The Dread Machine publishes futuristic dark fiction, speculative fiction, cyberpunk, slipstream, and science fiction. We love art and have decided to start accepting cover submissions. Here are the rules:
No generated art. Robots won’t be taking artist jobs at The Dread Machine. We love Midjourney and use it to create the feature images on this site, but we prefer not to use generated images on our covers. (You are welcome to join our Discord and generate some feature image art with us there, though!)
All submitted art must be entirely unpublished. Please don’t post your submission online until after it has gone through our blind review process.
We accept simultaneous submissions. If someone else snatches your submission up before we do, we’d appreciate it if you’d immediately remove it from our queue by withdrawing via Moksha.
We accept multiple submissions. You may send us up to three art submissions simultaneously. Please do not combine your submissions. Each must be rated and reviewed independently.
We use an entirely blind submission review process. Remove all personal identifying information from your file before uploading. Put identifying information in your cover letter, not in the filename or on the art piece. Our team should not know your name, address, phone number, or email address, nor should they have a long list of your professional accomplishments or links to your social media profiles. Please remove this information entirely, or your submission will be rejected for not following the guidelines. This is a firm policy. In addition to valuing your privacy, we believe all artists deserve a fair shot. Submissions must stand on their own, apart from the artist’s notoriety and achievements.
Our print issues measure 6 x 9 inches, but spine thickness varies, depending on the issue’s length. During the layout phase, artists may need to make slight adjustments to keep elements of the artwork from being obscured by the cover text, so we recommend placing focal elements in their own layers. Download a recent version of our template here.
You may submit files in .pdf, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, or .svg.
The Dread Machine requires a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive license to reproduce, display, distribute, and publish your artwork in our materials (promotional ads, mostly). You retain ownership and all rights to your artwork not specified here. If you have any questions, you’re welcome to email us or join our Discord server.
Our budget is $300 per cover.
$150 paid upon approval of a sketch, the remainder paid upon delivery of the mutually approved final artwork. Invoice us, or we can send payment via Paypal.
Artists are credited on the cover, title page, copyright page, and all sales pages. Your biography would also appear on our About page, both on our website and on the last page of the issue. We include the art in the form of desktop and mobile wallpapers with each issue purchase, watermarked on the lower left hand corner with our logo and artist credit.
Here are some examples of the styles, colors, moods, and themes that are resonating with us right now. We love images that tell a whole ass story. Show us bizarre and beautiful places, unsettling scenarios, and nightmare-inducing creatures. Bring us to neon-drenched cities and our post-human future. Get weird with it. Make us feel something.
(Oh, and don’t follow Alin on Tumblr unless you’re really into Disco Elysium, synthwave, and retro post-futuristic liminal spaces.)