Novella Submissions

Violet Lichen Books seeks to work with authors who have a strong attachment to the themes, people, or places they're writing about, and who sling their dark tales straight from the heart. We are especially interested in works by marginalized and under-represented authors.

Submit a novella

Novellas of 30,000 to 45,000 words12-week response

What we're looking for

Original works and unique voices. We are looking for atmospheric and thought-provoking novellas that intertwine a fascination of the natural world with horror and dread, and those that explore how we, as individual humans, interconnect with our communities, other species, and whole ecosystems.

We love weird fiction that unsettles, expands perspectives, and plays with bending reality, traditions, or tropes.

Genre wishlist

Speculative ecofiction (eco-horror, eco science fiction)
New Weird
Weird
Folk horror
Surreal & literary science fiction
Horror & fantasy

Word count

Novellas of 30,000 to 45,000 words

Payment & distribution

Industry standard advance and royalties.

Violet Lichen titles are distributed by Independent Publishers Group.

Response time

Please allow at least 12 weeks for a response. After this, you are welcome to query.

What we're not looking for

Slasher horror, shock horror, extreme horror
Classic monsters (unless completely subverted in a new and weird way)
High fantasy, sword and sorcery, superheroes, space opera
YA or MG
Full-length novels or collections
Reprints

No AI. We are not interested in works written by AI in any form or at any stage. We work with human-made art only.

Ready to submit?

Submit a novella

An imprint of Apex Publications, LLC · Lexington, KY