At this time, we are closed to submissions for Otherworlds, our speculative fiction imprint. We are actively seeking quality YA and middle grade chapter books and GLBT works with broad appeal.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Zumaya Publications is currently seeking manuscripts for publication in 2010. We publish approximately 30 titles each year, two-thirds and more of which are written by authors already under contract. To place that in context, we contract for only five or six new titles in a given year--maximum.
Before you send your manuscript, read this page carefully. Then read this. If you're appalled by any part of the latter piece, don't waste your time and mine. I've heard from some people that they find these guidelines offensive and condescending. I tried polite and diplomatic and nobody listened.
We aren't Authorhouse. We aren't PublishAmerica. We don't make our money selling books to authors or taking fees from authors to publish their books. Our staff, with the exception of the art department, consists of me. If my setting rules to make my life easier--and ensure your work gets the appropriate attention--offends, then we likely wouldn't enjoy each other's company anyway.
If you're done reading the article:
1. Have you visited the rest of our website, looked over the books we've already published? If not, please do so now--I'll wait...
2. Like all small and mid-sized publishers, Zumaya maximizes marketing by focusing on developing what are known in the publishing industry as "niches." The best way to get a hint whether your book will appeal to me is to read one or more of the books I've already published that are somewhat like yours. However, unlike the majors, we aren't looking for clones.
3. We do not accept hard copy submissions. All queries and submissions should be sent as an email attachment in either Word or RTF. I can also accept WordPerfect documents if they were written in a recent version. However, I can't return them as WordPerfect documents, which means if I like your book enough to want to publish it, you'll need to know how to save in some other format. If you don't know how to save in Rich Text Format (RTF), now's the time to learn. Your word processing program is your main writing tool, and if you can't use it for anything more than a glorified typewriter, it's not likely you'll be able to handle our editing process, which is done solely by electronic means. More on that later, too.
We do not now and do not intend to ever publish poetry, erotica, children's picture books, single novellas, collections of columns that ran in a local newspaper or daily inspirationals. We also don't publish overtly religious books. That's not because of prejudice. Religious works, especially Christian religious works, need the extra cachet they get from being published by a publishing house known for producing that kind of book. Furthermore, those publishers have the distribution connections we don't that will get your book where it needs to be. As for Christian fiction of any genre, consider if being associated with a publisher with a GLBT line is going to influence your potential market.
5. We do publish memoirs, but of a very specific kind--those niches again. I want memoirs that give a personal view of some specific period in history, that bring that period to life. Vallie Fletcher Taylor's Eyes in the Alley, for example, describes her life as a child in Depression-era San Antonio, Texas.
6. We do publish single author literary short story collections, but the stories therein must be tied together by some sense of place, either geographical, emotional or psychological. Timothy Gager's Short Street has as its "place" the world of substance abusers. Jason Allan Cole's 50 Rooms revolves around an abandoned and derelict hotel and the mean streets of LA. We do only one or at most two collections a year, and have three in queue. So, we won't be looking to do a new one till 2011.
7. Do not send me your first draft. Ever. I won't read it--and I likely won't read anything else you send me in future. Again, I prefer to be honest rather than waste your time and mine. A first draft won't make it past my first readers, and sending one is the indelible mark of an amateur.
As an adjunct, don't send me a manuscript where you've polished the first three chapters or so to perfection and the rest reads like the proverbial forty miles of bad road. Grammar, spelling and punctuation, not to mention vocabulary, are also important tools in your toolbox. You wouldn't hire a plumber who didn't know a pipe wrench from a screwdriver.
And, no, it's not the editor's job to clean up your work. The editor has way too much to do as it is. The less work the editor has to do on your manuscript to make it suitable for publication--and we have very high standards about that--the better your chances. That doesn't mean we won't look at a superbly written novel by a writer who's just learning the trade, but even that has limits.
8. Our preferred minimum word count is 55,000 words for adult fiction, 45,000 for YA/middle reader chapter books. We have a loose maximum of 150,000 words. However, a particularly long work won't be rejected solely on that basis if it can be divided into two or more individual books..
Submission Instructions
Warning: failure to observe these instructions will result in your submission being dropped to the bottom of the queue if not rejected outright. If that seems harsh or, as has sometimes been said, controlling, bear in mind that while you have your one manuscript I have 100 a month. At least. I read submissions on a handheld device. Samples sent according to directions can be loaded on it with a minimum of time consumed. I won't spend half an hour reformatting 50 pages just so I can read them.
Query first with a short synopsis. This should be a professional query letter--and spelling, grammar and punctuation count. Contrary to popular opinion, small publishers like Zumaya are not desperate for submissions, so anything you can do to earn my respect for you not just as a writer but as a professional is a plus. The synopsis may be in the body of the letter or sent as a separate document but, please, no more than two pages.
Send it to this address. The underlined text is an email link. It is the only acceptable link to which queries may be sent without an invitation. Queries sent to our customer service email address, my personal email address or the editorial department address will not be read. ItŐs a matter of efficiency.
