Here We Are, One Year Later...

And submissions open today!!!

Well, here we are - one year later! It was June 1, 2024 Micromance Magazine first opened for submissions, with the first story, Jayna Morrow's Cupid Prize winning story, A Whole Lotto Love, published July 20th.

Some of you who have been here since the beginning know the story, but for some of the newest subscribers, the way Micromance Magazine came to be may not be known... As a writer, I always leaned toward flash fiction and romance. But such stories had difficulty finding homes in most literary magazines, even those that claimed "any theme, any genre" are accepted. And after searching the internet high and low, I was unable to find a lit mag focused only on romance. There are several erotica magazines, but that wasn't my speed. And there are a handful of lit mags dedicated to love - but they're open to love of all kinds, not just romantic. And those mags weren't too keen on the sweet flash romances I submitted to them. So, I thought long and hard about starting my own lit mag. But, some people pointed out, romance writers tend to be more focused on book/novel writing and being traditionally published authors. And that was true. And it was also true that no one ever started a romance centered lit mag - and maybe there was a reason for that. So, I set the idea aside. But I couldn't shake the thought that if I existed, there had to be other romance writers who wrote flash fiction. Or even flash fiction writers who happened to write a love story that they couldn't get placed. And so I talked it over with a friend or two and, with some encouragement, decided to go for it. I never imagined what it would become...

In a year, from June 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025, we...

1. have published 287 romance/love stories and poems...

from 265 different contributors

2. currently sit at 798 followers on Substack (other SS users who see our notes)...

and 660 subscribers (people who receive our newsletters each morning)

3. have posts each consistently receiving an average of 260 views -- with many posts receiving 300+ views...

with the average of 260 views multiplied by 270 posts, that's a total of, an average of, 70,000 combined posts views...

4. have received 157,000 visits to our Substack...

from 65,000 UNIQUE users!!!

That's a lot of different people interested in or curious about what we do here. That's a lot of eyes checking out your stories, poems, and our guidelines...

5. were voted the fourth favorite flash fiction magazine by readers and writers in Chill Subs Community Favorites Vote (Dec '24)

6. launched a sister project, KissMet Quarterly, that has been met with great excitement and growing success of its own

And, as of 2025, Micromance's engagement - the number of restacks, the number of comments on posts, etc - has increased from 2024, making the Micromance community an extremely welcoming, friendly and encouraging one... We have the absolute best followers/audience/contributors, and I appreciate each and every one of you...

But, there are some people I need to especially thank...

This mention probably won't come as a surprise to anyone who's been following more than a couple of months but, first off, I need to acknowledge

Ash Douglas

. Thing is, there wouldn't be a Micromance Magazine without Ash (though he may dispute that, I'm here to say, I never would have done this if not for him).

In 2023, Ash and I randomly crossed paths in the writing community. I was just a couple months into submitting pieces, and brand new to, then, Twitter, when, Spillwords, who I of course follow, posted one of his poems. I read his work and instantly fell in love with it! I commented just that on the post, he replied, and that was, as they say, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship" - an amazing relationship I grow more thankful for each passing day.

So, in April of '24, when I was once again thinking of starting a lit mag and needing some advice as to what I should do, Ash was the first person I went to. The encouragement and support he offered was incredible. And it was his believing in me and in who I am as both a writer and editor that gave me all the motivation I needed to say, "yes, I'm doing this!"

And as I started coming up with names and logos and cover designs and had to decide WordPress or Substack, etc etc., Ash was my sounding board... I bounced so many ideas off of him he probably felt like a handball court...lol... But he gave me valuable and honest insight into why this sounded better than that or this looked better than that, and it's all thanks to him that Micromance Magazine with it's adorable little heart couple (later named Blake and Blush by "name our mascots" winner, Mya O'Malley) not only came to be, but has become the phenomenal success that it has... Knowing he was always there, supporting both me and the project, spurring me on if I grew discouraged or overwhelmed, gave me the confidence and determination to try and make Micromance Magazine one of the best damn lit mags in the writing community... and the numbers don't lie...

