StoryBottle Co. publishes immersive storytelling regardless of genre. We want it all, whether it’s considered high-brow literary fiction or the pulpiest brain candy. What they are really interested in is story in its most essential form: fictional worlds that draw us in, plots grounded in causality, characters we care about, and imagery that sparks the imagination. Good stories keep us spellbound and leave us changed. Like the ship in a bottle on your grandfather’s bookcase, each story contains something mesmerizing, rendered in three-dimensional detail. StoryBottle Co. offers stories regularly online but will also release two print issues a year that feature the best from the website as well as original work.

StoryBottle Co.’s first contest, which is open to stories of all kind, will begin on October 15, 2024 and conclude on January 15, 2025. Guidelines are the same as general submissions, though they do accept stories up to 10,000 words.

The entry fee is $15. The winner will receive $1,000 and publication both online and in the print issue (as well as 10 author copies of the issue). The runner-up will also be published online and in the print issue. Visit the organizer’s website for more details.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.