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SUBMITTING YOUR WORK TO US

CURRENTLY NOT ACCEPTING MORE  SUBMISSIONS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

PLEASE READ ALL OUR GUIDELINES BEFORE SUBMITTING PLEASE! (Notice how often I have to say this?)

We know that there is a lot of information on our pages, but we have good reasons for asking you to take the time to read it all. BEFORE YOU MAKE A SUBMISSION, PLEASE READ: "About Us", "How It Works" and "Professional Presentation"

No, really. We mean it. For your sake and ours. We really get narked by submissions from writers who clearly haven't bothered to target correctly - and if you catch us at a bad moment, we may even be abrupt in response. Be kind to both of us; make sure we are the right publisher for your book before you send a query, and nobody gets hurt. ;-)

The links below are simply to help you jump quickly between topics to be sure your book falls within our requirements. To read in order, simply scroll down below the links.

What are we looking for?

What we do NOT want

Inspirational Romance

Sailing and Boating

Children's books

Poetry

Short stories

Articles

Science Fiction

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Our Reading Policy

Multiple Submissions

Rejections

What we'll tell you

MAKING YOUR SUBMISSION

QUERY EMAILS
 

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

We are interested in book-length manuscript submissions. We accept fiction and non-fiction in most genres, and Christian inspirational works. Although we produce secular books as well as Christian, our standards for the secular will still be guided by our Christian leanings. DO NOT send us magic, demons, witches, aliens, and the like. See below for more information on this.

What we particularly like: We have a soft spot for travel, sailing and boating books, adventure, historical novels, inspirational romance, women's fiction, mainstream and literary fiction, courage and overcoming, gift books and coffee-table books. We enjoy wit and humour, entertainment, upliftment. Sunpenny promotes beauty and excellence in publishing. Books do not have to be Christian in either topic or nature, but they do have to keep to acceptable value standards.

What we won't even consider:

We do not accept "misery" books (about abusive/ abused childhoods, alcoholics, drug addicts, gang warfare etc), depressive/dark or self-contemplative styles, black comedy, racism, gratuitous sex or violence or foul language, bad attitudes, anything inciting anger/ hatred against any other group or individual, or anything else that does not conform to good mainstream family values (and we get to be the judge!). Our taste does not run to the gothic or paranormal - vampires, werewolves, ghosts, supernatural spirits, and the like, or horror generally; nor do we enjoy gross, crass or crude, no matter how witty. If it's seedy or seamy, don't even try. And if you have a book that expounds theories/ religions such as The Big Bang, Evolution and suchlike - please don't waste your time sending it to a Christian-based publisher like ourselves.  :-)  IMPORTANT: We reserve the right to decide for ourselves what we find offensive. If you submit material that is other than we have stated as acceptable, we will not read it and will not respond to it (or, if you catch us on a bad day, we may respond acidly!). You are entitled to your beliefs; we are entitled to ours. :-)

Children's & Teenage: We are not yet ready to take on children's books. We hope to start a children's imprint in late 2010 but are not looking at more manuscripts until at earliest mid-2010. We are definitely not looking at picturebooks for small children, or stories for children under about 12 at least. We will look at mid-teen and young adult book-length manuscripts that are strongly and well written (e.g. we love Mary Finn's Anila's Journey, or C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, or the strong writing style (though not the supernatural side) of Philip Pullman's Dark Materials). We don't like books that gross us out (we don't agree that just because a child likes something, it's necessarily good for the child to have it!). We don't accept Harry Potter style magic - magicians, witches, children joining covens and casting spells and the like. Fantasy that's wholly on the side of the Good, yes. Blurred lines, no. Witchcraft, definitely no!

Poetry: Not generally. We love poetry, but have no idea about the poetry markets so we would not undertake this genre at this time.

Short stories and articles: We do not do anthologies, except for those containing the best of our writing competitions. We also do not produce magazines, so please don't send articles and short stories as normal submissions.

