Thursday, October 31, 2013

Chocolate for Writers: An Extended List of Advance Paying YA Publishers Accepting Unagented Submissions

Although I can’t give out candy online today, it’s my treat to give you more publishing information as of 10-31-2013. And they are advance paying publishers too! No, it’s not a trick either. In addition to that, I’ve listed below some publishers (although they don’t pay advances) they are definitely worth looking into. Here is the breakdown.

Crossed Genres Publications: They are a small press publisher of speculative fiction. Pay 2,000 for advances

Darkfuse: They are an independent publisher of modern horror, suspense and thrillers. They take short stories, novellas and novels. Although it doesn’t state it, they will consider YA. Great cover designs. They offer hardcovers too.

Black Inc Books: UK Publisher. Although it doesn’t state in their guidelines, I’ve confirmed they do in fact accept YA. This one accepts the full manuscript too.

Black Balloon Publishing: An independent press with both print and digital distribution. They are on the quirky and offbeat side. Again, another one that doesn’t state YA in their guidelines but will consider them.

Lucky Marble Publishing: This is a new publisher so proceed with caution. They are geared towards Middle Grade and YA. They state in the FAQ link they pay a small advance.


Albert & Whitman: A long-time publisher will finally be accepting e-mail submissions January 2014.


Non-advance paying YA Publishers, but still worth checking out.


Astraea Press

Pink Fish Press

Jolly Fish Press

Unbridled Books

Verso Books (may pay advances)

Persea Books (may pay advances)


Well, that’s it! Be sure to check out each site and read the guidelines before submitting. For more extensive information on these publishers, be sure to check out Absolute Write and the P&E. Good luck and have fun! Happy Halloween!!!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

When Going Postal is a Good Thing

With today’s day and age and the wonderful world of email, many authors negate or just plain forget about sending postal submissions. Many of these places are just as good, if not better to send your work to. It really doesn’t cost that much to send out via snail mail every now and then. And it’s really fun when you get something other than bills in your regular mailbox, especially if it’s a response from a publisher!


Even though using email is faster and more convenient, this doesn’t mean publishers accepting only postal submissions are in the stone-age and should be counted out. It is just their way of handling their flow of submissions. Plus it’s also considered a filtering mechanism. Most writers are less likely to send every single manuscript they have this way. And writers who do send via postal mail are often more cautious about what they send, making sure their manuscripts better fit the publisher’s guidelines. This also minimizes unwanted manuscripts.

I want to remind everyone that this list is geared towards children’s and young adult authors and are advance paying publishers, unless stated otherwise.

So here’s a list of publishers that accept postal submissions to get you started.

Peachtree Publishers: From picture book to YA submissions. Watch out for the special note on genres.

Dial Books for Young Readers: A YA imprint of Penguin. Responds only if interested.

Tor Books: Part of Macmillan. Chapter books, middle grade, YA. Genres: Science fiction and Fantasy

Holiday House: Early picture books to YA. Only responds if interested.

Seven Stories Press: New YA imprint Triangle Square. Political and social issues (fiction/non-fiction)

Big Mouth House: An imprint of Small Beer Press. Publishes for readers 10 and up. Also accepts short story collections.

Again, this is list is just to get you started, but there are plenty of other places out there to look into. Even though it might be a little more out of the way to send, it’s worth looking into. Remember to read all the guidelines and follow them closely. Good luck and have fun with it!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Pros and Cons to Agents and Publishers

There's more than one way to getting published. Agents are one avenue. But not the only avenue. With more and more smaller publishers getting bigger, and big publishers opening the doors to unagented submissions, or just plain self-publishing, it all just depends on what road you'd like to take. I just don't want writers to give up at that point after the agent search has ended. That's not the end of your book. And that shouldn't be the end of your dream either. There's more options out there. Doing as much research as possible for your book, is key.

UNLESS the agent is very reputable and has great contacts and is truly willing to help you get your book out there, I would suggest you tread carefully on who you sign with. You’re wasting your time if you go with a less-than-perfect agent. An agent that hasn’t gotten any solid sales from major publishers, or an agent that shops your book around to places you can submit to yourself? What’s the point?

There are many things an agent can help you with, such as editing, marketing, helping you get a better deal of course, but not all agents are created equal. It's best to do your research before you sign. And don't hesitate to ask questions too. You don't want a mediocre agent that only submits your book to a handful of places and then says to you, we’re going to scale down now and submit to smaller publishers. Why? When you know in your heart there’s several other places your agent can submit to? Clearly an agent like that doesn’t have enough contacts.

And for those authors that find themselves an offer from a publisher that think you need an agent for, not necessarily so on that either. You can just as easily have a literary lawyer look at it for a one time flat fee, rather than paying the agent 15% off the advance and 15% off of all your royalties on the book. If you do this the wrong way, you may get burned. Especially if your money streams out of the agency first. And to think when you got the deal in the first place? No, sorry. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Some authors are more successful self-publishing their books then the authors with agents AND publishers. Most of the time because the agent placed it with some small publisher. And believe me, there are agents out there that leech off authors like that. Continually placing their authors with these tiny publishers and never getting a better deal for them is darn right stealing from an author. If you want to get published the right way, you'll need to be aware of such things. The whole reason behind even getting an agent is so that agent can get you into places that you couldn’t normally get into yourself.