Once I receive your query and synopsis, I will review them and decide whether it sounds like it fits our needs. If it doesn't, I'll say so. If it does, I'll ask for a sample. Please don't send me the sample until I ask for it. Definitely don't send me the full manuscript.
A sample is the first 5 consecutive chapters or 50 pages of the manuscript, whichever is longer. The 50-page limit is flexible only insofar as to allow you to include the complete chapter in which it falls. If you insist on sending me the entire manuscript when I ask for the sample, on the grounds I really need to see how it all fits together, you've already lost. I should be able to see how it all fits together--and find the plot--from the sample; the rest just tells me how it all turns out. On the first line of the sample, put the following: TITLE IN CAPS/Your Real Name.
Send me the title page as a separate file. It should include the following information: name, mailing address, phone number, email address and word count.
Now we come to the important part. The following formatting instructions apply to both the sample and the complete manuscript, should I request it. Again, those who follow directions are going to be read first.
Do not use page numbers or headers and footers.
Do not use drop caps.
All chapter headings should be at the top of the page in 12-point type--all caps are fine but not necessary. If you've used a number of hard returns (and if you don't know what that is you're already in trouble) to drop the chapter heading on the page or to go from the end of a chapter to a new page, remove them. (Helpful hint: To make a hard page break, i.e., move to the beginning of a new page, use Control + Return in Windows and Command + Return on a Mac). OR select Page Break from the Insert menu on your tool bar. However, for my purposes they arenŐt necessary.
Do not place an extra line between
paragraphs. (To remove: Open Find/Replace. In Find window place ^p^p.
In Replace window place ^p. Replace All.)
Use a standard computer font: Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica. Although some publishers still insist you use Courier, I'd rather you didn't--it is extremely difficult to read on-screen. If you've done yours in Courier, just Select All, Format Font and use one of the above.
Those are the submission sample specs. If I request your full manuscript, the same rules apply.
Now, we'll address the question of what I'm looking for.
Men's and Women's Fiction By this I don't mean what's referred to as "chick-lit" and now "guy-lit." I want solid stories of what it means to be a man or a woman that provide insight into why we do what we do. These may be set in contemporary or semi-historical settings (the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc.).
Historical Fiction I'm particularly fond of historical novels that focus on the lives of common people and how the great events of history affected them.
Mystery Although our current catalog at Enigma is mainly series books, stand-alones are welcome as long as you're prepared to send more if the first one sells well. Cozies are fine unless they involve incredibly smart animals. I'm definitely in the market for police procedurals, noir and mysteries with historical settings, but the history and the settings have to be very well done. This is one area I'm particularly looking for books suitable for YA and younger readers.
Science Fiction Like everyone else, I'm happy to have hard SF, but I don't enjoy being buried by technology. I look for SF with strong female characters, for books that address the impact of technology on society and for action tales, which nobody else seems to want except the readers. Space opera is always welcome. Need YA/middle reader here, too. And there's our growing catalog of SF noir and mysteries. Note again we are closed to adult submissions in this genre until further notice.
Fantasy I prefer not to receive Lord of the Rings clones. Noir and mystery, true sword-and-sorcery in the Robert E. Howard vein but updated for modern readers, unique themes--all in both adult and YA/middle reader. In the latter case, if you have yet another "unknown prince/princess saves the world" tale, don't bother unless it has a really, really, really unique twist. Humor in both SF and fantasy is good, but not if it falls into farce. Satire, yes; slapstick, probably not. Note again we are closed to adult submissions in this genre until further notice.
Paranormal Suspense Which other people call horror. The fact we choose to call it "paranormal suspense" should tell you what I look for. Slice 'n' dice isn't for us, so books with heavy body counts and lengthy lists of disconnected body parts won't make the cut. Paranormal mysteries, to no surprise, are included, but will be published as mysteries.
Romance With the introduction last year of our Embraces romance line we're particularly interested in this genre. Strong heroines and all-too-human heroes are a must; I want real people doing real things and having real problems. I don't want follow-the-rules material a la Harlequin. Just about any subcategory will do, including inspirational.
Suspense/thriller/action We do them all, but we want them to appeal to both men and women. The more original they are, the better. Of course, that goes for all of the other categories as well.
Literary/Mainstream We do a limited number. If it's really good, I might.
Westerns I would love to have these, but they need to be more than just cookie-cutter remakes of pulp fiction. Not that I have anything against pulp fiction. Think anything by Larry McMurtry.
GLBT We don't do erotica at Boundless--those you can take to http://www.extasybooks.com. Mystery, suspense, SF, fantasy, Westerns, romance--just about any of the previous categories with an appropriate focus. That doesn't mean they can't be sexy, just that the sex has to be an integral part of the plot, and the plot and characters have to be the most important elements.
So, after all that, and if the knowledge your book might not see publication until 2010 or later doesn't discourage, I look forward to hearing from you.
Liz
Elizabeth K. Burton, Executive Editor
