Phosphorous Tide Submission Guidelines

[nolan]

PHOSPHOROUS TIDE

Mission Statement: Phosphorous Tide is an anthology dedicated to publishing stories in the comic book medium that are: risky, dark, edgy, controversial, intelligent, noncommercial, unconventional, diverse, relevant, literary, entertaining, dangerous, experimental, and/or unclassifiable. We are looking for the kinds of projects that need to be seen but that the market might not be able to support on their own or projects that the larger publishers may not be interested in.


SUBMISSIONS

The Submission Information is broken in to three parts: Story Submission, Art Submission and Other Questions.



PART 1: STORY SUBMISSION
These are questions related to the submission of stories that you have written or stories that you have both written and drawn.

What lengths of stories are you looking for?
We are looking for stories up to 22 pages per chapter.

If your story has more then 1 chapter, we will take stories up to 6 chapters.

If your story does not meet these length requirements (longer then 22 pages and/or more then 6 chapters) please send a query letter to [e-mail] or [e-mail].

Who can submit stories?
Due to potential legal problems, you must be at least 18 to submit material. Past that, we are looking for material from anyone, particularly bold new voices.

What are you not looking for?
We aren’t looking for any of the following:
1. Fan Fiction or stories that in some way violate copyright. If you don’t own all of the rights or have a clear chain of title, please don’t submit it to us. This would also include plagiarized material.
2. Obscene or Libelous Material. This would also include any material that might get our magazine in to legal trouble.
3. Pornography. Sexuality and nudity are fine but we are not a “dirty” magazine and we have no interest in publishing pornography.
4. Stories that in some other way could harm the image or our magazine or deny us greater exposure.
5. Stories that are not in line with our mission statement.

Past this, we will look at any material that you submit.

Will you accept submissions from a writer without an artist?
Yes.

What if my story was not originally written for the comic medium or I don’t have any experience writing comic books before?
Send it over.
People without a comic book background are encouraged to submit stories.

Here are a few samples for comic book script formatting:
www.mikecarey.net/files/lucifer_4_script.doc Mike Carey Lucifer Script.
www.dixonverse.net/vault.html Chuck Dixon comic scripts.
www.manofaction.tv/seagle/animal.html Unused Steven T. Seagle Animal Man Script.
www.teachingcomics.org/exercises.php Exercises for visual storytelling.
www.scrypticstudios.com General Writing web site with some helpful comic related advice.

You might also want to check out:
Comics & Sequential Art by Will Eisner
The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics by Denny O’Neill
Writing for Comics Vol. 1 by Alan Moore
Writers on Comic Scriptwriting, Volumes 1 and 2
Queen & Country Scriptbook by Greg Rucka
Powers Scriptbook by Brian Michael Bendis

If my story was not originally written for the comic book medium, would you help me adapt it or help find someone to help me adapt it if I have trouble?
Absolutely.
While we do have a “hands off” editorial policy, we will be happy to help you adapt your story for the comic book medium or help you find another writer who will help you adapt your story if you wish.

Do you accept multiple submissions? Can I submit more then one story to you at a time?
Yes, you can submit as many stories as you wish. And you can send your stories to other markets.

How can I submit material?
Stories UNDER ten pages can be submitted directly to [e-mail] or [e-mail].

For stories OVER ten pages or stories with more then one chapter, please send a written pitch to [e-mail] or [e-mail]. This can be up to six pages long. Please include a plot synopsis as well as anything else that you think shows the merits or your project and your voice. With this pitch, please include some script and/or art pages if you have them completed.

All stories will be read by both editors and you will be contacted once a decision has been reached. If you are submitting this story to more then one place and you wish to take it there before or after a decision is made, please contact the editors and your story will be removed from consideration.

Please note that all submissions must include contact information and a signed Submission Release. If you wish for your work to be published under a pseudonym, please include your real name with your submission for purposes of record keeping and payment.

SUBMISSION RELEASE

Your Full Legal Name
To: Phosphorous Tide.

Submission Release for TITLE OF YOUR MATERIAL.