There’s good agents and there’s bad agents. Just as there’s good publishers and bad publishers. Could you see if you got a bad agent and a bad publisher? IF you’re not savvy enough to know what’s going on in the publishing industry, it could happen to you. The best thing to do for your book is research the shit out of who you are sending it to. With all those internet scammers out there, if you’re not fully aware of what’s going on, they could get to you. And believe me, having a bad agent is worse than not having an agent at all. And having a bad publisher is a complete disaster. Warning signs for that are things like poor communication, poor editing on other books of theirs. Not good with distribution. Poor marketing. I could go on and on.

I'm not suggesting all agents are bad, or all (not so well known) publishers are bad. I just want writers to know they have options. Actually quite a few. Even if you get rejected by what you think every agent and publisher out there, there's another around the corner. New publishers opening, old publishers expanding. Same goes for agents too. The Guide to Literary Agents is a good resource in finding new agents too.

Just know there are other options out there just waiting to be explored. Whatever you decide to do, rule number one: Never give up on your publishing dream. If you feel as though you need to trunk a novel, write a new one and begin the process again.

Unless you’re just writing for leisure purposes, don’t give up on your dream of getting published. Keep open to that possibility always and try to keep your submissions active for as long as possible. Keep at it. Just as a side note about vanity publishers, since I haven't covered them. Stay away. Any publisher asking or money from you is a crime. Don't equate it to self-publishing either. It's not the same thing, not in the least. With self-publishing, you have full control and places that give you much better royalty rates. Bottom line, keep options open. Do your homework and search, and research again. With determination and information, you can get there too!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Big Publishers Accepting Unagented YA Submissions

If the agent route isn’t working for you, and you’re a young adult writer looking for a place to submit then the list below is definitely worth checking out. All these publishers pay advances, unless stated otherwise. Even though this list is geared towards YA fiction writers, some of these places also take adult fiction as well as non-fiction, so again, it’s worth looking into. And all accept U.S. author submissions too.

Hachette Australia: Accepts email submissions on a regular basis. Will respond within three weeks if they are interested. I think that’s an excellent turn around.

Harper Collins Australia: Accepts submissions every Wednesday. Be sure to check their guidelines. Remember the time difference. So say for example, there’s a 15 hour time difference (if I did my math right) for U.S. authors, so if you submit at 9:30am (thinking it would be okay) it would be 12:30pm in Australia and you wouldn’t be able to submit. If you don’t see the “Wednesday Post” button to click on, that’s a clear indication you won’t be able to submit.

Allen and Unwin: Accepts submission every Friday during “The Friday Pitch.” Please make sure to read their guidelines. There’s a special form you need to fill out and copy paste it into your email submission.

Ben Bella: Accepting submissions on a regular basis. Openly states the advances are between 5K and 10K and may be higher if they really want the ms.

Beyond Words: They are in partnership with Atria an imprint of Simon & Schuster . They are into mind, body and spirit and will accept fiction also.

Witness Impulse: This is another imprint of Harper Collins, that even though I’m not sure if they take YA submissions, they are looking for mystery/suspense/thrillers. Even though they don’t pay advances, their royalty rates are high and they pay it monthly which is a perk.

So there it is. More places to submit to without having to have an agent for. BUT, if you do get an offer from one of these places, it would be wise to get a professional to look at your contract. Often times, you can submit to an agent, with your offer and they’d be willing to help, whether they want in on the deal or kindly help without getting involved. And yes, it does happen.

Good luck everyone! And whatever you do, never give up! I truly believe if you strive hard enough to do your research and continue to look (because new ones pop up all the time) you will find a home for your baby.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Crossroads Blog Tour

Want to win a FREE Kindle with some pre-loaded e-books from our very own Blog Tour Authors?   For more info please visit:  Crossroads Blog Tour

Thursday, July 25, 2013

We Want More! We Want More! YA BLOGS!!!

Okay, so I'm slummin' this summer, just bummin' in front of the computer (not wanting to revise my newest WIP) so I read blogs. Particularly YA blogs. I know of some popular ones (and I'm sure you do too, but if you want to suggest it anyway, that'd be cool too.) But I want to see your YA blog. I've now become addicted to reading at least 4 hours a day of young adult fiction blogs, reviewers, advice on writing, agents, editors and contests and insightful suggestions on how to get better and better. In other words I'm like that girl in those AT&T commercials, saying "we want more, we want more."

So gimme more people. I want to see your YA blog. What are you writing about it? It can have anything to do with the YA market, anything at all. We all know the YA market is fierce, from traditional to self-publishing, so let's hear it my mighty YA reader/writer friends. Just post your blog here and give a one to two sentence blurb on it.  I look forward to reading yours!

YA BLOG LIST  (I'll add as I go.)

