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Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Thank you for your interest in Poisoned Pen Press.
We are not accepting submissions between June 1, 2009-August 30, 2009. Please check back for updates.
We do NOT accept Paper Submissions
E-mail Submissions Only
Caveats: These won’t work.
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- We do not publish short stories or collections.
- We do not publish nonfiction.
Themes: Neither will these.
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.
Evaluation Criteria: Heads up.
- Excellence in writing.
- Originality.
- Plotting.
- Voice.
- Setting.
- Character.
- Dialogue.
Manuscript Format: Look professional.
- 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 the PPP Style Sheet and The Chicago Manual of Style.
Process: This works.
- Begin with a single-page query e-mail to our editor: editor@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, follow with a one- to three-page synopsis and the first 30 pages, e-mailed by attachment to annette@poisonedpenpress.com AND to geetha@poisonedpenpress.com.
- 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.
Delivery: Electronic only.
- E-mail the query letter, synopsis/30 pages, and full manuscripts as attachments: We prefer MS Word (.doc) format. We also accept PDF or 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.
- You can also mail them in one of the above formats on a compact disc (CD) or flash drive. Materials will not be returned.
Contact Us
To send an e-mail inquiry, please use the following address:
Inquiries through regular mail will not be read. Save the stamp.
If you do not receive an e-mail confirmation that we have your manuscript submission within one week, please check with us. If you do not receive an e-mail answer to your query within a month, please check with us.