By signing this Submission Release, I am indicating that I have read, fully understand and swear or affirm to the following conditions:

1. I understand that Phosphorous Tide refuses to review any creative materials without a signed submission release. By signing this, I have shown an active interest in having my work considered for publication in Phosphorous Tide.
2. By reading the material, Phosphorous Tide will be evaluating it to potentially pursue a further relationship with myself and my material. The reading of this material does not oblige either party to take their negotiations or business any further.
3. I understand that Phosphorous Tide could reject my material for any number of reasons. I also understand that the editors at Phosphorous Tide are under no obligation to tell me the exact reason why my material was rejected.
4. I understand that Phosphorous Tide receives a large number of submissions and that both of the editors of the magazine are also writers. Projects that are similar in many regards to the one that I submitted may appear. The appearance of a similar project in the magazine or from one of the editors does not create any sort of a working relationship if the project was created independently of my submission.
5. By signing this release and submitting material, I have not entered in to a fiduciary, creative or confidential relationship with Phosphorous Tide in any way.
6. I am stating that I am the author of this work. If this work is adapted from another source, that the source material is either in the public domain or something that I own or have legally licensed all of the required rights to. In any case, I affirm that I own ALL of the rights required to submit this work to Phosphorous Tide.
7. I am stating that this work does not violate any copyright, proprietary rights, rights of confidentiality or other rights of any person or entity. Any quotations or excerpts used are either from works in the public domain or covered under an appropriate fair use provision.
8. I understand that Phosphorous Tide will not use this material in their publication or for any other purpose unless I enter in to a written agreement for the publication of my story.
9. I have read and I fully understand all of the parts of the Phosphorous Tide Submission Guidelines.
10. I understand that it is my responsibility to protect my material, including an official copyright.
11. I understand that if a conflict does arise between myself and Phosphorous Tide over my material, that the following conditions apply:
 Before legal action is pursued, I will contact the editors and request third-party arbitration at my own expense.
 This Submission Release can be used as evidence by Phosphorous Tide.
 If the third-party arbitration decides in my favor, I agree to limit the damages to the fair market rate for comic book material in the independent market.
12. I agree that the terms of this Release will be binding on myself as well as anyone who may acquire the rights to my material.
13. I understand that if any part of this agreement is deemed to be void or unenforceable in a court of law, that section will be omitted until a legal provision that more closely reflects the intent of both parties. The modified Release shall remain in full force and effect.
14. If a third party comes forward with a claim regarding the material that I have submitted, I agree to indemnify Phosphorous Tide against all claims, expenses, losses or liabilities, including any attorney’s fees and costs, that may be occurred in connection with my material.
15. I agree that my electronic signature on this document shall have legal standing between both parties equivalent to a hand-written signature or other legal mark. I also understand that Phosphorous Tide has offered me the option of sending a hard copy of this and I have decided to use the electronic version. If I have sent in a snail mail version, I have contacted the editors regarding it and this version can, by the consent of both parties, serve as a provisional version until the signed copy is received. If both parties do not consent, then the material will not be read until a hard copy is received.
16. By signing and/or typing my name here, I swear or affirm that fully understand all of the terms in the Submission Guidelines and I agree that I will abide by all of the regulations of this Release.

SIGNATURE: _________________________________



PART TWO: ART SUBMISSIONS
These are questions related to the submission of art for people interested in drawing projects that they have not written and/or drawing covers.

What if I am an artist who is interested in drawing a story written by someone else?
Please send an email to [e-mail] or [e-mail] and put “art” or “artist” somewhere in the title.
Please include some sample pages. The editors may give you recommendations of accepted projects that they think that your art may be suited for.
You will then be sent a list of all of the accepted projects and you can choose the ones that interest you. The editors will then send you the contact information of the creator(s).
Please contact the editors if/when you have made an arrangement.

I am interested in drawing a cover, what should I do?
Please send all queries related to covers to [e-mail] or [e-mail].



PART THREE: OTHER QUESTIONS
Questions not involving the direct submission of art or stories.

What is your Editorial Philosophy?
Phosphorous Tide has a strictly “hands off” policy in terms of content. The editors will never reject a story and then present you with a checklist of things that need to be rewritten so a story can be published. The editors will not rewrite your story for you.

