 x 800.
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GOOD NEWS FILE:
Each month, a special column on our website shares “Good News” from our contributors. If you have any recent successes outside of Stories for Children Magazine, email vsgrenier@sfcmagazine.com with “GOOD NEWS FILE” in the subject line.
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RATES:
- Stories for Children Magazine is now a paying market for its adult contributors.
- We pay $5 for stories, articles, poems, crafts, puzzles and activities
- Artwork is $5 for coloring pages and Illustrations. Rebus 4 illustrators for $5. $10 for cover art.
- We currently don’t pay for youth submissions or photos.
Note: If we do not approve your artwork or it does not fit the title you were assigned, we have the right to reject it without payment.
Unfortunately, at this time we cannot pay industry standard, however, we do provide a contributor PDF copy via email upon publication. Note: Payment is 60 days after publication. Do not query or submit unless you are okay with this.
We are committed to giving authors and illustrators new to children’s writing a chance to get their works published in Stories for Children Magazine.
Forms of payment: The preferred method of payment is through PayPal for all SFC Contributors, but we will make an exception for those living in the United States. If you do not have a PayPal account, it is easy to setup and FREE. To setup your account today visit http://www.paypal.com.
All payments are made within 60 days after publication. United States Contributors have a choice of two payment methods. Check or PayPal. Contributors outside the United States are required to have a PayPal Account.
RIGHTS and TERMS:
Stories for Children Magazine offers contributors two options.
Option 1: Author and/or illustrator accept payment and signs contract for publication with SFC. In this case, the following rights will be purchased: First North American Rights, Reprint Rights (depending on the submission), Electronic Rights and Anthology Rights.
Option 2: Author and/or illustrator waive payment and granting of rights. In this case, the author and/or illustrator, upon submitting to SFC, automatically grant SFC non-exclusive electronic rights to print the work.
All contributors agree to the following as the author and/or illustrator:
- Warrants all artwork submitted is original and created by the author/illustrator, and has the authority to grant SFC the right to publish, exhibit, and reproduce the work submitted for a period of up to three (3) years.
- Warrants the work submitted is not someone else’s intellectual property and does not violate the privacy of another.
- Warrants artwork submitted by author/illustrator is not clip art.
- SFC is not liable for any claims arising from author/illustrator submitted work. Should an issue arise where work submitted to SFC is not the original work by author/illustrator, or the work violates any of SFC’s terms, the author/illustrator agrees to indemnify and hold harmless SFC against any and all claims, costs, and expenses, including attorney’s fees, due to the work submitted by author/illustrator for which no copyright permission or privacy release was obtained.
For Illustrators Only:
- All artwork must be scanned and sent to the Art Director at 300 res in the original size of your piece. Please don't reduce the size of your artwork in any way. For instance, if the illustration was done on 8" x 10" paper, please scan and save it as such (at 300 dpi.) We need the artwork in hi-res form.
- New and established contributing illustrators to SFC need to provide sketches for approval before the final illustration is submitted for review. Once your sketch is approved, and you have finished your final piece, please send the final hi-res image to the Art Director. There is no need to send a lo-res version for approval. If by some small chance there is a problem with an illustration, the Art Director will contact you.
- All contributing illustrators must be prepared to make at least one revision of submitted artwork. Any contributing illustrator who refuses to comply with the revision request will be removed from the SFC contributor “Call for Illustration” list.
- Put the title of the story you are illustrating in the SUBJECT line of your email and label your art files with the title of the story, too. If you have more than one illustration for a single story, label them (for example) "Dog Story1", "Dog Story2, etc.
Note: If we do not approve your artwork or it does not fit the title you were assigned, we have the right to reject it without payment.
Stories for Children Magazine reserves the right to reject any submission without explanation. We also reserve the right to re-title, modify, edit, abridge, or confirm accuracy of any material accepted for publication. All major changes will be brought to the author's or illustrator's attention with a request for corrections.