Submissions

Now Open to General Submissions

General Submissions

Samhain Publishing is now open to general submissions of all genres of romance and erotica, as well as fantasy, urban fantasy and science fiction with strong romantic elements. We are refocusing our efforts and will no longer be accepting submissions in other genres for the time being, including women’s fiction, chick lit and young adult.

All submissions must be new material to be considered for publication, no reprints. Once you’ve had a new work accepted by Samhain, you are free to submit previously published works to your editor for consideration.

Only one manuscript at a time per author please! And, if the manuscript is being offered elsewhere simultaneously, please keep us informed of its status.

We encourage you to let your muse have its way and to create tales that don’t always adhere to current trends. One never knows what the next “hot genre” will be or when it will start, so write what’s in your soul. These are the books that, whether the story is based on “formula” or is an “original”, when written from the heart will earn you a life-time readership.

The preferred word count is 60,000 or longer, but we are quite happy to publish shorter works with word counts of no less than 12,000 and no more than 120,000. We will consider manuscripts up 130,000 words, but only on the understanding that the book will have to be edited down to 120,000 or less before publication.

Any book that glorifies depraved or illegal acts will not be considered. No pedophilia, bestiality, racial intolerance, rape as titillation, necrophilia – no ick factors, please!

Please visit the Samhain FAQ page for answers to most of your submissions questions.

For more information on Samhain and how to submit your book, follow the links!

Consider joining us! Samhain Publishing, Ltd. an author-friendly publishing house whose fundamental belief is that the world is a better place when there are good books to read.

Thank you!

Christina M. Brashear, Publisher
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Call for Submissions: Samhain Publishing Space Opera anthology

Get your outer space on! Intergalactic wars, space battles, alien cultures, and love (and lust) across the cosmos.

I’m very pleased to announce an open call for submissions for a new, yet-to-be titled spring 2010 space opera anthology. I’m looking for fast-paced, action-adventure space opera romances. Don’t know what space opera is? Think Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica or my personal favorite, Firefly/Serenity. For more information on space opera, you can check out the entry on wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Opera

I’m open to M/F, M/M, or multiples thereof, and any sexual heat level. The only rule is the story should be set mainly or entirely in space and the romance must end happily ever after or happy for now.

The anthology will include novellas from 25,000 to 30,000 words in length and will be released individually as ebooks in April 2010.

Submissions are open to all authors, published with Samhain or aspiring to be published with Samhain. All submissions must be new material—previously published submissions will not be considered. Additionally, manuscripts previously submitted, whether individually or for past anthologies, will not be considered either. Please be aware that manuscripts submitted to this anthology cannot be resubmitted at a later date unless by invitation from an editor.

To submit a manuscript for consideration, please include:

The full manuscript (of 25,000 to 30,000 words) with a comprehensive 2-5 page synopsis. Please include a letter of introduction/query letter. Full manuscripts are required for this as it’s a special project.

As well, when you send your manuscript, please be sure to use the naming convention SpaceOpera_Title_MS and SpaceOpera_Title_Synopsis. This will ensure that your submission doesn’t get missed in the many submissions we receive, and makes it easy for me to find in my ebook reader.

Submissions are open until August 10, 2009 and final decision will be made by August 31, 2009. Please send your submission to editor@samhainpublishing.com and include Space Opera Anthology in the subject line.

Questions can be addressed to Sasha Knight sasha@samhainpublishing.com

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Royalty and Contracts

Samhain is a royalty paying ebook company that offers 40% of the cover price (as set by Samhain Publishing, Ltd) for a single-author ebook.

The author is not required to pay any fees for editing or for publishing in either digital or print. We are NOT a vanity publisher.

Our contract requests full rights to the work, including both digital and print, is fully negotiable and available for review upon acceptance of your story.

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How to Submit

All submissions must be sent by email as we are primarily an epublisher, and all our work is done through the internet. We will not respond to any submissions sent via hard copy, nor will we return submissions sent this way. Please send all queries via email to the email address listed below.

Please send a short query letter in the body of an email telling us a bit about you. In separate documents, attach a minimum of 3 sample chapters and a full synopsis at least 2 pages in length and sufficient for the length of the story. There is no maximum length for the synopsis but it must be at least 2 pages, even if your story is only 12,000 words. To give your book the best chance of being accepted, please ensure that the synopsis details the whole plot and the end of the book, even if it is a surprise ending.

You may, at your discretion, send the whole manuscript as it will be requested if it passes the first review. Full manuscript is preferred. Please send the synopsis and chapters, or synopsis and full manuscript as two separate attachments, named with the title of your book.

Please format your work (manuscript and synopsis) as follows:

*When sending your manuscript/synopsis please name them: Title_Author initials_full/synopsis. For instance, if your name is Nori Robards and you’re writing a book called Nude in Death, you’d name your manuscript NudeinDeath_NR_full and your synopsis NudeinDeath_NR_synopsis. This helps our editors keep submissions organized.

  • RTF (Rich Text File) or .doc (Word Document) file (No .docx, please)
  • Author name and book title should appear on the first page of your manuscript and synopsis
  • 1 inch margins
  • 1.5 line spacing
  • Times New Roman, 12pt.
  • Page break before each new chapter

The cover page of your synopsis must have your contact information
and the basic details of your story:

  • Real Name/Pen Name
  • Address
  • Contact Phone
  • Email address
  • Working Title (include series name if applicable)
  • Word Count
  • Genre/s
  • Blurb (less than 200 words)

When you have your manuscript polished to within an inch of its life and ready to go, please send a short query letter and your submission to editor@samhainpublishing.com. Please allow up to 12-16 weeks for a personal reply. An auto responder will reply to let you know that your email has been received.

Please visit the Samhain FAQ page for answers to most of your submissions questions.

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