How long will your magazine be?
The ideal goal for issues is the 180-200 page range.

Are your stories in black and white or color?
Black and white.

Can I place an ad in your magazine?
Yes.
If you are interested in placing an ad, please contact us at [e-mail] or [e-mail].

What if you publish part of my project and it doesn’t work out?
Please contact the editors at [e-mail] or [e-mail].
The project will be pulled and the next issue will say that “Project X by Creator Y will no longer be running in this magazine by request of the author.”

How long will it take to hear back from you regarding my story?
All stories submitted will be read by both editors.
Once a story is read, the editors will discuss it and reach a decision. You will be contracted once a decision has been made.
The timeframe for reading stories is contingent on the number of submissions and the schedule of the editors. But we do hope that all submissions will receive a reply within three months, and hopefully before that.
No matter how long it takes for a reply or how many submissions are received, our magazine will never close its doors to new material as long as it is published.

If you have rejected one of my stories and I have substantially rewritten it, can I submit it again?
Yes.

Do I retain the rights to my story?
Yes.
A copyright notice will be placed for each story published in the magazine.
We ask only for the proper permission to let us publish your story in our magazine.

My story has been accepted, what happens now?
Stories that have been accepted and have art are held awaiting publication.

Stories that have been accepted without art will be placed in a queue. The information will then be sent to interested artists who contact us. You can also try to find an artist for your story independently.

Projects in the queue will have the title, logline, length (chapters and pages) and genre(s) (if applicable).

If your project is in the queue and you wish to remove it, please contact the editors at [e-mail]. It will be removed. Unless the editors are contacted, your story will remain in the queue until we have found an interested artist and the art is underway. Please note that you can pull a story at any time by contacting the editors but no story will be pulled automatically.

How does payment work?
Once our business expenses have been recouped, the rest of the money for the issue will be dispersed equally among all contributors to that issue. If you make a dollar then we make a dollar, if you make three hundred dollars then we make three hundred dollars.

I have a question that is not covered here, what should I do?
Please email the editors at [e-mail] or [e-mail].

[FISSION MAILED]

nolan said:

PHOSPHOROUS TIDE

Mission Statement: Phosphorous Tide is an anthology dedicated to publishing stories in the comic book medium that are: risky, dark, edgy, controversial, intelligent, noncommercial, unconventional, diverse, relevant, literary, entertaining, dangerous, experimental, and/or unclassifiable. We are looking for the kinds of projects that need to be seen but that the market might not be able to support on their own or projects that the larger publishers may not be interested in.


SUBMISSIONS

The Submission Information is broken in to three parts: Story Submission, Art Submission and Other Questions.



PART 1: STORY SUBMISSION
These are questions related to the submission of stories that you have written or stories that you have both written and drawn.

What lengths of stories are you looking for?
We are looking for stories up to 22 pages per chapter.

If your story has more then 1 chapter, we will take stories up to 6 chapters.

If your story does not meet these length requirements (longer then 22 pages and/or more then 6 chapters) please send a query letter to [e-mail] or [e-mail].

Who can submit stories?
Due to potential legal problems, you must be at least 18 to submit material. Past that, we are looking for material from anyone, particularly bold new voices.

What are you not looking for?
We aren’t looking for any of the following:
1. Fan Fiction or stories that in some way violate copyright. If you don’t own all of the rights or have a clear chain of title, please don’t submit it to us. This would also include plagiarized material.
2. Obscene or Libelous Material. This would also include any material that might get our magazine in to legal trouble.
3. Pornography. Sexuality and nudity are fine but we are not a “dirty” magazine and we have no interest in publishing pornography.
4. Stories that in some other way could harm the image or our magazine or deny us greater exposure.
5. Stories that are not in line with our mission statement.

Past this, we will look at any material that you submit.

Will you accept submissions from a writer without an artist?
Yes.

What if my story was not originally written for the comic medium or I don’t have any experience writing comic books before?
Send it over.
People without a comic book background are encouraged to submit stories.

