How to Submit Stories to The Story Merchant

First, if your story is one you are hoping to protect, make sure that your story is registered with the copyright office or the Writers Guild of America.

Choose a category of story—"fish stories," "sexy stories," etc.—and place the category name at the top of your submitted story.

The Story Merchant reserves the right to edit your story for spelling and grammar, but urges you to do that yourself before submitting. We are not responsible for protecting stories submitted to the site: That is your responsibility.

If your story is longer than 1,000 words, and you’re interested in having it represented to the commercial marketplace, please let us know that when you submit it. We will advise you on how to proceed toward representation via our sister company, www.aeionline.com, or another company to whom we may choose to refer you. We will make referrals at our discretion, and there’s no guarantee that submitting a story to the site will lead to such a referral; but since it’s our goal to assist storytellers, we’ll try our best to help one way or another.

If your story is not your story, please clearly state its authorship or origin, and whether you have permission to reuse the story. Remember that stories are intellectual property, and, if they fall under copyright laws, must be protected and treated as such. We will use our judgment about whether it is proper to post it on the site.

Tell us your story!