Copyright
We retain the copyright [First North American and International Electronic
Serial Rights (FNASR)] for the month in which it is published and then
the copyright goes back to you. You may publish it again elsewhere as
you see fit—mention of Lit Chaos is much appreciated.
In addition, we reserve the right to publish it again or include it
in later anthologies.
For your peace of mind, cynics, we suggest you use the "poor writer's
copyright" at the very least. That is, send your work to yourself
on a clear day when there won't be any smudging of the postmark, and
then don't open the envelope. This will protect you from any theft by
a person with significantly less financial recourse than you. If a multinational
company wants the idea in that envelope, well, that's that.
Publicity
The website generates it's own readership (kind of), but you should
tell your friends and family as much as you can. You are your own best
advertiser. Persistence works. To see Lit Chaos's readership click on
the map on the home page or the site meter.
Style
Short is best. Most work that is not accepted here is because it's too
complicated. The editors here have generally small brains that are inundated
with allergy drugs, alcohol, severe lack of sleep and other substances
such as yogurt—did I mention drugs?—peanuts, being oversexed,
malaise, depravity, whatever.... Hence, please keep the work accessible
for even the feeble minded. We want experimental yet understandable.
Italo Calvino may be the greatest example of this kind of style. But,
please no imitations. This critique is at the level of sentence construction.
Rejection
Please don't take it personally and get voodoo dolls out on us if we
don't take your work. Perhaps, your work is not right for us, or we
don't get it the way it's intended. Somebody else may love it. Perhaps
our brains are too small to comprehend your genius. Don't be at all
discouraged. Tenacity is part of this game.