FAQ

You undoubtedly have questions, and we have answers! Have a Mothership Zeta FAQ! Or are you just looking for the submission guidelines?

What is Mothership Zeta?

Mothership Zeta is the new digital magazine from Escape Artists Inc, featuring fun new fiction, plus some of our favorite stories from the podcasts.

Are you guys a podcast?

No, we’re a digital magazine. You’re going to read us rather than listen to us.

Can I narrate for you?

No, because we’re not a podcast. But, we’d love you to audition for the three EA teams who are!

Who’s Team Mothership Zeta?

Editor Mur Lafferty, Assistant Editor: Fiction Sunil Patel, Assistant Editor: Nonfiction Karen Bovenmyer.

What’s your plan?

To produce issues crammed with the best, most fun speculative fiction four times a year.

What are you looking for?

All sorts of stuff. Here’s the list:

  • Short stories up to 6000 words – $.06/word
  • Novelettes/Novellas, Reprints, and Nonfiction – By invitation only

How about flash?

Yes, we accept flash fiction, same rate as the other stories.

Can I submit my own reprints?

No, and here’s why: We are going to be featuring some EA stories as reprints as a sort of “editors’ choice” – stories will be suggested to us by the podcast editors, and we will also be choosing some of our favorites. So yes, we’re reprinting EA stories, but we are soliciting them from the authors instead of the other way around.

If it’s been rejected by other EA shows can I submit here?

Absolutely! Different editorial team, different eyes on the work.

Why should I submit here instead of one of the EA podcasts?

Three reasons:

  1. It’s a pro-rate publishing credit in a magazine. Whether we like it or not, publishing on a podcast still has a certain ephemeral perception in some corners. Mothership Zeta is a magazine. Your work was published in a magazine. See if anyone can argue with that.
  2. Escape Artists is approaching the first-decade anniversary. We have over 1000 episodes “in the can” and years of experience working in the field. Publish with Mothership Zeta and you know that A) You’ll be paid and B) We’ll comport ourselves professionally. Look, I just used “comport” in a sentence and everything.
  3. This is a chance to be in on the ground floor. Submit to Mothership Zeta now and you’ll be in the first issues of something huge. You’ll be paid to part of something historic for EA. How good is that?!

That sounds great, so why should I submit to an Escape Artists podcast instead of here?

Again, three reasons:

  1. Mothership Zeta is quarterly. That’s a tight window to hit. Other places are monthly, or weekly if you’re aiming at one of the shows. Definitionally your chances are slightly higher with the podcasts.
  2. We’re brand new, which means that right now we don’t have a reputation or status. If you’re looking for a CV builder, you should maybe try other places first.
  3. If you’re a reprint, the simple truth is landing it at one of the three podcasts will get you a bigger audience, which will then get you a chance to be in Mothership Zeta as well.

Got more questions? Then email us: mur AT escapeartists.net