Let's Have A Talk...
Some Do's & Don't's of Submitting to Micromance
Greetings all! Can you believe August only has a week left?! Summer is starting to give way to the next season - you can feel the 🍂 in the atmosphere, in the shorter days…
Anyway…. I'm popping in today to give a couple updates… throw out a couple reminders…
Typically, I receive about 100 submissions a month - give or take a few (some months push 200, others hover at about 75). And, typically, I'll accept about 40.
So far this month, I’ve received nearly 80 submissions and have accepted 10. That's it. There's two reasons for this. 1. I have gotten more particular in what I choose to publish. However, I've been this way for several months now, and was still accepting upwards of 40%/50% of subs. So this one isn't as big a reason as 2. we aren't receiving pieces that are a good fit for Micromance…
As anyone following us knows, we are focused on romance and love stories. Since the beginning, we have accepted not only genre romance (happily ever after endings only), but literary love stories as well. Lately, we've been receiving a lot of those. And we are not against literary love stories. Some of the favorites I've published fall into that category. I've nominated a few for awards. But the stories we've received lately are stories with titles like “The Love Life of Penelope Scattergood,” but the story has nothing to do with Penelope's love life until maybe the last sentence when she notices handsome Percy leaning against a bookcase.
Or the stories have obscure literary references, are written as metaphors, and some are not romance/love stories at all, but are just “literature.” Many are very well written, just not for Micromance.
So what are we looking for?
When it comes to literary love stories, we're aiming for stories that are basically romances, but for whatever reason maybe don't have a happy ending. But love/romance HAS to be central to the plot. And, it needs to be evocative. If you’ve read some of the earlier literary love stories we published by JD Clapp or JE Dyer, they're sad, yes, but the story IS the relationship between the couple. And these stories make the reader feel - they're touching/moving.
These are along the lines of the stories we speak of as women's fiction… deeply relatable, emotional stories based in the heart.
What we're NOT looking for…
We're not looking for stories full of five-dollar words and obscure references to Greek art that mention “she thought Bob was hot” in passing - these are not love stories, and definitely not romance. Writing a literary story and adding love to the title or a kiss somewhere along the way doesn't make it romance.
We're also not interested in stories about death. We are about love and romance. And, though we do accept the occasional, well-written, emotional piece, we're not interested in pieces about couples who have been together for 60 years and die within a day of each other… we receive many of these stories, and, I hate to say it, but they're all very similar and they're just not the vibe we're looking for. Yes, I've published a few here and there but, again, they were exceptionally written, in that they moved me…
This goes for poetry as well. I have just about stopped accepting any poetry, simply because a majority of what I receive is either borderline erotic or is too morose - about heartbreak, about death, about suicide because of heartbreak… one day, I literally read 6 pieces in a row - stories and poems - all about suicide…either the love interest committed it or the narrator wanted to because the lover left/died… and please know, these poems and stories won't be published. In regard to poetry, it receives way less engagement than stories do… so I'm iffy about continuing on with it as it is (with exceptions from a few regular contributors)… if you are looking to submit poetry, please read pieces we've published by Bob McAfee, Linette Rabsatt, Ash Douglas, Anna Hughes, Joseph Ogbonna, for some examples of what we're looking for…
Another thing that makes us cringe… true stories. I don't mind pieces told in first POV…and, honestly, I don't mind if a story is based in truth…but write it as fiction… stories written like essays or memoirs are rejected. Again, I don't care if a story is true - most stories are based in/inspired by some real events or people… nearly all my stories and poems are spawned from real emotions, real feelings, real hopes and expectations, and written with someone in mind…it's how I work, but I do my best to keep, especially, stories as stories. So, go ahead and write your own love story, but write it like fiction.
And finally, we don't like epilogues. I don't know how many pieces I've read and have loved…they had the perfect ending…but then the writer adds another paragraph, something like:
And we've been together for the last 20 years, and I couldn't imagine life without him.
Or:
Five years later, they were married. Two years after that, they had twins. And now they enjoy sitting on the porch, drinking the same caramel lattes that brought them together all those years ago.
If your story is perfect up to that point, I'll reach out and ask if it's okay to cut the epilogue… most writers have been very kind about the suggestion and allowed it.
But if you can help it, leave the epilogue out. In flash fiction romance, the endings are about knowing the relationship will last 50 years by how well the characters hit it off… For more info on this and to learn more about writing short/flash romance, check out our co-editor Katie's crash course on this very subject…her first installment dropped earlier this week and explains this very well…
Click here for Katie's crash course (it's free)
And, recently, I've received a few stories full of gratuitous language. I'm not here to censor anyone. I've let “f bombs” get published. But only if it's pertinent to the story. Stories that include this word in an erotic or suggestive context will be rejected. Gratuitous use of any cussing will be rejected. We are a sweet, clean publication. Our audience is compiled of people from all over the world, all faiths and all ages, with most of our audience being women between 40-60…but we do have some teens/high schoolers who follow us/submit to us…so we try to keep it all contained to PG or tamer, but like PG of the 80s/90s…. Lol…
What else will get your piece rejected?
