short-story – Winter Jewel Publishing

Hello readers and writers and more!

I wanted to throw in a few quick updates about the anthology so far, but before we get into the details…

Check out this book trailer!

I made this trailer a little while ago to showcase just a few of the stories and poems we’ll have in the anthology!

Please make sure you follow the Kickstarter to get more information about our launch date: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redeyesandtiredlungs/we-make-the-village-an-anthology-of-community

How is the process going so far?

Well, 26 authors have already signed their contracts for their works to be included in the anthology! I’ve sent out a payment to all but the most recent three, and it looks like I might have a couple more contracts to send out in the next couple weeks! So, we may end up with a couple more names on our list (go check out the Kickstarter! A list of the contributing authors is there!

We have 22 short stories, 4 flash fictions, 6 poems, and 1 non-fiction all edited and in the middle of formatting so far, and there still may be a few more to come.

Another exciting feature: I have a local artist doing some artwork within the book! I can’t wait to showcase them artwork; it’s lovely to be able to add even more to the anthology to make it amazing.

I think that’s all for now. Keep a close eye on that Kickstarter, as I’m planning on launching February 1st, which is coming up quick!

Hello! I just wanted to provide a short notice about the Call for Submissions for “It Takes A Village.”

We are still accepting submissions for this anthology! The final due date for submissions is currently June 1st. This does not count for re-writes or edits if I’ve requested them, as I will share the required due date for those separately.

We are starting to get quite a few submissions in, so I definitely recommend you submit yours ASAP! My reading period will start on May 10th. You can continue to submit after this date, but I will be prioritizing submissions from before that day and will be reading through until I’m caught up.

Thank you for submitting!

That’s right, it’s coming soon!

I’m still working hard on the audiobook, and I’ve even hired a second editor to help manage the workload. I don’t have a predicted date yet – these things take quite a bit of time! – but we do seem to be in the home stretch.

For now, I’d like to share with you this short, two minute audio sample so you can get a feel for all the awesome voices helping make this project a reality.

If you’d like to support the anthology, please consider picking up a copy of the eBook, which is available now! You can purchase it just about anywhere – even Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Fable, Smashwords, and more! If you would like to support the anthology but don’t have the funds to purchase directly, that’s okay – I’ve even made it available to libraries! If you have Hoopla or Overdrive (Libby), you should be able to pick up a copy of the eBook through those services. Then, please leave us a review and tell more people about it! Here’s the Books2Read link: https://books2read.com/u/bM2dQB If you don’t see your preferred retailer on that list, though, double check for it anyways. You’ll probably find it!

Waiting for the paperback edition? I’m hoping to get that into wide distribution soon! For now, if you live in Prince George, I have a few spare copies left from my initial print run available. If you’d like to purchase a copy (signed by the PG authors!) please send me a message and we can set it up.

That’s all for now. Back to editing for me!

OCTOBER 2025 UPDATES:

The pre-launch page for the Kickstarter is up! If you’d like to follow the project, check it out here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redeyesandtiredlungs/we-make-the-village-an-anthology-of-community?ref=130nsr&token=98e52a52

I am still looking for a couple more (in priority order): personal essays/non-fiction pieces, or flash fiction pieces. Preference for all under 1000 words, some room still for longer pieces (but not many). Please remember, this call is for Canadian writers/authors only.

Special interest in a flash fiction piece inspired by the cover (check out the Kickstarter to see what it looks like!) to include as a bonus story.

