Now What?

You've just spent the last many months writing your heart out and now you have reached the point where you know your manuscript is ready to submit. This is the hard part. There are so many options out there and yet every publisher probably looks like a monolithic, faceless entity. We know how hard it is to submit your work and spend long periods of time waiting for a response. It simply shouldn't be this hard. We want to streamline this process for you. We feel you should receive a response in a timely way. That's why we only read full and partial manuscripts twice a year and if you receive an acceptance from us to send along a partial or full, you will KNOW when you will hear back from us, right from the day we repsond to your query. We want you to be able to put us in your submissions tracking system or write our response time on your calendar. However, before we get to talking about manuscripts lets take a good look at how our submission process works.

First, we accept queries and synopsis ALL year long. This means you can send us your query today and we will probably get right back with you. On the right side of this page you will find lots of detailed information about what we like and don't like. Please read all of it carefully. We don't want to have to reject your work because it doesn't fit our basic criteria. That would be just a waste of time for you and for us. We ask you to send us your query through our website form. This way we collect everything we need in one package making it easier for us to respond to you in a timely way.

What is a query?

A query is a single page letter. In this letter you tell us what you have written. Is it fiction? Is it about a vampire who falls in love with a human? Is it a polyamorous tale of one woman and the three men and one woman she is in relationship with? Keep it brief. Your first paragraph should give us the general idea of what 'type' of book you have written. Your second paragraph might tell us why your novel is so exciting and what similar works are out there on the shelves selling well right now. Yes, this is a marketing paragraph. We expect you to have some knowledge of the 'genre' or 'field' you have written in. How does your book fit into this field? Your last one or two paragraphs might tell us a bit about your education and publishing history. Do you have a degree in something? Have you sold any short stories or novels in the past? Don't worry too much if you haven't sold anything yet. This query letter is designed to give us a sample of your writing, your grasp of the market and your writing experience.

What is a synopsis?

This is often considered the hardest writing a writer ever does. Basically we are asking you to condense your 75,000 words down to 2, single spaced pages. In your synopsis we need to know everything important about your novel. We need to know the plot, the main characters and the plot climax and ending. This will tell us if the novel is a good fit for our company and again, it will give us some visibility of your writing ability. If you can generate a decent synopsis, you can probably do an even better job on your novel.

What not to do?

Don't send us a 10 page synopsis.
We want to be able to read your synopsis in a few minutes.
Don't rush through this - good grammar counts!
Fill out our simple form, cut and paste your letter and synopsis into the text areas and submit your work. Then take some time to do something fun and non-stressful, reward yourself for putting yourself and your work out there. Leave the rest up to us. We want you to succeed too and if we don't make a good fit, don't get discouraged because it is likely your work will be a good fit somewhere.

Ultimately, while you are waiting for us to respond to your query - put your cap back on and go write something new. We like writers. We want you to be the best you can be.

What about nonfiction books?

We knew you were going to have some questions for us too. Here is how it works:

We hope you have already written your book yet remain flexible and open to our imput.

Nonfiction books tend to sell better than fiction books - in a general way. What do we want from your nonfiction book?

We want to learn something new.

We want to say WOW when we read it.

We want to believe your book may make a difference in someones life.

If you only have a good idea, capture that in a book proposal. A book proposal is a specific type of query. We strongly recommend you purchase a book detailing what a book proposal is and how to write one. We expect to see a professionally composed proposal that addresses areas of market and positioning. If we want to see a sample of your writing you will need to write a sample chapter that aligns with your book idea. Remember, many nonfiction books profit from multiple imputs - this simply means that your idea may be tweaked by our staff in order to better address the marketplace. This may require you to be extra flexible and to approach your project with enthusiasm and an open mind. Writing a nonfiction book is not easy. We will expect you to do quality research, back up your claims and support your arguments. Your success is our success.

We do ask you to paste your proposal into the form in the area marked for synopsis.

Thank you for taking the time to read our tips.

Good luck with your submission process!

April 20, 2007

Submission Guidelines

[Special note to writers: We accept queries year-round through our submission form below. Our reading period for full manuscripts runs from mid-May through mid-August, mid-December through mid-January and is strictly limited to manuscripts we have requested. Any manuscripts sent to us without our pre-approval will be discarded unopened.]

Please read these guidelines thoroughly before you submit any work to Unbound Books.

Unbound Books is a non-subsidy publishing house. We are not a vanity press or self-publishing site. We pay royalties of 10% of the wholesale print price. There is no charge to authors.

We publish erotica, romantica and alternative lifestyle novels, novellas, and non-fiction. New writers as well as cross-genre experimental styles and short story collections are welcome.

