Write for Us

Congratulations on your decision to write for Tell-A-Tale!

(We accept submissions solely via email to editor@tell-a-tale.com.)

Tell-A-Tale is a part-literary, part-entertainment magazine that is dedicated to the tradition of storytelling. We publish fiction, poetry, folktales, interviews of storytellers and story reviews. Tell-A-Tale reaches over 150,000 readers a month, globally, as of April 2019, and the numbers are growing.

By contributing to Tell-A-Tale, you are assured of a wide readership. If you are an amateur writer, you have a chance to gather feedback from other skilled writers. Tell-A-Tale publishes content in the following genres:

1. Creative content – Stories, poems and illustration-based stories drawn from your heart (no copied content please!). Some content published in the past can be found here, here, here and here.

2. Interviews with Storytellers

3. Story and literary events happening in your city.

4. Editorial – Articles about Stories and Storytelling.

5. Booklists – Your favorite storybooks.

6. Book Reviews of books that have stories at their heart.

7. Classic Stories – Folklore, folk tales, granny’s tales from around the world.

You can contribute to any section that interests you.

Submissions must be sent solely via email to editor@tell-a-tale.com.

Tell-A-Tale Submission Guidelines

Formatting Guidelines

Stories must be submitted in Microsoft Word Document format, as an attachment. Do not send your story in the body of an email. Use only Times New Roman font, 12-pt., for the text.

Each story must be accompanied by a short biography (less than 100 words) which includes the author’s full name, age, nationality, website, etc. A recent photograph can also be attached (optional).

The subject line of e-mail must have author’s full name and the title of the short story.

Content Guidelines

1. Content on Tell-A-Tale is meant for all age groups, so there should be no profanity or explicit content. Submissions not conforming to this will be rejected.
2. All submissions must be original and not previously published, in print or online. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but notify us as soon as possible if a piece is accepted for publication elsewhere.
3. Poems should be at least 20 lines in length. Haikus must be submitted in batches of at least 5.
4. If your story is a translation or re-telling of folk tales/classic tales, credit to the original work must be explicitly mentioned in the submission document.
5. Anyone can contribute; age is no bar. However, if you are below 16, a parent’s email ID must accompany your story.
6. All content will be published under the author’s name. If you do not want your name to be disclosed, kindly mention “Anonymous” in the subject line of your email. We will publish your content as a guest author.
7. Contributions accepted for publication in print or video adaptations may be subject to editing in collaboration with the author.
8. If you are a registered writer with Tell-A-Tale, and your account remains dormant for more than 6 months, it will be de-activated.To re-activate the account, send an email to contact@tell-a-tale.com

Copyright Notice

By submitting a short story to Tell-A-Tale, authors hereby agree to the following copyright clauses:

1. Stories published on Tell-A-Tale.com website could be included in future print or e-book anthologies by Tell-A-Tale.
2. Authors will give Tell-A-Tale permission to publish their work on the website and use the story in other story distribution channels owned by Tell-A-Tale. We retain irrevocable first electronic rights including website/ podcasts/ audio books/ e-books and the right to publish entries either as stand-alone feature or as an anthology anytime in future.
3. By submitting a story, you certify that the work is original and you are the copyright holder of its content.
4. After the work is published in Tell-A-Tale, the copyright reverts back to the original author. Tell-A-Tale will publish it and promote the same.
5. If the author chooses to post the story on their personal blog, they can do so after it has been published on Tell-A-Tale. On their blog, they will update the page status to no-indexed, and a link to Tell-A-Tale will be provided, to prevent duplication of content on the web. In case the story has been published in an e-book/ audio book/ podcast, they will post an abstract or paragraph and give the download link on Tell-A-Tale. The entire text will not be copied and pasted.

Remuneration Guidelines

Tell-A-Tale pays writers on subject basis. Content for which we pay contributors include commissioned articles, stories/poems selected for our e-books, and stories selected for video content. We also hold periodic writing contests, with prizes in cash and vouchers. Tell-A-Tale pays for commissioned book reviews, and we expect an honest and quality critique of the work being reviewed. You also get to keep the review copy for free !

For any inquiries, send us an email at contact AT tell-a-tale DOT com.