who should submit?
We favour submissions from new writers over 50 but will consider work by slightly younger writers if it fits with the ethos of the magazine.
what are we looking for?
We’re looking for literary fiction that shows mastery of the craft and we welcome submissions from writers of any background, anywhere in the world. Your work can be written in standard English, non-standard English or dialect, as long it’s comprehensible to the general reader. We’re open to works that are naturalistic, experimental, surreal, comical (we do like a bit of humour) or any other style you can think of, as long as it’s polished till it shines.
We do not publish genre fiction, eg sci-fi, fantasy, romance and we most definitely don’t accept work that is racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic, or peddles any kind of propaganda or hate. Equally, if you have used AI to create your work, it will be rejected.
Finally, we have a slight allergy to creative-writing-graduate first-person narratives written in the present tense documenting a moment by moment account of their internal world.
more details please
We publish short stories, maximum 3000 words, and flash fiction, 500-1000 words. Please submit only one short story or one piece of flash fiction at a time. We prefer you to use Times Roman 12, double spaced. If you choose a font or layout that is difficult to read, and is not integral to the story, we are likely to reject your work. We will consider work that needs a light edit, but at present we do not have the capacity to work with writers to bring a promising work up to a publishable standard.
We accept simultaneous submissions but please let us know if your work has been accepted elsewhere. Please note, we don’t accept work that has already been published elsewhere.
If your work is accepted by Thin Skin, we ask you not to submit again for six months, to give other writers’ work a chance to be considered. If your work doesn’t make the cut, you can submit something new after two months.
how do i submit?
Please send your submission as an attachment to [email protected], with your name, story title and category in the subject line eg Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, short story/flash fiction. In the body of the email, please confirm that you have not used AI in the creation of this work. We do not need a bio at this stage.
Please DO include your work’s title and word count at the top of your first page. Please DON’T include your personal details anywhere in your work. We prefer to read blind (but don’t worry, we do keep a record of who submitted what).
We don’t charge submission fees as we don’t want to deter writers from submitting. We can’t offer payment but if that changes, we’ll let you know.
what happens next?
All submissions will be read by two experienced readers. If both readers agree that your work is right for us, it will be passed on to a senior editor for a final decision. If your work is accepted, we will ask you for a short bio (no more than 60 words), with a thumbnail photo. If you don’t want your photo to be displayed, please let us know before we publish.
when will i hear from you?
We aim to contact you within 8 weeks.
do you do anything else?
We offer a short feedback on your submission for a fee of £30 and a more in depth editing and feedback service for £75, regardless of whether or not we accept your work. If you’d like to choose this option, please add it to the subject line, eg Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, short story/flash fiction, short/long feedback. Please note that if you request feedback, you cannot resubmit an edited version. You’ll generally receive your feedback within 8 weeks. Please bear in mind that if we get more requests for feedback than our editors can handle, we may have to decline your request.
any other questionS?
Please fill in the contact form or send an email to [email protected].