The Western Online

Submit all work to: submissions*at*thewesternonline*dot*com

Read ALL guidelines below before submitting. Novice writers should read the Fiction Writing Tips article before submitting.

Fiction Guidelines

• Send as an email attachment a MsWord .doc file or as a .RTF file
• Put FICTION SUBMISSION and the Title of the Story in the Subject Line
• Story should be in standard manuscript format.
• Double space, 12 point font, Times New Roman or Courier
• Word limit is 5,000 words (firm). 3,000 words is preferred.
• Include your Name, Email Address and Word Count at the top of the first page
• Include a brief biography of 100 words or less written in third person in the body of your email

Artwork Guidelines

1. Send as an email attachment in JPEG format
2. Put ARTWORK SUBMISSION in the Subject Line
3. Include your Name, Email Address and a brief biography of 100 words or less written in the body of your email
4. Art can be on any subject dealing with the Old West, but it must be tasteful, no work depicting nudity or gratuitous, unnecessary violence will be accepted.
5. The submission should be about 1 MB. Dimensions of about 7"x8" are usually good, but any reasonable length and width will do.
6. The dimensions of your art will usually not matter, as we can size your art to fit the web site page, but you must submit in JPEG format.
7. We prefer current, available art. We don't accept photographs as art nor do we accept photographs of sculptures for submission.
8. We will accept art only from the artist who created the work. Please do not send art from an agent or representative of any kind.
9. As we only accept original artwork, the artist's name should appear with his submission note in the e-mail and preferably in signature form on the art work as well.
10. To get an idea of what we are looking for, see some of Mike's Western Art.

Non-Fiction Guidelines

• Send as an email attachment a MsWord .doc file or as a .RTF file
• Put NONFICTION SUBMISSION and the Title of the Article in the Subject Line
• Double space, 12 point font, Times New Roman or Courier
• Word limit is 1,000 words
• Include your Name, Email Address and Word Count at the top of the first page
• Include a brief biography of 100 words or less written in the body of your email

The Western Online is dedicated to everything Western. The type of story most likely to be published here is the traditional post-Civil War Western. However, we will consider any story that is connected with the early settling of America that takes place during the 1700s and early 1800s, from swashbuckling pirates to mountain men and the early pioneers. All stories must be set in the 17th, 18th, or 19th centuries and deal with the opening and exploration of the American West.

Since people who lived in the Old West tended to be somewhat superstitious and tales of ghosts often ran rampart, we will consider stories with supernatural elements (ghost stories, or stories dealing with regional folklore; some horror elements may even be okay, query first) as long as the story is clearly a Western. We will consider Weird Westerns as long as the story is done tastefully. We do not publish Steampunk.

We don't publish stories with spaceships or aliens, no space westerns, no modern westerns, nothing set in the 20th century. If unsure of what type of story we publish, be sure to query: editor*at*thewesternonline*dot*com. (Do not submit your story to this address.)

We do not publish stories with gratuitous sex or pornography. No indecent or foul language. This is a family web site. Do not submit sexually explicit work or any work that insults race, gender or religion.

The author or artist retains copyright, by submitting you are guaranteeing that you are the original owner of the material. We will accept work only from the artist or writer who created the work, with no second or third party submissions. Don't send us anything from an agent or representative of any kind.

We want one time electronic rights and permission to retain the piece in our archives.

We also want exclusive online rights for six months after your work is published at The Western Online. To clarify, while we will consider reprints, we don't publish work that is currently online on another site. Previously published stories or art that are no longer available anywhere else online are fine.

No simultaneous submissions.

No Multiple submissions. Submit one item at a time, wait for a reply before submitting another.

Once the piece is in our archives, you are free to submit the work elsewhere as long as you note that it was first published here. Writers retain all other rights. If you would like your work removed from out archives, email us with a request and it will be removed within one week.

By submitting work of any kind, contributors are signifying agreement with the above terms and they acknowledge that the work being submitted is their original work, that it does not break any copyright laws and that they are giving us the first electronic publication rights to the work submitted.

At this time, The Western Online is a non-paying market and currently has an open-ended submission period. That means the submission period is always open with no deadline. There is no set publication schedule. Your work will be published upon acceptance.

The Western Online reserves the right to reject any submission without explanation.

Note: The Editor reserves the right to change these guidelines at any time without warning. Submissions may be edited for clarity, content and conciseness.

Once your work has been submitted, you will recieve a confirmation email letting you know that your work has been received.

Our review period is one month from the date we receive it.