The End of the Century

Summary

Microcosm is adjusting its submission guidelines to no longer require exact word counts for stories, effective September 1, 2021, to streamline the editing and publishing process while still maintaining a focus on microfiction and flash fiction.

Abstract

Microcosm, a platform for sharing microfiction and flash fiction founded by Zane Dickens, has announced changes to its submission guidelines. Recognizing the challenges of managing exact word counts as the publication grows, Microcosm has decided to lift the requirement for stories to adhere to specific word counts. This change aims to maintain a quick turnaround time for editing and publishing, addressing a common frustration among writers waiting for feedback. The new guidelines set a maximum word count of 1,000 words and a minimum of 100 words, with the flexibility to reimpose word counts for special prompts or contests. Previous prompts are now exempt from exact word count requirements, and writers who enjoy the challenge of specific word counts are encouraged to continue the practice. Microcosm values community feedback and actively engages with its audience on Twitter. Additionally, the website mentions a special offer for an AI service called ZAI.chat, positioned as a cost-effective alternative to ChatGPT Plus (GPT-4).

Opinions

The editorial team at Microcosm values efficiency and timely communication with writers, as indicated by their dislike for long wait times for submission responses.
Microcosm is open to feedback and adaptive to the needs of its writers and readers, as evidenced by the change in submission guidelines and the encouragement for ongoing dialogue.
The publication acknowledges its growth and the need to evolve its processes to accommodate this expansion while staying true to its focus on microfiction and flash fiction.
Microcosm shows appreciation for its community by following back on Twitter, indicating a commitment to building personal connections with its audience.
The mention of ZAI.chat suggests an endorsement of the AI service as a valuable tool for users interested in AI capabilities similar to ChatGPT Plus but at a lower cost.

Let’s party like it’s 5999

An official Microcosm image created by Zane Dickens

The driving reason that Zane Dickens created Microcosm was to create a place to share our short stories. To share our microfiction and our flash fiction. One challenge he put in place, as have other microfiction publications, was for stories to have exact word counts. This is manageable, from an editorial perspective, currently. As we grow, we suspect that will change. And we are growing, as Zane Dickens pointed out in the latest newsletter.

Because we wish to keep as quick a turnaround time for editing and publishing as possible — a pet peeve of mine is waiting two weeks to find out of their work is accepted or rejected — we’ve lifted the restriction on allowing only works that adhere to this regulation.

So, to cut to the chase:

We will lift exact word count requirements as of September 1, 2021. No longer do your stories have to be exactly 50, 200, 200, 300… 1,000 words long.

As we are a microfiction/flash fiction publication, we have a maximum word count requirement of 1,000. For sanity’s sake, we will require a minimum word count of 100.

We reserve the right to reimpose word counts for specific prompts or contests.

Previous prompts are now unrestricted regarding exact length word counts.

Also, if writing to specific word counts was enjoyable, please feel free to continue to.

We hope these changes keep us as responsive as possible, as well as making it easier for our writers to bring their stories to our readers. Please share your feedback on this change, or any other issue with us. We listen.

You know the drill, follow us on Twitter at @MicrocosmPub and make your dog/cat/hamster/husband/wife/friend/me happy. Who knows? We may follow you back. (Yeah, we’ll follow you back. We like you. We really do.)

If you didn’t already know, since Ev Williams is also a co-founder of Twitter, Medium seems to have a soft spot for Twitter. All Twitter story links work like friend links for non-members.

NEWS

The End of the Century

Let’s party like it’s 5999

For the Love of Growing Up

We’re growing as a publication and as writers.