submissions

Submissions Now Open for 2017!

It’s that time of year again! Ink Smith Publishing has opened submissions for 2017! Genres accepted can be found on our website: www.ink-smith.com/submissions. We love fantasy, so if you do not see your specific fictional genre listed, we encourage you to submit to us anyway. There are so many fiction genres (particularly hyper-specific genres) that we cannot list them all.

But, please note, we do not accept non-fiction or children’s (12 years and under) titles at Ink Smith. For non-fiction/children’s titles please submit to Native Ink Press. Guidelines and requirements apply to Native Ink Press as well.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions will be accepted January 1 – July 30 each year, with a closed reading period beginning August 1.

Novellas must be 30,000 to 50,000 words and novels must be at least 50,000+ words.
No fan fiction.
No short stories.
Manuscripts must be polished. No first drafts or incomplete manuscripts.
Manuscripts that you submit cannot be previously self-published.
No attachments in the email.
No manuscripts on first query. *We will request your manuscript if we are interested in moving forward.*
No non-fiction titles.
No children’s books aimed at ages 12 and under.
No submissions from outside the U.S./Canada at this time.

Submit Your Book Query

Please follow ALL guidelines below. Submissions not meeting submission guidelines are automatically rejected regardless of the quality of the work submitted.

Title Your email: Query, Your Last Name, Title of Your Book
Cover letter: Tell us about yourself. Please include current address, as we use this to verify that you are currently residing in the U.S. or Canada.
Story information: Genre, Word Count, etc.
Synopsis: no longer than 1 page, please.
Your marketing plan! In the event we move forward with your manuscript for publication, please note that we expect our authors to be active in the marketing of their titles alongside our efforts. Your ideas, opinions and comfort level with marketing tools are essential for us to develop a marketing plan that works for you and your book.
The first three chapters of your story copied and pasted into the body of the email. (NO ATTACHMENTS)
Send your query to submissions@ink-smith.com!

As a final reminder: NOT FOLLOWING GUIDELINES WILL RESULT IN AUTOMATIC REJECTION.

When You Submit: Follow the Guidelines

Whether you are submitting a poem to a literary magazine, a memoir to an independent publisher or a fantasy manuscript to one of the big five – you MUST make sure you follow all of the submission requirements. This also includes submitting your piece during the time the company is accepting submissions. Some companies, Ink Smith Publishing included, occasionally close submissions for a certain time frame each year to catch up on reading through submissions. Others, like our sister company, Native Ink Press, have rolling submissions, meaning they accept submissions year round.

But remember: Follow the guidelines.

As we sift through the submissions we receive the first thing we note is who followed directions. We do this for multiple reasons; the most obvious is: did this author take the time to read, research and decide upon our publishing company? Not following the submission guidelines, which are normally pretty simple, and for the most part universal amongst publishing companies, is indicative that the author may be either blindly submitting to every available publishing company, or that they do not pay attention to details. Two things that suggest the author is less serious about their handwork than they should be.

The second reason, is because we want to know how an author responds to direction. Each author/publisher/editor relationship is different. You will see authors working with different editors on different kinds of books, different publishers on different genres, etc. When in the editing process, editors will provide feedback, critiques and suggestions on things that may work better for the piece in question. The purpose of the editing process is to make a great idea even better – a project that both the editor and the author are invested in. Without an author who is receptive to change, suggestions and edits, that task is not one that will be possible to complete, at least not easily!

Finally, there are a lot of submissions. There are a lot of authors with great books, and a limited amount of books we can publish per year. If it comes down to two books, one where the author followed the directions perfectly and one who did not; the decision is easy.

Keep in mind, Ink Smith Publishing discards any submissions that do not follow the guidelines – no matter how good the book is, and no matter who the author is. We firmly believe that an author who is serious about their book, about their careers, and about publishing with us specifically – will make sure to follow the guidelines. If you are interested in submitting to Ink Smith Publishing, or Native Ink Press, please make sure to do the following:
1. Review the kind of content we publish
2. Make sure your content fits in
3. Make sure submissions are OPEN
4. Review and follow the guidelines
5. Give us your best!

For more information about Ink Smith Publishing and our submission guidelines visit www.ink-smith.com/submissions. You can also visit www.nativeinkpress.com to learn more about Native Ink Press’ submission guidelines.

Connect with me @AndersonCorinne on Twitter!

Corinne is an editor at Ink Smith Publishing, with an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University. Since her first trip to the library when she was a toddler, Corinne has been collecting books, recommending her favorites and providing commentary on the less-than-stellar. Her belief is that if you have a problem, it’s nothing that a good book can’t solve. She is currently pursuing her MPS in Publishing at George Washington University, editing for Ink Smith Publishing, and hoping that her blog posts here will help writers improve and publish their work.

