Manuscript submission guidelines

We are now OPEN for submissions.

Due to the high volume of submissions and to marketing realities, we have some restrictions.

Please do not submit your manuscript elsewhere during our review.
We do not consider self-published or Print On Demand writers.
We cannot consider any work which has appeared in another form, such as e-book or P O D.
We seldom consider writers who have previously been published in print and/or as e-books.
We seldom consider writers living outside the USA because their participation in promotion activities within the US is crucial to the book’s success.
We do not consider any paper queries or submissions.
We do not publish short stories or collections.
We do not publish nonfiction.

Please note that we do not consider manuscripts which use the following themes as the central focus of the story:

Incest of any kind.
Murder of children; child abuse.
Abuse when it’s a pivotal point or supplied motivation all by itself.
Serial killers when their point-of-view is part of the narrative.
Serial killings or psychopathologies that depend on exceptional gore or weird twists to work.
Drugs, including drug abuse and/or smuggling of illegal substances.
Thrillers, which we define as a duel or escalating contest between two characters or groups. Thrillers usually include global stakes and a world stage of conspiracies, espionage, and intelligence such as CIA, MI5, NSA, presidents and high government officials, military force or technologies, international drug rings, terrorists, or mafia.
A “soft thriller” may interest us if the story is tightly contained and local, not political or global; for example, a jewel robbery, theft of a painting, or action packed into a small location among its residents.
Vampires, witches, werewolves, paranormals, aliens, future realities, and New Age psychics as protagonists do not fit.

The synopsis should be no longer than 1-2 single spaced pages. It should be a short summary of the entire story, not an outline or a series of short chapter summaries. It represents your book, so spend some time on it, and be sure to tell the whole story, including the end and the resolution of the mystery.
If we request your synopsis and manuscript, we've already decided to read your work, so you don't need to use the synopsis to draw us in or leave us wondering about anything.
We don't need a list of principal characters; your synopsis should make clear who the major players are.
The first 30 pages represent the standards of the full manuscript.
Put your work in its best light. Make sure that your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and page layout are professional and error-free.
Start with a title page listing the writer’s name.
Double-space all pages, with one-inch margins and Times New-Roman 12-point font.
Begin each new chapter with its number and first sentence halfway down the page.
Tell your full story in about 65,000-90,000 words.
Place headers at the top of each page. Show the writer’s last name, the title, and the page number. For instance

Poe/Rue Morgue 21

Siger/Murder in Mykonos 175

Please adhere to our submissions guidelines and to the The Chicago Manual of Style.

Begin with a single-page query e-mail to our submissions coordinator: submissions@poisonedpenpress.com
List your contact information and e-mail address, a short paragraph introducing the book, and a brief bio including pieces you have published. If you have an agent, tell us.
If the query is successful, our editor will contact you asking for a one- to three-page synopsis and the full manuscript.
The synopsis is our guide to your book. Give us a fairly complete, concise description of the story. Write an overview of your novel—beginning, middle, and end—covering themes, characters, settings, and conflicts.
Present your story with clarity and style.
Avoid treating the synopsis as a blurb that hints at events, or that tries to hook us into wanting more. Give us the details. Do not say that the story has twists, turns, and a surprise ending. We expect that with any mystery.

E-mail the query letter in the body of the e-mail (NOT AS AN ATTACHMENT). Please e-mail the synopsis and full manuscripts as attachments. We prefer MS Word (.doc) format. We also accept RTF documents. Other word processor files may be acceptable. Please check first.
Include all chapters in one file; do not send them chapter by chapter.

To send an e-mail inquiry, please use the following address:
submissions@poisonedpenpress.com

Inquiries through regular mail will not be read. Save the stamp.

If you do not receive an e-mail answer to your query within a month, please check with us.