Science Fiction: Not generally. We may look at "intelligent" plausible human stories about real life situations set in the future, here on earth. Please, no weird adventure fantasies - triffids and the like, general silliness, aliens, outer space, or games-type wild fantasy "I have the power!" stuff.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Submissions should be made to Jo Holloway. She is female. She is married. Pet hates (and any budding writer who has studied the industry at all knows these basics): Queries that arrive without either an email address or stamped self-addressed envelope included, or require a signature, or don't have enough postage on them. She reeeallllly hates those little things. If you don't hear back from Jo, you probably made one of those mistakes. :-)

We require that you please POST your manuscripts! Hard copy submissions, by post, unless you email us a special request because you cannot send by post. Why? Because [a] paper copies are less strain on our eyes, so we read them for longer periods at a time, and [b] we can go through them anywhere any time (in car on way to meetings, morning coffee in bed, etc) and therefore they get seen to faster than files on our computer. However, we understand that it's not always possible or sensible for people in the far corners of the world to post heavy parcels - please talk to us if you feel you cannot post your manuscript.

Please do read the guidelines below for layout of manuscripts; there are good reasons for the wide margins and double spacing, etc!

• DON'T query us for books which we clearly state below that we do NOT want.

• DO read and take note of ALL our publishing policies and requirements and guidelines. All the information you need is on our web site. I beg you, READ IT! Show us you have bothered to find out about us; check to see we're a fit. Otherwise you are wasting both your time and ours with a query that will go nowhere.

• DO send queries by email, and when asked to, send manuscripts by post unless this is impossible for you; hard copy manuscripts get read a LOT faster than computer files. Believe me.

• DO do your research - find out about the JOB of your craft. Know what is expected of authors by publishers. Know what publishing contracts look like, so you'll understand ours if we offer one. If you are serious about being a writer, you must be serious about understanding all that goes with that status. The internet is full of information, and so is our own web site.

• DON'T query us if you are looking for high-powered, stress-driven publishers. We are too busy enjoying our work to be willing to become wage slaves. Please read about us and find out why good publisher-author relationships are more important to us than spreadsheets, in the long run. We are not a "quick fix" to make you rich and famous; we are realistic about our abilities and desires, relaxed about deadlines, and we don't push either our authors or ourselves into stress mode.

• DON'T query us if you are expecting a "quick 3-month turnaround" of your manuscript into a book. We work like most mainline publishers: First, it takes time to settle things like contracts. The next time-line depends entirely on the work still needed on your manuscript (for both yourself and us). And the final stretch after that is usually about 3 months to release - depending how far down the list your book is. As with most publishers, from time of contract to time of release you can expect roughly 12-24 months. We are not a "quick fix". Good wine takes time to bring to perfection, especially with new writers!

• Please send a QUERY first - either via the email as below, or in a normal letter by mail. If you do not know how to create a professional-looking query, please find out - this is the most elementary of lessons a writer should learn before submitting to a publisher. Your query is your first contact and the first impression you make on the publisher; it will demonstrate immediately how seriously you take your own work. A proper query is important! - In brief, your query information MUST INCLUDE: (1) Your Full Names and address, (2) a short description of your project (usually one paragraph) - a roundup of the story and indication of genre and target audience, (3) short bio about yourself, (4) anything else you may consider relevant, and (5) the synopsis - usually about a page in length, sometimes two, single-spaced.
• Please do NOT send your manuscript (or sample chapters) until we ask for it! We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. In other words, please contact us first and then wait for us to request your manuscript before sending (this is as much to save you time and money, as to save us time). When you do send, please give a clear reminder that we requested it.
• Send manuscripts by post only please! We far prefer hard copy submissions, by post (snail mail), but we will occasionally take submissions by email because we understand that it's not always possible or sensible for people in the far corners of the world to post heavy parcels.
• Please send everything by ordinary post. Please do NOT send anything to us by any way that means we have to sign for it. We are not always here. If we miss a parcel, we will probably NOT bother to make the 17-mile journey to collect it!
• Don't send us your first draft! Please make sure before you send that you have edited and re-edited and polished your work; that it is professionally presented (double spaced, with margins of at least 1" all round, in a standard 12pt serif type face, and that the spelling and grammar are the best you can make them). You wouldn't attend a job interview with a sloppy attitude or demonstrating that you don't know anything about the job you're applying for, would you? If you want us to care, please make an effort to show us you care. If we open a work and find it sloppy in any way, it indicates to us that the author is sloppy too - and we wouldn't work with sloppy authors. We want authors we can love!
• We cannot be held responsible for the postal service. If your manuscript doesn't arrive, or gets lost, sticky or broken, or the camel kneels on it or the llama spits on it or the iguana eats it (though we will do our best to avoid all of these eventualities!), we cannot replace it!
• Do not send us your only copy! NEVER send out the only copy you have.
• We do not accept handwritten manuscripts. We can, however, arrange for them to be typed up for you, if you are not able to arrange it yourself - for a cost, of course. Please note in your query email if your manuscript is handwritten.
• Note: if we contract you for your book, we will ask for a digital copy (i.e. the file on your computer) to be sent to us, for further progression. This can be done either by email or on CD/DVD.
• We will only return manuscripts that arrive with a properly stamped (for UK postage), self addressed return envelope. Please don't ask us to fund the postage for return of your work. Please don't ask us to send it and promise you'll forward the costs later. Been there, done that, got bitten. We don't do it any more. Any manuscripts without an SAE, if rejected, will be recycled.
• NO STAPLES please! Not on your envelopes, not on your pages. They are tough, they hurt, they injure, they tear. Paper clips are fine. Envelopes etc: please don't go mad and create a package we can't open without a machete or several pairs of scissors!

