Interested in having your writing featured in our podcast? We are constantly seeking work that meets the following criteria:
Genres
We are looking for stories that fall into the following speculative fiction genres:
- Science Fiction. This includes anything from space opera and cyberpunk to alternate reality, hard SF, military SF, steampunk, alien invasions, and more.
- Fantasy. High fantasy, swords and sorcery, alternate history, urban fantasy, magical realism, and comic fantasy—just a few of the many categories we’re interested in.
- Horror/Suspense. We tend toward a wide range of psychological, paranormal, gothic, occult, or post-apocalyptic stories. Our only caveat is for you to steer away from excessive gore as it affects how we index and market our show.
Length
We’re looking for pieces that can be performed or read aloud in five to thirty minutes. This translates to between 1,000 and 5,000 words. We may accept shorter works, but not longer.
Language
English (dialog written in other languages (real or alien) excepted). Also, the use of profanity should fall within FCC broadcast guidelines, again for indexing and marketing reasons.
Format
Submissions should be sent as a Word Document (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text Format (.rtf). Please use standard manuscript and radio drama script formatting in either Courier or Times New Roman fonts.
Unsure what standard manuscript or radio drama script formatting entails? Here are some great examples of what we’re looking for:
Regional Preference
Since the mission of Disturbing Frequencies is to promote speculative fiction originating from the Rochester, NY region, our primary interest is in works from writers who live in this area or have a strong connection with it. Does that mean we won’t ever accept fiction from those living outside the region? Not at all. However, area writers will have priority consideration during our selection process. We loosely define the Rochester area as Monroe County and the five surrounding counties (Orleans, Genesee, Livingston, Ontario, and Wayne).
Fan Fiction
We do not accept any fan fiction. For that matter, if there’s any possibility of trademark or copyright issues (for example, quoting song lyrics or using easily recognized characters created by other authors), we won’t accept your submission.
Reprints
Reprints are more than welcome, so long as you hold the rights to your story and it meets the guidelines listed above.
Compensation
We are not able to offer financial compensation for work submitted to us at this time (we are a humble a nonprofit 501(3)(c) organization). If you are thinking of submitting your story to a paying market, we encourage you to do so! Depending on the publication, you may or may not be asked for audio rights in addition to print rights, and we certainly wouldn’t want to be a cause of conflict. Besides, you deserve money for your hard work! Regardless, we look forward to promoting you as an area writer on our show.
Copyrights
Disturbing Frequencies seeks non-exclusive audio rights, and non-exclusive electronic rights to distribute the audio file under a Creative Commons license.
Specifically, we use the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license, which means that anyone has permission to distribute the audio files for free, provided they give proper credit for it, try not to profit from it, and don’t alter it in any way. Extracting portions from it beyond fair use, transcribing it, and mashing it up are all prohibited.
This license applies only to our audio performance of your work — it does not apply to your story itself; you retain your copyright and all rights to any other use of the story.
By sending us your story you understand and agree that:
- You are the original creator of the work submitted to us;
- You are the copyright holder of the work;
- You are not prohibited by any prior agreement from the transfer of non-exclusive electronic and audio rights to the work.