It is May; the sun is shining. I can hear birds twittering in the trees and the patch of wildflowers is just beginning to show its purples and oranges. Naturally, my thoughts are turning to Christmas.
I love a good Christmas - or wintry - story. During the dark months of the year, one of my favourite pastimes is curling up somewhere warm and cosy with a Christmassy horror story. I enjoy writing Christmas fiction and there are - ignoring the occasional Krampus anthology - remarkably few open submission calls.
Winter holiday-themed magazines or collections are not that common, and festive tales almost never crop up in the genre magazines that I read regularly. I wanted to know whether magazines who don't publish themed issues were open to festive fiction submissions. And, if so, what time of year is right to start submitting?
I wrote to a variety of magazine editors to find out whether "regular" magazines would consider festive stories. I'm writing here about Christmas, but the theory would apply to any other holiday, or special event.
I'm grateful to all the editors who replied, with especial thanks to Clarkesworld, Fantasy Magazine, Hexagon, and The Colored Lens for taking the time to send detailed answers.
So, Would They Consider Christmas Stories?
Happily the answer is "yes"! It seems magazines are willing to consider Christmas stories, even if they don't publish themed issues.
Here are a few things to bear in mind.
The Story Has To Meet The Magazine's Guidelines
This should go without saying for any submission. Markets publish submission guidelines, and you should read them. And follow them.
Your story must meet any requirements for length, genre, or theme, and must fit with what the market usually publishes. It’s as simple as that, however awesome your story is. A tale of the jolly adventure Santa had with the Space Pirates is not going to cut it with any magazine that wouldn't want jolly tales involving Space Pirates the rest of the year.
I've never yet seen a market that explicitly says "do not send us holiday-themed stories" - but if they do, don't.
The Story Has To Stand On Merit Alone
If a magazine has no themed issue, then they have no special requirement for wintry stories. You're going to need to blow the rest of their slush pile out of the water in order to be considered - just as you would submitting any other piece.
This is something that almost all the editors who responded stressed: they'll read the story, and if they like it they'll accept it. Its Christmassiness is basically irrelevant.
Consider The Publishing Schedule
Pay attention to when the magazine is published. If it comes out annually, in June, then the chances of them wanting a Christmas story are lower. Dawn Lloyd, who edits The Colored Lens, pointed out that, although TCL publishes quarterly, their issues fall in October and January - neither of which is especially well-suited to Christmassy tales. Not having a December issue doesn’t necessarily mean a market wouldn’t accept festive pieces, but snowballs and sleighbells are likely a much harder sell at the height of summer.
If you have a particular magazine in mind, identify whether there is an issue that feels like it might be a good seasonal target, and shoot for that one.
Consider The Response Time
In order to aim correctly for your chosen issue, you need to know how the magazine organises its reading schedule. Does it having rolling submissions, or a strict window for each issue? If they read your amazing splatterpunk Christmas flash on Dec 24th, are they willing to hold it for a year, or have you missed the boat? (And if they offer to hold it for a year, are you willing to wait for publication?) Some markets advertise their process pretty clearly, or lay out their estimated timelines - but you'll already know that, since it will be in the submission guidelines. Which you've read, right?
For markets that do not do that, you'll need one of the handy sites which aggregates statistics about response times. I use the Submission Grinder (which I highly recommend - it's easy to use, and free) to see statistics about how long a market takes, on average, to accept or reject a story. If you're looking at one of the super-fast publications that typically responds within a week, you've got a lot more leeway than if you're submitting somewhere with an average response time of 6 months or more. Keeping an eye on the little graphs on the Grinder will also give you a good idea of whether a market clears its slush pile completely before each issue, or allows pieces to roll over for future dates.
As the editor of Hexagon Magazine put it: "...for an issue releasing December 1st, I am selecting my stories between July 15th and October 15th. This means that I am already selecting winter stories in summer/fall." Which is why, as spring sunshine finally starts to unfurl in the UK, I'm thinking about this problem. If you send an editor a story that aligns with the issue they're currently planning, you give your story the best chance it can have.
Should you query? Should you mention Christmas in your cover letter?
One of the questions I put to editors was whether they'd prefer people to query before submitting a Christmas story. On balance, most said "no". Again, the extent to which a market would prefer queries over "just submit it and we'll decide" is something that varies, and is frequently mentioned (you guessed it!) in the submission guidelines.
The general tone from almost all the editors' responses was that they would treat Christmas stories exactly as any other submission, and didn't require any special provisions. So no query, no reference in the cover letter.
However, Neil Clarke, of Clarkesworld, did raise an interesting point. He referred to his advice for cover letters, which suggests authors mention "if there’s a particular aspect to this story that pulls from your... personal experience (cultural, regional, temporal, etc.)", and clarified that "knowing whether or not the author of a holiday story has actually celebrated the holiday has some value to us, particularly when it's a holiday we haven't personally experienced ourselves."
TL;DR
In summary: No-one is categorically opposed to festive stories. Do your homework. Figure out which issue you're aiming for, and when the magazine might be reading for that issue. Make sure your story is fabulous. Send it.
And if you are actually an elf, slogging your guts out on Santa's shop floor? Probably mention that in your cover letter.