Our Reading Policy:
We do not charge a reading fee. We do read everything that is sent to us if we've asked for it, but only up to the point where we decide whether or not it's right for us. This might mean that we read the whole manuscript, or it could mean that we read only the first few pages if it's obvious that it's not within our scope of interest, for whatever reason (eg if it's littered with profanities, foul language, sex, ridiculous statements, or anything we've listed above as a no-no ... or if it's just plain badly written).

Multiple submissions:
Multiple submissions are fine, but please let us know your work is also with someone else - or at least let us know if it's accepted by someone else, so that we can pull it out of the Reading pile before spending unnecessary time on it? - Our thanks.

Rejections:
In any publishing company, far far far more manuscripts are rejected than are accepted. Please know that our decisions are not personal; we are looking for something that sparks us as individuals, and that would suit the flavour of our company. Our decisions are based on the material itself striking a chord in us that makes it stand out from the rest - and yes, this means it's very personal and dependent on our own tastes, but it's still not about you yourself! We take books that light us up; that we click with; that we absolutely love enough to spend huge amounts of time and money getting right, and then marketing. Your book may be 95% of the way, but we have to have that extra 5% before we'll take it on. And no, not even 99% will cut it. :-)

This may mean we pass up on the next world blockbuster - but that's fine if it wasn't our taste. Reader and editorial decisions are based not only on the expertise or brilliance of a story, but also on our own likes and dislikes, insights and knowledge, in addition to their professional eye and assessment of the work as it falls within our own remit. We may love a story but reject it for other reasons! But remember: We don't know who you are; we don't know what you look like. We promise - if we reject the manuscript, it's not you we're rejecting! Don't take it personally; persist in sending it to other publishers. "Thornbirds" was refused something like 39 times before it hit the right person's desk. Don't give up just because we don't take it!

What we'll tell you:
Due to the number of submissions we receive, we cannot give you an assessment of your manuscript if we are rejecting it. Depending on time, we may give you an indication of where we feel any problems may lie, but it won't be in detail. We can do a professional assessment / critique from our Sunberry Author Services, but we will need to charge for that as it involves a fair amount of time. If you are concerned about your manuscript, we suggest you find a reputable, qualified editor and pay them for a full critique - be careful, there are a lot of fly-by-nights out there! Also note that if we have rejected your manuscript but give you good feedback on it and liked it generally, we might be willing to undertake helping you to self-publish via Sunberry; we do turn down manuscripts for financial reasons if we can't fit them into our program due to our budget constraints, even though we may like them.

MAKING YOUR SUBMISSION:

The address for postal deliveries (please don't send "to-be-signed-for" mail! and please ensure you have ENOUGH POSTAGE on your package!) :

WE ARE MOVING! NEW ADDRESS AS FROM 15 MAY 2010: Sunpenny Publishing c/o 3 Broomfield Court Broomfield Park Sunningdale Berkshire SL5 0JP UNITED KINGDOM

QUERY EMAILS - PLEASE CLICK ON THE BUTTON BELOW, which will open your email program with a new email form. You will have to type in the address below (apologies; this is a necessary anti-spam measure).