Not following guidelines is a great way to get rejected. If you submitted, you found the email to do so somewhere - most likely on the guidelines page. Which means, theoretically, you read the guidelines. So, you know:
*one submission per category, per writer, per month (Poets, this means one poem)… and if your piece is declined this month, please don't immediately reply to my decision by submitting another piece in the same category… one submission per writer per category per month
*.doc/.docx files only. No PDFs, no .rtf…no anything other than .doc
*follow word count - drabbles are 100 words, short and sweet is no more than 1200…
And again, make sure your work fits the theme - romance for Micromance Magazine and romance plus seasonal for KissMet Quarterly. I received a few KQ holiday submissions that were obviously previously written romances and the author named it “Jingle Bells” or in the opening mentioned it was Christmas, but there was absolutely nothing else in the story to make the reader feel it was Christmas. And they may have been great stories, but they were rejected. Stories that don't fit the theme(s) will always be rejected.
Etiquette
I hate that I even have to bring this up. I had to several months ago, and can't believe I have to again, but here it goes…
Katie and I are human beings with feelings and with lives outside of Micromance. We aren't here 24/7, sitting by our email waiting to cater to every whim and demand (yes, demand) of writers. We love our contributors… we will help and encourage and support every submitter and contributor…most know that of us. But too many writers have once again begun taking that for granted. So, please, if you have questions, by all means, ask. We want to help. If you have a concern about a piece that's been published, please, let us know. If you have a request or a reminder about a pen name, please, let us know…
But don't tell us to do this or that. Don't demand we do this or that. And don't passive-aggressively accuse us of doing things - for ex., hiding pieces behind paywalls, blocking you, altering photos, etc. (all things we've been falsely accused of)…
We do the best we can, which, I think, is pretty darn good… and we do our best to treat every submitter and contributor with kindness and respect and now we'll make the demand - we expect the same in return… ! So, if you aren't subscribed to the newsletter and can't find your piece posted on the site, just ask - I'll send you the link. If you don't receive a reply to an email within 48 hours, please don't send another email from a different address demanding I unblock and answer you - we don't block people…however, that sort of behavior may be a good reason to…lol… the point is, just ask…nicely…
Updates for 2026
The biggest change going into the new year - no author photos. A majority of people don't include them anyway. And, honestly, they are time consuming. I know from experience, and I know Katie agrees. So we decided that going forward there'd be no more photos for anyone… bios are still required, but be sure they are under 100 words, in 3rd POV, and don't contain a ton of links…
I hope I didn't come off too harsh …
Micromance Magazine is and has always been dedicated to promoting romance, especially flash/short romance, and its writers in the writing community. And, we have done that - other much more literary mags have had romance calls or added romance to their roster of topics they welcome. Which is awesome! And we've always been about introducing new writers - writers of other genres - to the wonderful world of romance. And we've done that as well, giving several authors their first romance publication credits…. And we love that…and we want to keep doing that…to keep championing romance, to keep bringing genres together, to keep introducing romance writers to new romance sub-genres… we want to keep encouraging and supporting everyone the best we can and maintain the awesome community we have here… we want everyone - regardless of writing experience - to feel welcome here… and we've been having a lot of new people submitting - which is awesome!! I love seeing new names in the inbox… I get excited thinking how we've inspired more to try out a new genre or have brought some long-form romance writers to the short side, and then I read the pieces and realize the point of Micromance was somehow lost… and so I felt I needed to, point blank, put out there what we're about, what we're looking for, and, most importantly, what we aren't looking for…
As always, thank you all for your continuing support. We have a lot of great things coming in 2026… I have updated our Substack website (micromancemagazine.substack.com) with some new tabs - our About tab has been updated to reflect who we are and is our version of FAQs, I've updated the KissMet tab, and have added an MM Anthologies Info tab - it's still under construction, but will be where all info and guidelines for Saltwater & Ash and Hometown Hearts will be found. The contributors tab has also been updated to reflect all new contributors up to Aug 21st…
I hope this little chat was helpful… and I'll be including clearer descriptions of what we're looking for in all future sub calls so, hopefully, six months from now I don't need to repeat this newsletter….lol…
Thank you all so much for everything! And now I'm off to celebrate my birthday… 🥳…🎂…
Think happy thoughts,
Gail Lynn, EIC 🥰
Thank you for the updated guidelines. They'll help. You folks are doing a wonderful job. Thank you! I don't think writers realize how few romance flash markets exist.
You and Katie do fantastic work! I appreciate newsletters like this (and the detailed guidelines on your site) because it could not be clearer what you’re looking for and how to submit it.
Sorry to hear you put up with a little abuse from people. I’ve noodled with starting a press for decades now, and every time the itch starts I hear stories of nonsense like that and the itch goes away. You’re saints for plugging along and creating such a great community!