Here are a few samples for comic book script formatting:
www.mikecarey.net/files/lucifer_4_script.doc Mike Carey Lucifer Script.
www.dixonverse.net/vault.html Chuck Dixon comic scripts.
www.manofaction.tv/seagle/animal.html Unused Steven T. Seagle Animal Man Script.
www.teachingcomics.org/exercises.php Exercises for visual storytelling.
www.scrypticstudios.com General Writing web site with some helpful comic related advice.

You might also want to check out:
Comics & Sequential Art by Will Eisner
The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics by Denny O’Neill
Writing for Comics Vol. 1 by Alan Moore
Writers on Comic Scriptwriting, Volumes 1 and 2
Queen & Country Scriptbook by Greg Rucka
Powers Scriptbook by Brian Michael Bendis

If my story was not originally written for the comic book medium, would you help me adapt it or help find someone to help me adapt it if I have trouble?
Absolutely.
While we do have a “hands off” editorial policy, we will be happy to help you adapt your story for the comic book medium or help you find another writer who will help you adapt your story if you wish.

Do you accept multiple submissions? Can I submit more then one story to you at a time?
Yes, you can submit as many stories as you wish. And you can send your stories to other markets.

How can I submit material?
Stories UNDER ten pages can be submitted directly to [e-mail] or [e-mail].

For stories OVER ten pages or stories with more then one chapter, please send a written pitch to [e-mail] or [e-mail]. This can be up to six pages long. Please include a plot synopsis as well as anything else that you think shows the merits or your project and your voice. With this pitch, please include some script and/or art pages if you have them completed.

All stories will be read by both editors and you will be contacted once a decision has been reached. If you are submitting this story to more then one place and you wish to take it there before or after a decision is made, please contact the editors and your story will be removed from consideration.

Please note that all submissions must include contact information and a signed Submission Release. If you wish for your work to be published under a pseudonym, please include your real name with your submission for purposes of record keeping and payment.

SUBMISSION RELEASE

Your Full Legal Name
To: Phosphorous Tide.

Submission Release for DEAD OR ALIVE.

By signing this Submission Release, I am indicating that I have read, fully understand and swear or affirm to the following conditions:

1. I understand that Phosphorous Tide refuses to review any creative materials without a signed submission release. By signing this, I have shown an active interest in having my work considered for publication in Phosphorous Tide.
2. By reading the material, Phosphorous Tide will be evaluating it to potentially pursue a further relationship with myself and my material. The reading of this material does not oblige either party to take their negotiations or business any further.
3. I understand that Phosphorous Tide could reject my material for any number of reasons. I also understand that the editors at Phosphorous Tide are under no obligation to tell me the exact reason why my material was rejected.
4. I understand that Phosphorous Tide receives a large number of submissions and that both of the editors of the magazine are also writers. Projects that are similar in many regards to the one that I submitted may appear. The appearance of a similar project in the magazine or from one of the editors does not create any sort of a working relationship if the project was created independently of my submission.
5. By signing this release and submitting material, I have not entered in to a fiduciary, creative or confidential relationship with Phosphorous Tide in any way.
6. I am stating that I am the author of this work. If this work is adapted from another source, that the source material is either in the public domain or something that I own or have legally licensed all of the required rights to. In any case, I affirm that I own ALL of the rights required to submit this work to Phosphorous Tide.
7. I am stating that this work does not violate any copyright, proprietary rights, rights of confidentiality or other rights of any person or entity. Any quotations or excerpts used are either from works in the public domain or covered under an appropriate fair use provision.
8. I understand that Phosphorous Tide will not use this material in their publication or for any other purpose unless I enter in to a written agreement for the publication of my story.
9. I have read and I fully understand all of the parts of the Phosphorous Tide Submission Guidelines.
10. I understand that it is my responsibility to protect my material, including an official copyright.
11. I understand that if a conflict does arise between myself and Phosphorous Tide over my material, that the following conditions apply:
 Before legal action is pursued, I will contact the editors and request third-party arbitration at my own expense.
 This Submission Release can be used as evidence by Phosphorous Tide.
 If the third-party arbitration decides in my favor, I agree to limit the damages to the fair market rate for comic book material in the independent market.
12. I agree that the terms of this Release will be binding on myself as well as anyone who may acquire the rights to my material.
13. I understand that if any part of this agreement is deemed to be void or unenforceable in a court of law, that section will be omitted until a legal provision that more closely reflects the intent of both parties. The modified Release shall remain in full force and effect.
14. If a third party comes forward with a claim regarding the material that I have submitted, I agree to indemnify Phosphorous Tide against all claims, expenses, losses or liabilities, including any attorney’s fees and costs, that may be occurred in connection with my material.
15. I agree that my electronic signature on this document shall have legal standing between both parties equivalent to a hand-written signature or other legal mark. I also understand that Phosphorous Tide has offered me the option of sending a hard copy of this and I have decided to use the electronic version. If I have sent in a snail mail version, I have contacted the editors regarding it and this version can, by the consent of both parties, serve as a provisional version until the signed copy is received. If both parties do not consent, then the material will not be read until a hard copy is received.
16. By signing and/or typing my name here, I swear or affirm that fully understand all of the terms in the Submission Guidelines and I agree that I will abide by all of the regulations of this Release.

