Issue 7 is closed to submissions….

Thanks to everyone for their stories and poems. It’s been a blast reading them all, especially these past few days when business really picked up. We’ll be in touch later this week with the winners of the contest and the rest of our wonderful authors for this issue.

1st Annual Flash Fiction and Poetry Contest!

I mentioned in the last update that I wanted to have a contest, and now I found a decent reason to do so. Duotrope (if you’re not familiar, you need to be) recently ranked Bop Dead City fourth on their super-scientific list of “25 Fastest Poetry Markets” (and I think we’re going to be pretty high on the fiction list too). They keep a bunch of other stats too. 

So anyway, to celebrate this rather neat fact, I decided we’re having a flash fiction and poetry contest! 

Prizes: $20 to the winner of the flash fiction category, and $20 to the winner of the poetry category.

Rules: For fiction, we’ll use Duotrope’s definition of flash fiction as “less than 1,000 words.” For poetry, we’ll use my made-up rule of 50 words or less. Plus, do everything that the usual submission guidelines say. Everything submitted until April 1 that follows these guidelines will be considered for the contest. And of course, even if your work isn’t within these parameters, we’ll still consider it for publication as usual.

Thanks for all the great submissions so far, an even bigger thanks to everyone who has bought a copy of Bop Dead City’s Issue 2, and good luck to everyone who enters.

Nearly February News

Straight to the bullets:

• Issue 2 is officially printed up and ready for purchase! All you contributors should receive your issues today or soon enough, and anyone who’d like a copy can just click the “Buy” tag above to purchase through Paypal or any credit card (unless you use a Player’s Club card and are therefore Moe Szyslak). 
• This means, of course, that the submission period for Issue 3 is about to commence. Review the submission guidelines before submitting, please. It’s pretty standard and straight-forward stuff, and when it really comes down to it, I’m not too much of a ballbuster about them. 
• I’m considering having a contest during this submission period. No fees or anything silly like that, and everything submitted will be considered, so if you’re thinking about submitting, do it regardless. I figured, I already had my favorites in each issue, so why not just come out and say it?
• Hopefully we’ll soon have interviews from our lovely and presumably beautiful (if their outsides match their insides) contributors for this issue. I got a ton of great feedback One person said they really liked the interviews, so I’m going to keep trying to do them. 
• Finally, if you’re reading this, go ahead and submit. I started this little project last year for three reasons:

1) Reading new and interesting things, and learning about people. Everything people submit is, at least I think in some way, an extension of themselves, and I’m a nosy bastard who wants to know your business. What can I say? The South rubbed off on me. 

2) To feel like I’m doing my part in the literary community. Another way of saying this is to say I feel like I’m accomplishing something here.

3) To help other writers in their quest for…whatever. Fame? I guess. Wealth? Maybe not, or at least I’m not getting rich (I figure we’re at about $-40 or so at this point, but whatever. It’s about the words, man). Mostly, just to acknowledge to a small percentage of other writers out there that, yes, you did a good job, you’re good at what you do, and this deserves to be recognized in some small way. Even though Bop Dead City might be small potatoes, at least it’s something to snack on until your main course, right? Or in a less tortured way of speaking, who doesn’t like seeing their work recognized for having some merit (whiskeypaper.com sometime in March, keep an eye out for me, holler at your boy)?

Anyway, the point is, it’s a symbiotic relationship you and I have. I can’t publish you if you don’t submit, and if you don’t submit I’ll have nothing to publish.

So, read the guidelines, get your shit together, and fill Bop Dead City’s inbox on February 1.