Guidelines
Query first before sending a manuscript. Before you send a query, please read WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR below. We get a lot of queries for works that are outside of what we publish, and we can’t consider those (no matter how good they are).
Contact us for queries.
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What We’re Looking For:
We inhabit several niches we’ve carved out for ourselves in the publishing universe. We don’t try to compete with other publishing houses to produce the same kinds of books they do–there wouldn’t be a reason to do that. So we’ve developed our own kinds of books, and they’re starting to catch on. Our novels and anthologies consistently earn high praise from prominent magazines and other reviewers. Here’s what we like to work with: We prefer standalone books, not those that are part of a series: Although we like reading books that are part of a series, we MUCH prefer to work with standalone books. If you’re querying about your novel and it’s part of a series, then it’s less likely we will want to publish it (unless we’ve published you before), even if we like the story. Here’s why: If a book is part of a trilogy, then we would be committing to three books rather than one, and we won’t have the benefit of seeing how the first book does before already being expected to publish books two and three. Mainly, we want the book to stand by itself, have all the loose ends tied up and be a complete story without the requirement of another book to satisfy a cliff hanger, etc. This doesn’t mean your book couldn’t be a set up for a sequel or a trilogy, but it just means that your book, Book One, must work regardless of whether it has a sequel planned or already written.
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Fantasy:
We like epic and high fantasy. We like fantasies with strong female protagonists and characters (males are fine, too, but we like females figuring prominently). We’re not talking about kick-ass heroines who don’t wear much and yet can still wield a sword. We like common people who grow into different roles required by their circumstances, the way any human would. These characters can be commoners, but some royalty is fine in some situations, too. Saying all that, we do still publish fantasies with male protagonists, but as said above, we want prominent female roles. Protagonists and characters who are people of color are encouraged. We don’t want gratuitous sex and violence, only those scenes that are important to the story.
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Archaeological/Historical: Query first.
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Science Fiction:
We prefer an archaeology theme. For example, an archaeologist as protagonist, the discovery of ruins (on Earth or elsewhere), a story about real life places where a vanished civilization has been discovered or a story about a made-up place on another planet where alien artifacts are discovered…these can include time travel, space travel, or other science fiction elements, they can be set in the past, present, or future. (Note: these stories are a separate line for us from our Archaeology Series, which is more non-genre or historical. See above.)Always query first during designated months when we’re accepting queries.
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What We’re Not Looking For:
Anything that we haven’t discussed above. Well, there are exceptions once in a while, but best to stick with what we’ve described above. Some examples of what we’re not looking for include: dark fantasy, horror, military fiction, cyberpunk, urban fantasy, romance, thrillers, mystery. There are many great publishers already covering these genres.