What we want:

1. We are looking for well written, plot driven stories with happy, or at the very least hopeful and/or satisfying endings and varying degrees of sex.
2. Do include heroes and heroines we can relate to. Your characters should evolve and change over the course of the novel. Your characters should be well fleshed out, and have strong and consistent motivations.
3. Sex scenes must be relevant to the plot and organic to the story. We don't want to see gratuitous sex scenes. If a scene can work without sex, then the sex isn't necessary and is best left out. All depictions should be realistic and possible.
4. Any bondage scenes will be highly scrutinized and must be between consenting adults. We are not interested in rape scenes, violence, assault, and molestation of any kind. We are interested in characters who have relationships they care about.
5. We love titillating, passionate, well-written gay, lesbian and heterosexual and polyamorous stories.
6. We prefer third person stories unless you write exceptionally well.

We do not accept:

1. We do NOT accept pornography (We are interested in romance, relationships, intimacy, creativity between adults, true love stories, stories where the characters are NOT sexual objects or objectified.)
2. We do NOT accept works promoting hatred of any kind (racial, sexism, or homophobia included.)
3. We do NOT accept works featuring gratuitous violence not pertinent to the story line. We prefer low violence stories where the struggles are about the challenges involved in relationships, not deering-do adventures. However, we also like vampire-erotica, supernatural romance and romance with a strong fantasy element.
4. We prefer works with limited amounts of profanity.We understand that some types of erotica require a certain amount of profanity. If your story includes a lot of swearing then we are unlikely to consider it strongly. We are looking for classy stories.
5. We do NOT accept 'potty' stories.
6. We do NOT accept people having sex with animals. If you write supernatural romance with were-(wolves etc.) then it is okay to have interspecies romance when the supernatural being is in their human form.
7. We are NOT interested in rape stories, or child abuse stories or rape for shock value stories or non-consensual sex in almost all forms. We want stories about adults making reasonable choices with their sexuality. Adults! We are not interested in stories featuring people with serious mental health problems acting out.
8. No sex involving minors. None! Ever!
9. If your story includes sex with dead people then it better be a fabulous horror/supernatural tale that is very exciting to read and enjoy.
10. Do we need to say this? Your manuscript should not be a literary minefield of grammar mistakes, misspelled words, typos or have other basic errors. If you don't care enough about your writing to proofread, properly format, revise and edit your work then we don't want to see your work.
11. We like first person stories but they are quite difficult to write well and are almost always rejected. Because of the lower quality we receive in first person stories we encourage you to write in third person.
12. If you use derogatory words in your work they need to pay off for the reader. In general, if you are using dismissive terms or judgmental language we will scrutinize your work even more since this is often a way that subtle forms of violence enter literary works.

How to submit:

1. The first step is to send a query letter with a 1-2 page synopsis of your novel and the first chapter of the manuscript. [We ONLY accept queries and synopsis through our online form (below)] If we like the synopsis and first chapter, we will request a 'partial or full manuscript'. A partial is the first three chapters, or approximately 50 pages, of your book. If you send us a partial before we request it, it will be rejected and disposed of. This will indicate you obviously haven't read our submission guidelines and/or cannot follow directions. A full is the entire manuscript.
2. Your novel must be complete in its entirety. We DO accept nonfiction book proposals for books that have yet to be written. But we do NOT accept FICTION proposals for unwritten books.
3. We do NOT accept simultaneous submissions. We will do our best to respond to your query within 8-12 weeks. If we are reading work submitted elsewhere that another publisher has already accepted, you have just wasted our time.
4. Our standards are high. We expect submissions to be of a professional quality. Anything you submit must be edited and polished.
5. All works must be in English at this time.
6. All accepted works are subject to the editing and revision process.

Formatting:

1. We accept STANDARD manuscript formatting. This means: Double-space your manuscript. Include a header with the title of the book, your name and numbered pages. Indent each new paragraph .5 inches. Start each chapter on a new page. If there is a scene break within a chapter, indicate it with a centered ***.

2. If we request a partial or full manuscript we will ask you to mail your manuscript to us first. If your manuscript is accepted you will then work with one of our editors via email and you must have your manuscript available as a Word .doc or .rtf file. We do not accept Word Perfect or other processor extensions at this time.

Novels should be:

Novels: 45,001-70,000
Plus Novels: 70,001-100,000 words
Humongous Novels: 100,000 or more words (rarely accepted)

Nonfiction Books should be:

Minimum of 75,000 words
Works with extensive photographs/drawings are seldom accepted

All works submitted must be your original creation, free of all legal constraints. In other words, you must own all copyright and publishing rights to your book. You cannot have a contract with another publisher on submitted work. If the work has been previously published, we will only accept it if the rights have reverted to you. Unless otherwise agreed upon, Unbound Books retains the rights to publish print copies for sale.

All books accepted for publishing by Unbound Books will be subject to editing. If you are not open to suggestions and/or recommendations, do not submit. However, we will keep British quotes and spelling provided it is consistent throughout the work.

Submit Your Query or Synopsis Here:

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