What I am looking for:

This anthology’s theme is “It Takes a Village” – I’m looking for stories about community: finding it, building it, maintaining it, being expelled from it. How do we build our villages as adults? How do we grow connections with those around us? What do we do when we’ve lost them? We’ve heard the phrase “It takes a village to raise a child” but also “The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” How do we tackle these emotions as adults?
- As this is a bit trickier of an anthology theme than the last one, the reading period is going to be much longer, and the final evolution of the anthology’s theme will come from what the overarching theme and tone from the submitted and accepted pieces create.
Poems, flash fiction, short stories, science fiction, fantasy, romance, literary, contemporary, and more. We want a wide variety of fictional stories!
Works from Canadian writers/authors only, with some preference for writers from British Columbia.
Special consideration/interest for writers who are Former Foster Youth or Adopted
Flash Fiction up to 1000 words
Short Stories up to 10000 words – very limited spots for over 5000-word stories
Poetry sets of up to 5 pages
Polished works – please don’t send your first draft. Make sure to put your story through revisions before sending it. Using a beta reader is also a good idea. Your work should be free of spelling and grammar errors.
If you would like to pick up a copy of our previous anthology to read what we’ve published in the past, check out “Red Eyes and Tired Lungs: An Anthology of Wildfire” (please note, if before April 30, 2024, it’s still on pre-order!)

What I am NOT looking for:

Works written by AI.
- There is always some pushback on this as many people ask “where is the line?” and the line is that has to be written by a human. What does that mean? If you, a human, write the words and then as you edit your work use something like Grammarly or ProWritingAid to help clean up your writing similar to line edits/grammar edits, that is okay. If you type into an AI like ChatGPT and say, “Write me a story about X”, that is not what we are looking for and will be rejected.
Unpolished works
Anything consisting of hate speech, bigotry, or otherwise similar offensive content.

Other notes:

Multiple submissions are allowed, but will be limited to only two per category. EX if you have submitted two short stories, you can also submit poetry, but not another short story.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed (as in you can submit to other publications at the same time) but if you are accepted elsewhere, please notify us immediately.
Please no reprints.

Deadline:

The deadline has been extended! Please read update at the top. Call will officially close once last submissions spots have been filled.

Pay:

As this is a passion project and I do not have the funds to pay standard rates for writing, I am currently offering the following payment option:

Receive a flat rate fee:

$5 for poetry sets (up to 5 pages)
$10 for flash fiction (up to 1000 words)
$25 for fiction stories up to 5000 words
+$2/1000 words for over 5000 for fictions stories up to 10,000 words
– Very limited spots available for this tier
– For example, a 10,000 word story would receive $35

The flat rate may increase if additional funding is acquired prior to payout dates.

How to submit:

Please email your submission to winterjewelpublishing@gmail.com
Send your story in the standard manuscript format. If you don’t know what that is, click here: https://www.shunn.net/format/story/
Your email should be titled as follows: “ITAV 2024: STORY NAME : AUTHOR NAME”. If you include multiple submissions, please pick one as the main name for the email.
Your email should include:
- What type of work(s) you are submitting
- Word count(s)
- Inspiration/information you would like to provide about your story
- A short (~50 words) Author Bio
- The submission document(s) attached as a Word file.
- Pen name/Legal name information if different

Please allow two months for a response, or up to four weeks after the final deadline. If you have not received a response by that time, feel free to send a follow up email from your original email chain.

Hello Everybody!

As a thank you to everyone who has so far backed our campaign and to help give something back, I’m releasing this free bonus word search! It contains themes and topics from the anthology.

Don’t worry, if you have backed our anthology already, there are more of these waiting for you once we fund!

If you don’t know what our Kickstarter is or haven’t backed it yet, Click here!

Otherwise, here is the word search! Save it and see if you can find all the words. If you want to share it with others, please share this post or a link to the Kickstarter as well.

Thank you again to all the supporters! With your help, we will be able to get this Kickstarter funded!

(Yes, I added five extra Fire’s to search for. Actually, there may be even more than five. I wanted to have fun and see how many of those I could put in. Did you find more?)

Tag: short-story

Our Kickstarter is currently in Pre-launch!

Upcoming Reading Period

Red Eyes and Tired Lungs Audiobook Sample

Call for Submissions: It Takes a Village

Kickstarter Freebie