Oasis for YA

Young Adult Book Reviews:  Book reviews from a Christian World-view

YA Muses

D.T. Krippene~ Searching for Light in the Darkness

Christian YA Writer:  To Write is to Breathe, To Live, To Learn

Nineteenteen: Being a Teen in the Nineteenth Century

Writing YA:  Finding Wonderland

YA Outside the Lines

YALSA the Hub:  Your Connection to Teen Reads

YAtopia

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Advance Paying YA Publishers Accepting Unagented Submissions

UPDATE, PLEASE CLICK HERE!!!


Here is a list of YA Publishers and their imprints that are accepting unagented author submissions via email (if that’s your thing) and that are offering advances ranging from a token ($100+) to 1,000+ advance. By no means is this list exhaustive. It’s just a few of them out there; most I’ve had experience conversing with. The comments I have on them are my own opinion, which you can take or toss. And as far as I’ve researched, all are reputable places (unless I hear otherwise which I will remove.)


I’d be delighted to hear of any other YA publishers with such guidelines and will add them to the list if anyone else knows of more. The list is in no particular order.

Side note: To prevent any broken links and misdirect someone to the wrong site, I would suggest you Google the press you are interested in and read as much as possible before submitting. I also encourage you to ask the publisher questions if you have additional questions that the publisher hasn’t listed on their site. In my experience most publishers are delighted to hear from any writer asking questions and usually will respond in a timely manner. The ones that don’t respond at all…is a clear indication to move on and keep searching elsewhere.

Poisoned Pencil: Accepts YA Mysteries only with additional sub-genres. I’ve had the joy of working with Ellen Larson on one of my titles and I couldn’t be happier. Very Responsive and a great bunch to work with.

Merit Press: A YA imprint of F+W Media. Jackie Mitchard is the head of the operation and is a splendid editor to deal with. Very responsive and insightful. They want more contemporary novels with strong female protagonists.


Kensington Books: Responsive. I’ve also seen their titles in my library (shows signs of good distribution.) Advances may exclude e-kensington.

Sourcebooks: Fire is their YA imprint. Responsive, though the submission wait may take longer than expected. Definitely a great company. I’ve seen many titles in the Barnes & Noble.

Journalstone: I don’t know much about them, but I’ve read they give good advances. I think they’re more into Sci-Fi. Remember to always check the guidelines first before submitting.

Medallion Press: They have a YA-YA line (young adults writing for young adults.) Advances are 1,000 and above.

Quirk Books: They accept YA but be sure to read the guidelines and perhaps check out their YA books too. They all have a quirky offbeat feel to it. Interesting press. Responsive.

ChiTeen: a YA imprint of ChiZine which will be accepting submissions July 2014. Be on the lookout.

Prometheus Books: YA more sci-fi and fantasy bent.

Spencer Hill Press: A growing YA press. Only accepting submissions in December.

Polis Books: New publisher. I haven’t yet dealt with them, but they pay advances and accept email submissions. Nothing is mentioned on exactly what type of advance that is though.

Belle Books: They’ve been around for a long time now and have lots of great titles out there. I’ll be honest, response times are glacier slow. BUT they always do respond and now have just hired more help in the acquisitions and editorial department.

Entangled: Has made an announcement recently about now paying advances $250+.

Pelican Book Group: Has a YA imprint, Watershed. They are Christian bent, but are willing to accept submissions on the edgier side. Be sure to check the guidelines and titles to see if your baby is a good fit.

Okay, so that’s it! And again, if anyone else wants to add to it, just let me know. Be sure to read all the guidelines, do your homework. Google is your friend. Other good sites to check out for reputability:

Predators and Editors

AbsoluteWrite.com (Bewares, Recommendations and Background Check forum)

Publisher’s Marketplace

Best wishes to your submission journey and good luck to you!!!

RECENTLY ADDED

Harmony Ink:  A YA fiction imprint of Dreamspinner Press.  This imprint is focusing on GLBT characters.  Offering between 500 to 1,000 dollar advances.  Looks promising.

Hot Key Books:  This is a U.K. publisher also accepting U.S. authors.  They focus on MG and YA.  Advances.  Hot Key is a new division of Bonnier Books.  Bonnier also does Piccadilly Press (another place to submit your teen novel.  But I think Piccadilly focuses more on picture books.)  Be sure to read the guidelines and check out the books too to see which one is a better fit.

Intrigue Publishing:  They are focusing on YA Crime, Urban Drama and Sensual Romance.  Advances.  They have a couple of releases coming out in August 2013 that sound interesting.


Thursday, April 25, 2013

Pre-order DEEP IN THE MEADOWS Now!

I am happy to announce you can now pre-order your copy of "Deep in the Meadows" by visiting:
Leap Bookstore

It's been ten months since the car accident that took Jimmy's life, but Bee still feels his presence lingering. And she still wonders: Was Jimmy’s death an accident?


Probing into the events on the night of Jimmy’s death, Bee hears strange voices. The voices lead her to a blood-splattered room, a terrifying threat, and a deadly trap. Is Bee on the trail of her brother’s murderer, or is she entangled in a totally different and much more diabolical plot?

Watch for DEEP IN THE MEADOWS. Coming in January 2014.