Submission Guidelines

GuerrillaReads is looking for videos of writers reading their own work, in unexpected, real-world settings.

Guidelines:

1. The video must show the author reading his or her own fiction or poetry.

2. The reading should take place in a real-world setting and should not be formally staged.

3. Videos should be no more than eight minutes long.

4. The location of your guerrilla reading should have some connection to the content of your work, but how you make that link is up to you. You could be literal – a story about ducks, read beside a duck pond. Or you might be figurative – a story about a relationship gone sour, read beside a duck pond. Or you could be random – a story about aliens landing on earth, read beside a duck pond. Just be original, and be very public.

5. For now, all submissions must be in English. This is because our number one criteria is the writing. It may sound beautiful in Czech or Nahuatl, but if we can’t understand the language, we can’t judge the writing. That also means that if we can’t hear you reading, we can’t judge it either, so take care with sound quality.

6. Works being read may be previously published but aren’t required to be. The work can be a stand-alone story, or an excerpt of a longer work. It can be one poem or several. Ideally, the writing read in the video should function as a contained piece. What’s most important is that the author must have rights to the work he or she reads.

7. To get a better sense of what we’re looking for, watch previous videos on GuerrillaReads.

What we’re NOT looking for:

1. Non-fiction and memoir.

2. Video with an author voicing over his or her work.

3. Staged readings.

4. Professionally-produced video. If you happen to be a writer with good video skills, that’s fine. Just don’t hire a pro to film and edit your video.

We love readings at bookstores, libraries, bars or conference settings. We love well-made films. However, they don’t fit the definition of “guerrilla.”

How to submit:

1. Start with the writing. That’s the most important thing. Video quality is important, but that comes second. What’s more important is that the writing is good and we can hear you read. For video-making tips, click here.

2. Conduct a guerrilla reading of your own writing, out there in the real world, and have someone do a video recording of you doing the reading.

3. Edit and format your video, then upload it to a video filesharing service like YouTube, Google Video or Flickr.

4. GuerrillaReads is now using Submittable! Please submit links to up to two videos at https://guerrillareads.submittable.com/submit.

We’ll do everything we can to respond to you quickly. If you haven’t heard from us within three months, you may email us at the same address with the same subject line.