Click here to learn about our Developmental Editing Service.
Stories with sex, profanity, excessive violence, or that belittle traditional family values or religion will not be considered. To get a feel for what we will and will not accept, please purchase a sample copy. You can find single issue sales and subscription information on our website.
Simultaneous submissions or manuscripts submitted electronically will not be considered. All simultaneous submissions will be recycled without reply. Because of our current backlog, expect processing time to be around four to six months. Any questions or comments can be e-mailed to the fiction director at fiction@leadingedgemagazine.com.
All submissions should be sent to the following address with the appropriate genre in the attention line (fiction director or poetry director):
Leading Edge Magazine
Attn: [Genre] Director
4087 JKB
Provo, UT 84602
Fiction
Stories under 10,000 words are preferred, though we will consider stories up to 15,000 words. Because Leading Edge is interested in helping new authors improve, each story is critiqued by at least two members of our staff; these comment sheets are returned to the author with our response. If you do not want your story critiqued, please let us know. Fiction payment is 1 (one) cent per word, $10.00 minimum, $50.00 maximum. The contributor receieves a free electronic copy.
Poetry
Poetry should reflect both literary value and popular appeal and should deal with science fiction- or fantasy-related themes. Payment is $10.00. The contributor receieves a free electronic copy.
Rights
For both fiction and poetry, we purchase First North American serial rights.
Manuscript Preparation
Your manuscript should be printed on white paper. Make sure to double-space and use an easy-to-read font. Each page should be numbered and have 1-inch margins. The first page of your manuscript should include your name, street address, and e-mail address (if you have one). Include a cover letter with any publishing credits and any other relevant information. Always keep a copy of your manuscript for yourself. The postal system is not perfect, and Leading Edge is not responsible for lost or misdirected manuscripts.
Please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your manuscript; if you don't, we have no way of responding to you. If your manuscript is disposable, include a regular envelope with one first-class stamp for submissions within the US, more for international submissions. If you would like your manuscript returned, include a manila envelope with sufficient postage. International submissions must be disposable due to difficulties presented by international postage. Please remember that we return 2-3 comment sheets per submission, so prepare adequately.
Thank you for considering the Leading Edge staff for a developmental edit on your story or novel. Please read through these terms and conditions before purchasing this service. By paying for the service, you indicate that you have read and agree to the terms of conditions.
General Guidelines
Because Leading Edge is a publication run from Brigham Young University campus, our staff members will not work on any story or novel that violates our content standards. We will not edit works that include sex, homosexual content, graphic violence, heavy drug use, excessive profanity, or anything that belittles traditional family values or religion. Leading Edge reserves the right to determine whether any content is offensive. Please refer to the Leading Edge Writer Guidelines on leadingedgemagazine.com for more information.
Leading Edge will edit only works of science fiction, fantasy, or speculative fiction.
We will NOT refund the money of any author who does not follow these guidelines.
Description of Service
By purchasing the developmental editing service from Leading Edge, you receive the right to submit your story to us electronically via the development@leadingedgemagazine.com e-mail account. Your story or novel will be read as a priority by experienced staff members and will receive a developmental edit according to the time range delineated in the section below. Please note that a developmental edit will focus on story elements such as plot, character development, dialogue mechanics, and overall style. This service does NOT include copyediting or line editing. Leading Edge developmental editors will not provide specific feedback on grammar, spelling, fact checking, or other similar issues unless they significantly and negatively affect the overall story or style.
After performing the developmental edit for the author, Leading Edge staff members will e-mail the author the resulting feedback. This feedback will include broad suggestions for the story with specific examples if necessary to illustrate our suggestions. Please see the samples posted on leadingedgemagazine.com. We will NOT be able to provide sample edits for individual stories. Suggestions for the developmental edit will cover the story in its entirety and will not be focused on particular passages unless they significantly and negatively affect the overall story or style.
Feedback
Summer Hanford has kindly allowed us to share her story Wolf's Paw and the developmental edit that we did. About our developmental editing service, she wrote:
Thank you so much for your edit. It's exceptional. It's exactly the type of input I need to take my stories to the next level. I will certainly be recommending it to other people and using your services again myself.
Read the story and the feedback it received, here:
Wolf's Paw
Developmental Edit for Wolf's Paw
Allison Hymas writes of our developmental editing:
The dev edits were both positive and critical. In a creative writing class I learned the best kind of criticism is where the person commenting on your work tells you where you did things well and then asks questions. I feel that the editors did that well with me. They also pointed out the places where the story wasn't as smooth as it could be, places I might not have seen otherwise. A writer can be too close to her work to notice a place that isn't easy for the reader to understand, and the dev edits pointed those places out for me with suggestions on how to fix the problem. Basically, I felt less like the editors were beating up on me and more like they were beside me, helping me perfect my story.
Pricing and Time Frames
- 60 days:
- <7,500 words: $20
- 7,500-15,000: $25
- 90 days:
- 15,000-25,000: $35
- 25,000-50,000: $45
- 50,000-75,000: $60
- 120 days:
- 75,000-100,000: $75
- 100,000-125,000: $100
- 125,000-150,000: $125
For more information, please e-mail us at development@leadingedgemagazine.com