SIGNATURE: _Harry Demetrious________________________________



PART TWO: ART SUBMISSIONS
These are questions related to the submission of art for people interested in drawing projects that they have not written and/or drawing covers.

What if I am an artist who is interested in drawing a story written by someone else?
Please send an email to [e-mail] or [e-mail] and put “art” or “artist” somewhere in the title.
Please include some sample pages. The editors may give you recommendations of accepted projects that they think that your art may be suited for.
You will then be sent a list of all of the accepted projects and you can choose the ones that interest you. The editors will then send you the contact information of the creator(s).
Please contact the editors if/when you have made an arrangement.

I am interested in drawing a cover, what should I do?
Please send all queries related to covers to [e-mail] or [e-mail].



PART THREE: OTHER QUESTIONS
Questions not involving the direct submission of art or stories.

What is your Editorial Philosophy?
Phosphorous Tide has a strictly “hands off” policy in terms of content. The editors will never reject a story and then present you with a checklist of things that need to be rewritten so a story can be published. The editors will not rewrite your story for you.

How long will your magazine be?
The ideal goal for issues is the 180-200 page range.

Are your stories in black and white or color?
Black and white.

Can I place an ad in your magazine?
Yes.
If you are interested in placing an ad, please contact us at [e-mail] or [e-mail].

What if you publish part of my project and it doesn’t work out?
Please contact the editors at [e-mail] or [e-mail].
The project will be pulled and the next issue will say that “Project X by Creator Y will no longer be running in this magazine by request of the author.”

How long will it take to hear back from you regarding my story?
All stories submitted will be read by both editors.
Once a story is read, the editors will discuss it and reach a decision. You will be contracted once a decision has been made.
The timeframe for reading stories is contingent on the number of submissions and the schedule of the editors. But we do hope that all submissions will receive a reply within three months, and hopefully before that.
No matter how long it takes for a reply or how many submissions are received, our magazine will never close its doors to new material as long as it is published.

If you have rejected one of my stories and I have substantially rewritten it, can I submit it again?
Yes.

Do I retain the rights to my story?
Yes.
A copyright notice will be placed for each story published in the magazine.
We ask only for the proper permission to let us publish your story in our magazine.

My story has been accepted, what happens now?
Stories that have been accepted and have art are held awaiting publication.

Stories that have been accepted without art will be placed in a queue. The information will then be sent to interested artists who contact us. You can also try to find an artist for your story independently.

Projects in the queue will have the title, logline, length (chapters and pages) and genre(s) (if applicable).

If your project is in the queue and you wish to remove it, please contact the editors at [e-mail]. It will be removed. Unless the editors are contacted, your story will remain in the queue until we have found an interested artist and the art is underway. Please note that you can pull a story at any time by contacting the editors but no story will be pulled automatically.

How does payment work?
Once our business expenses have been recouped, the rest of the money for the issue will be dispersed equally among all contributors to that issue. If you make a dollar then we make a dollar, if you make three hundred dollars then we make three hundred dollars.

I have a question that is not covered here, what should I do?
Please email the editors at [e-mail] or [e-mail].

[nolan]

Got it


NJW

[jayvee]

Sticky much?

