Submission Guidelines
SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Please be respectful of our time and do not submit to us unless you are sure we are the publisher you want for your book. We respond quickly, and we respond to every submission. Feel free to contact us if you would like to get to know us before submitting your work.
- Use the CONTACT FORM to query us with your submission proposal. In your proposal please tell us the following information: WORD COUNT, GENRE, TARGETED AUDIENCE, YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS, and SYNOPSIS. Include your author bio and any pertinent information you think we might need to know. If you are submitting specifically for a collection we have a Call out for, tell us that. If your book is NONFICTION then include the Table of Contents.
PLEASE NOTE: We are not interested in hearing proposals for manuscripts that are not yet written, especially if it is fiction. The time to seek a publisher is after you have finished and polished your manuscript - not when it is still only an idea.
- If we like what we see in your proposal, we may ask to see the manuscript. If we ask to see it, please follow these instructions:
1. Send it as a Word document. No PDFs, no ZIP files. Don't send a link to a Google Doc or a Dropbox folder. We only work with Word docs. Attach it to an email.
2. Include INSIDE THE WORD DOCUMENT at the top of your manuscript the word count, genre, targeted audience, your name and email address, and author bio. Not including this info is the biggest reason we might reject your manuscript. This info must be included. Please don't let your manuscript make it into the rejection pile simply because you forgot to put your name and email at the top of it! Remember turning in your homework or test paper and not putting your name on it, so it results in a grade of 0 because the teacher didn't know who it belonged to?
Yes, I realize this stuff was already in your proposal (if you followed the guidelines) but we need you to put it at the top of the manuscript as well.
3. Send the whole thing, not just a chapter or two.
PLEASE NOTE: We need to know up front if you reside outside of the US. This will weigh into our decision of whether to accept your work or not. Working with a non-US author poses certain challenges we don't have to face when working with a local author. This isn't to say that we won't accept your work, but is definitely something we need to know from the beginning of the proposal process.
- Use the CONTACT FORM to query us with your submission proposal. In your proposal please tell us the following information: WORD COUNT, GENRE, TARGETED AUDIENCE, YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS, and SYNOPSIS. Include your author bio and any pertinent information you think we might need to know. If you are submitting specifically for a collection we have a Call out for, tell us that. If your book is NONFICTION then include the Table of Contents.
PLEASE NOTE: We are not interested in hearing proposals for manuscripts that are not yet written, especially if it is fiction. The time to seek a publisher is after you have finished and polished your manuscript - not when it is still only an idea.
- If we like what we see in your proposal, we may ask to see the manuscript. If we ask to see it, please follow these instructions:
1. Send it as a Word document. No PDFs, no ZIP files. Don't send a link to a Google Doc or a Dropbox folder. We only work with Word docs. Attach it to an email.
2. Include INSIDE THE WORD DOCUMENT at the top of your manuscript the word count, genre, targeted audience, your name and email address, and author bio. Not including this info is the biggest reason we might reject your manuscript. This info must be included. Please don't let your manuscript make it into the rejection pile simply because you forgot to put your name and email at the top of it! Remember turning in your homework or test paper and not putting your name on it, so it results in a grade of 0 because the teacher didn't know who it belonged to?
Yes, I realize this stuff was already in your proposal (if you followed the guidelines) but we need you to put it at the top of the manuscript as well.
3. Send the whole thing, not just a chapter or two.
PLEASE NOTE: We need to know up front if you reside outside of the US. This will weigh into our decision of whether to accept your work or not. Working with a non-US author poses certain challenges we don't have to face when working with a local author. This isn't to say that we won't accept your work, but is definitely something we need to know from the beginning of the proposal process.
Helpful Hints
Please do not send rough drafts. Make sure your proposal is free of errors. If your inquiry or proposal has bad grammar, misspelled words, or punctuation errors, your manuscript is probably full of them too and we want only your best.
A synopsis is not the same as the back cover description. When sending a fiction inquiry or proposal, this is not the time to build suspense. A synopsis tells an overview of the whole story in just 2-3 paragraphs. Be sure to tell what your story is about, what the conflict is, any plot twists, and the resolution or ending of the story.
It really helps us know you're serious about working with us if you take the time to address us by name, follow our submission guidelines, and are familiar with other work we have published. We recognize a cut and paste mass submission when we see one. Think of it like this: Guys, if you're taking a girl out on a date and forget her name or call her by the wrong one, don't know anything about her and come across as not really caring to know anything about her but rather to be more interested in what she can do for you.... you get the picture, I hope. That's not the way to attempt to start or build a relationship. If you want us to commit to a long-term relationship with you (if we accept your manuscript, that's exactly what we're doing - committing to a long-term relationship) then take the time to get to know us, and for us to get to know you.
If you do not receive a response, please send us another message. We answer EVERYBODY, so if you do not hear from us, it was an oversight or your message got lost in the shuffle, so send it again! We love to hear from you!
We only use the mailing list to send out press releases when a new book is published. We urge you to sign up for it so you don't miss any important news, but for daily news and activities, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or sign up to the blog's RSS feed. In fact, this is highly encouraged. Interaction on social media is a great way to get to know each other. We now have Tumblr, LinkedIn, Pinterest, a YouTube channel, and more. We are still working on getting the links to all of these here on the website, but stay tuned! We're constantly updating and improving.
BLOG POSTS: Please note we do not confirm we received these, and we do not notify you when they are posted due to time constraints. See the OPPORTUNITIES page for details on how we handle blog post submissions. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. As things have been growing lately, we have had to implement this new policy if we are to keep up with the blog at all.
A synopsis is not the same as the back cover description. When sending a fiction inquiry or proposal, this is not the time to build suspense. A synopsis tells an overview of the whole story in just 2-3 paragraphs. Be sure to tell what your story is about, what the conflict is, any plot twists, and the resolution or ending of the story.
It really helps us know you're serious about working with us if you take the time to address us by name, follow our submission guidelines, and are familiar with other work we have published. We recognize a cut and paste mass submission when we see one. Think of it like this: Guys, if you're taking a girl out on a date and forget her name or call her by the wrong one, don't know anything about her and come across as not really caring to know anything about her but rather to be more interested in what she can do for you.... you get the picture, I hope. That's not the way to attempt to start or build a relationship. If you want us to commit to a long-term relationship with you (if we accept your manuscript, that's exactly what we're doing - committing to a long-term relationship) then take the time to get to know us, and for us to get to know you.
If you do not receive a response, please send us another message. We answer EVERYBODY, so if you do not hear from us, it was an oversight or your message got lost in the shuffle, so send it again! We love to hear from you!
We only use the mailing list to send out press releases when a new book is published. We urge you to sign up for it so you don't miss any important news, but for daily news and activities, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or sign up to the blog's RSS feed. In fact, this is highly encouraged. Interaction on social media is a great way to get to know each other. We now have Tumblr, LinkedIn, Pinterest, a YouTube channel, and more. We are still working on getting the links to all of these here on the website, but stay tuned! We're constantly updating and improving.
BLOG POSTS: Please note we do not confirm we received these, and we do not notify you when they are posted due to time constraints. See the OPPORTUNITIES page for details on how we handle blog post submissions. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. As things have been growing lately, we have had to implement this new policy if we are to keep up with the blog at all.
