The fiction stories that
Woman's Day readers seem to enjoy are about women's daily lives, romances, mysteries, plus the occasional ghost story. The magazine does not want sexually explicit stories and, if a crime is committed or planned, then the perpetrator should be caught or have the plot rebound on him or her.
Very short stories, about 850 words long, are not used as frequently as longer ones which should be around 2,000 words. The shorter stories often have a twist at the end of the tale, but this is not essential. Pen names may be used.
Manuscripts should be typed on one side of the paper only, with double spacing and sufficient margins on either side of the text and be accompanied by an A4 self-addressed adequately stamped envelope for the reply one way or the other. If a disk accompanies the manuscript it should be IBM compatible. Contributions should be sent to: The Fiction Editor,
Woman's Day, 54 Park Street, Sydney, NSW 2001. Submissions may also be faxed to
Woman's Day on (02) 9267 4360 or e-mailed in Word format to
womansday@acp.com.au
Woman's Day purchases first Australian and New Zealand rights for each story. The usual fee for a short story is $350, payable on receipt of the author's invoice after the magazine's offer of acceptance. Longer stories receive proportionately more. If writing is the Australian author's main source of income, the invoice must include an ABN and state whether the sum is GST inclusive, or adding the GST to the amount offered. If charging GST,
Woman's Day will, of course, need a Tax Invoice. After the off-sale date of the issue in which the story is published, rights revert to the author.
Illustrations or photographs for stories are commissioned by the Art Director. Feature stories are usually written by staff members or regular contributors. Generally we do not have the space to publish poetry or tales for children.
We accept unsolicited manuscripts but, as we receive a large amount of these each week, only a small proportion reaches publication. Every story is read and a reply should be expected in five to six weeks from the date of arrival at the
Woman's Day Fiction office. Because of the number of submissions received, we regret individual criticism and advice cannot be given.