So, thank you so much, Ash, for that push and for always being there, both celebrating my successes and telling me to keep my chin up when I'm not feeling like such a success... You're the absolute best! 😊💕

Next, I need to give a shout out to

Katie Fitzgerald

. Last Shot, a short and sweet romance, by Katie was one of the first submissions I received. It was exactly the kind of story I was wanting for Micromance. I was so excited, I accepted it immediately and asked if she'd consider being a regular contributor. Turned out, she was exactly that writer who I knew existed out there - the flash fiction romance writer who didn't have a lot of choices to "be heard." She liked the idea of being a regular contributor and went on to spread the word about Micromance.

As time went on, she submitted again and again, being only one of a few to submit to all categories (except poetry) AND to have all of those stories become top rated - Six remain in the top 20, with 2 of those in the top 5.

From the start, Katie has been a huge friend of Micromance, and when I asked if she knew how to do certain things on Instagram, she offered to help post, and so I offered her the "position" of IG manager - and she has done a fabulous job at it, gaining many followers and exposure for Micromance.

And, when I had some personal issues and things at Micromance became a bit too overwhelming for me, she happily stepped up and offered to help reply to submissions, schedule posts and do whatever else I thought would be helpful, and so she then became scheduling manager - and she amazingly scheduled 100 pieces in one week! And got the Micromance queue all caught up!

So, here's a big thank you to you, too, Katie, for being such a great friend to me and to Micromance and for wanting to see MM just as successful as I do. I appreciate what you do so much - all of your advice, your ideas, your help! I couldn't do it without you! 😀

And how about a round of applause for

Elise Gilmore

! Elise is another regular contributor who writes the perfect stories for Micromance Magazine.

Elise is another great friend to MM. And when she heard I was stressing out about the delay in releasing Like Naked Taunts and the inaugural issue of KissMet Quarterly, she asked if she could help. And so, Elise proofread, edited and formatted all of the poetry and author bios for Like Naked Taunts allowing me to release it on May 15, weeks ahead of when I expected I'd be able.

Thank you so much, Elise! You were a lifesaver - and a poetry anthology saver! 😁

And to all of those writers and poets who have been with me since the beginning and have been published multiple times - Scott MacLeod, Linette Rabsatt, Joseph Ogbonna, Pam Martin-Lawrence, Mina Beckett, Anna Hughes, Johannah Simon, Sara Ali, Green Butterfly, HN Roberts, Katie Fitzgerald, Ash Douglas, Elise Gilmore, Mya O'Malley, Vicky Heath, and I know I'm forgetting someone, but you know who you are - I appreciate your continued support and thank you for all of your awesome content that set the cornerstones at the start of Micromance Magazine and continues to build it up. You're all amazing! 😎

And to ALL the contributors and readers - it's 100% because of you that MM is the huge success it is. I've always said, there'd be no Micromance without you. And it certainly can't be successful without you... Thank you all for making the Micromance Substack such a fun and engaging and welcoming community.

Contributors, you are, without a doubt, the most-talented writers and poets on the planet... Thank you for trusting us with your beautiful work! 🙏🏼 And I can't wait to read more from familiar faces and new faces alike!! 😁

Speaking of which, as of today -June 1- submissions are open again!

Guidelines are simple...

Sweet genre romance or literary love stories 75-1200 words...submit as .doc/.docx, please NO PDFs...

Romantic Poetry accepted, any length, but please NO special formatting, and only one poem per submission

Each writer can submit once per month, but can submit one piece to as many categories as they'd like in that month...

Sweet Nothings - 75-100 words

Quickies - 101-500 words

Short & Sweet - 501-1200 words

Poetry

Please, NO erotica.

Please, NO Simultaneous Submissions - we aim to send replies within 30 days...that hasn't always been the case, but now, with everything caught up and Katie to help with scheduling, there's no reason we can't send responses in a month or less...

Include a short bio in 3rd person

Send submissions to:

micromancesubmissions@gmail.com

Thank you all so much for a phenomenal year...when I was looking up the stats to write this newsletter, I was floored by the staggering numbers!! It's actually hard for me to fathom, as I never dreamed we’d reach this many people. Let's make the next year another rousing success!!!! We can do this!!! 😁

Gail Lynn, EIC 🥰