Don't want this getting lost.

Because, you know, one day I'm gonna submit something you guys might actually like.

[nolan]

jayvee said:

Sticky much?

Don't want this getting lost.

Because, you know, one day I'm gonna submit something you guys might actually like.

I should sticky this actually.

Even if you don't submit anything you've got a great workshop for your stuff. I think of this board and the workshop to the magazine as two vaguely related entities. You can get feedback and come up with stuff and there's a market if you wnat it but you don't have to use it.

Honestly, I fought for Mister Misadventure. It was Marc who didn't like it. I wanted to get the first issue script from you and decide from there.

And I think that you're every bit as good as a lot of comic writers out there right now and you're the same age as I am (23) so thats a good sign.

[jayvee]

I appreciate the encouragement.

There's not a lot of places where I live (backwoods Kansas) to get feedback.

[nolan]

Dude, I live in fucking Louisville, Ky. okay...I know what its like.

Though I've basically decided to move to Portland.

[davidaccampo]

Nolan,

Have you guys figured out who will be designing the packaging for the book and who will be lettering the stories? Are you doing a search for designers and letterers?

Just curious. I'm knee deep in a script, and I'm thinking about all these things like...who is going to put the little word balloons on the page...and is it all being done digitally in Quark or In-Design (I assume).

What files do you have to submit to LULU?

And how do you know how to put all the pages together, so that you have a proper page count with all your stories, and they're properly bound, etc.?

I've done some book design before -- that's probably why I'm thinking of that aspect.

But the writer in me really just wants to know who would be lettering the pages...

[jayvee]

I made that ADVERTISING post over in the other forum to see if you had thought much more into that aspect of the book but nobody ever replied.

[geneticfreak]

I could do it, but I've volunteered to too much stuff already.

[nolan]

Okay...the guidelines may liberalize a bit.

First thing, YOU KEEP ALL THE RIGHTS TO YOUR STUFF. All we want is for you to give us permission to publish it in the context of a specific issue of the anthology. You can do whatever else with it that you want. That question seemed to pop up a lot.

Secondly, the page limit thing is more a guideline. If something ends up 24 or 25 pages, that isn't so bad. But if its something thats 75 pages per issue indefinately then thats another story.

Thirdly, the chapter thing is again for huge epic 10,000 page projects. If you have it done, let us know how many chapters it is, if it isn't fully done then give us a rough estimate.

[monkeygod]

This seems like a really great idea Nolan. Im glad you finally got around to doing this. Im currently fleshing out my proposal.

[comicrighter]

Hi everyone! I saw the link for this site on Newsarama and really want to give this a shot. I was just awarded the "best creative writer" award in my english class so I think I'll be better than most people at doing a comic.

My idea is about a team of garbagemen that band together and form a band. One day, when they are practicing, they get exposed to toxic waste that transports them into another dimension! I have a lot more, but I dont want to have anyone steal my idea until I copyright it. Should I post my pages as they get finished on this board? Any ideas from you guys would be helpful. Thanks!

[monkeygod]

I guess I can throw out the basic synopsis of the story. My book presupposes that a lobster like race evolved into the dominant intelligent species of Earth. Its basically a love story against the odds at the core between Kristin and her blueish colored female lover Joanie. Essentially the whole book is a build up to where, shockingly, on the final page, while they eat their romantic dinner in a restaruant, it is revealed that there are HUMANS in the human tank that they can select to eat for their meal.

[nolan]

comicrighter said:

Hi everyone! I saw the link for this site on Newsarama and really want to give this a shot. I was just awarded the "best creative writer" award in my english class so I think I'll be better than most people at doing a comic.

My idea is about a team of garbagemen that band together and form a band. One day, when they are practicing, they get exposed to toxic waste that transports them into another dimension! I have a lot more, but I dont want to have anyone steal my idea until I copyright it. Should I post my pages as they get finished on this board? Any ideas from you guys would be helpful. Thanks!

Hmmm...that sounds interesting.

You may want to write up a loose outline, copyright that and script from it if you want to post it here. I have a no ripping off rule but I can't do much besides ban someone.

What kind of a direction do you want to take this though?