ISP Book Publishing Awards VS. General Book Submissions

Starting August 1st, Ink Smith Publishing is starting our first annual Book Publishing Awards. These awards will focus on three genres and their sub genres.

Why should you enter into the Book Publishing Awards instead of waiting for general book submissions to reopen?

Our general submissions run for a short amount of time every year. At that time, authors with books in all genres are welcomed to submit their query. From open to close, we receive thousands of submissions in multiple genres. Which makes competition fierce. Out of our general submissions, we will sign contracts with about 4-6 authors.

With our genre specific book publishing awards, the entrants will not be competing against as many submissions.

The ISP 2015 Book Publishing Awards are meant to be a straightforward opportunity for dedicated and passionate authors with extraordinary work to get published.

You can post any questions you may have below.

Celebrate Ink Smith Publishing’s 3 Year Anniversary!

July is Ink Smith Publishing’s Anniversary month. We started in July 2012. Our initial goal was to publish the best in Fantasy Fiction, Science Fiction and Horror. However that quickly changed. After several great submission in genres ranging from Comedy, Paranormal and Thrillers, we changed what we were looking for to one simple thing, a well written and developed book that readers couldn’t put down. That’s why in our catalog you will see a wide range of genres.

Celebration Events:

Starting today, we are offering select ebooks on Amazon.com for free! This offer will go from July 23rd to 27th. Don’t miss out!

http://astore.amazon.com/3914-20

Submission Contest:

Starting August 1st 2015, we will begin our first annual submission contest. This year, we are looking for books in the genres of Fantasy, Sci-fi and Horror. We will be selecting one winner for each genre.

Click the Link Below for more information.

http://ink-smith.com/book-publishing-contest/

Submissions Start February 1st!

We are pleased to announce that we will be open for submissions once more! Our submission reading period will start February 1st 2015 and run until July 2015. Any submission submitted before or after these dates will be read during the next submission reading period.

Please review our guidelines before submitting as they have changed.

If you are interested in submitting fiction:

http://ink-smith.com

If you are interested in submitting non-fiction or children’s stories:

http://nativeinkpress.com

7 Days left For Submissions!

This is a very quick shout out to all the writers out there.

There are 7 days left to get your book submission in to Ink Smith Publishing for consideration. Any books submitted after July 1st will be read starting January 1st 2015. Please share the word! We want to give everyone a fair chance and enough notice.

Please follow all submission guidelines, or use our form.

ink-smith.com/submissions

Submissions are closing for the year!

If you haven’t heard yet, Ink Smith Publishing will be closing on July 1st 2014. Submissions will remain close till January 2015 (tentatively).

We noticed a few submissions do not follow our guidelines. To make this easier, we have created a submission form. Fill it out and press submit. Now fewer books and authors will be rejected for failing to follow guidelines!

We accept all genres except for Romance novels and strong politic novels. We look forward to reading your submission!

Book Submissions to Close July 1st 2014

We wanted to let you know that we will be closing submissions on July 1st 2014 until January 1st 2015.

Our imprint Native Ink Press will still be open to submissions.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send us an email.

Contact@ink-smith.com

We look forward to reading your submissions.

Any submission sent after July 1st 2014 will not be reviewed until January 1st 2014.

http://ink-smith.com/submissions/

2014-2015 Book Submissions

It’s been awhile since we’ve called for submissions.

We are currently looking for books to fill our 2014 and 2015 calendar! We are looking for anything but religious, political and romance novels.

We do tend to focus on sci-fi, fantasy and horror novels but we are hoping to expand our catalog for the end of the year with different… unique novels.

If you think you have a story that we may be interested, please check out our submission page and guidelines! Let us know you found this submission calling at The Inkwell and Quill.

Have a non-fiction or a children’s book? Check out our imprint, Native Ink Press, as they are also looking for 2014-2015 novels for their calendar!

www.ink-smith.com

www.nativeinkpress.com

Following the Guidelines

As an author, I can understand that it is had to keep up with the latest guidelines with publishers. There are some publishers that make it an egg hunt to find out how to even submit.

If there is one thing I know as an editor, don’t mass email your query to publishers. You can submit to multiple publishers at the “same time”, but do not do it in the same email. Many times, publishers have distinct differences in their guidelines. Mass sending a submission can easily result in a mass rejection.

I have decided to send out a simple email to those that choose to mass email their submission stating, “please resubmit according to our website.”

I won’t spoon feed them the information. I don’t want an author who can’t do research or follow simple instructions based off of a simple to navigate website. It’s not being mean, just setting a standard that we require.

This may come off as “harsh”, but I wouldn’t be writing about this topic if it didn’t happen often. The problem is, is that it happens too often.

So authors, PLEASE! Check the publishers website before submitting. Be sure that your novel falls under what they are looking for and be sure to follow ALL their guidelines. I am trying to save hearts from being broken and dreams from being crushed. To often do publishers reject books simply because the author (or agent) didn’t know what to submit.