WolfSinger Publications
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Don't Write What You Know;
Write What You Care About -- Passionately!
Submission Guidelines
We are open for book submissions from 1 Oct - 31 Dec each year
All material must be submitted as a .rtf document.
Please follow standard manuscript formatting when submitting:
Manuscripts should be double-spaced.
Indicate scene breaks with # or another symbol - but please be consistent throughout.
Please use tabs or paragraph settings to indent the first line.
Make sure you include your contact information on the first page of the manuscript.
The body of your email should include the following information:
Contact information
Title of manuscript
Approximate word count
Genre
Brief Synopsis of the story
A general idea of how you will be marketing and promoting your book.
We are looking primarily for Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas and Novels, but will consider other genres except children's and erotica. For YA - we prefer books that are geared for older teens that might also appeal to adult readers as well.
Our minimum word count is 25,000 and our preferred maximum word count is 80,000 words.
Please note 80,000 words is the preferred maximum - it is not a hard and fast limit.
Prefer stories to have a PG-13 rating - but this is not a hard requirement.
We will only be publishing a maximum of 10 print titles per year.
Submit the complete manuscript to Editor@wolfsingerpubs.com.
Please put 'WolfSinger Submission - "the title of your submission" - your last name' in the subject.
While we are primarily a royalty press, authors will receive an initial up front payment of $75.00 for books (contributors to anthologies will receive $15.00). Books and anthologies will start to earn royalties after initial production costs are earned back from all revenue received through book sales.
Once a book earns back its production costs royalties will be calculated as 10% of the cover price for print books, 40% of the cover price for eBooks.
We also offer an addendum to the primary contract for audio rights. For authors who accept this addendum there is an additional $25.00 advance and they will receive 5% of the cover as royalties for sales of audio books.
These payment amounts are effective for new contracts offered in 2022 - previously contracted books will remain at the contracted amounts.
Production costs are defined as:
Initial up front payments
Contracted work such as:
Cover Art
Editing
Typesetting (Limited to a maximum of $100 - anything over that will be absorbed by WolfSinger Publications)
These items will be listed and itemized on the first royalty statement.
Statements will be issued twice a year. Payment will be made only if an author's account has earned $5.00 for that royalty period. All payments will be made via PayPal. If you do not want to obtain and maintain a PayPal account so you can receive payments, please do not submit to us. We are making no other forms of payment or reimbursement at this time.
For anthologies, we welcome idea pitches from those putting an anthology together and will put out the call for submissions as well as post on the WolfSinger website. For anthologies, we also prefer to contract with the individual authors directly.
Charity Anthologies will pay a flat payment of $20.00 to authors and the designated charity will receive 75% of net revenues.
There is no earn-out on Charity Anthologies.
Our sample contracts can be viewed here:
Please note: I do not respond to queries - if you only send a partial or a query it may be deleted unread.
Frequent submission mistakes that can result in being rejected.
Stories shorter than the stated minimum of 25k words
Not putting any contact information or title in the manuscript
(for example - the first thing that appears when the file is opened is Chapter 1 or Prologue)
Funky formatting
I am more forgiving of the following failures to follow guidelines:
But, if I'm iffy on the story they will impact my decision
Single Spaced
Sent as something other than an .rtf file
Using underlines instead of italics
Couple of Notes on House Style
(for both anthology and novel submissions)
In dialogue numbers need to be spelled out - in very rare cases will numerals in dialogue not be edited to words.
Dialogue tags should follow the "dialogue," they said pattern rather than the "dialogue," said they.
FOR COVER ARTISTS
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If you are interested in being a cover artist - please send samples of your artwork to editor@wolfsingerspubs.com with COVER ART SAMPLES in the subject line.
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Take a look at the books WolfSinger has published to get an idea of the styles we prefer to use.
WolfSinger Publications pays $50.00 for the rights to use the cover art in all formats the book is released in and in promotion of the book. Artist retains all other rights. Artists will also receive 1% of the cover price as royalties once the book earns back its production costs. (See section above for information on production costs)
When the artist is sent the book - they will also be given information on what the author is hoping to see for the cover art - the artist is not required to contact the author - but is welcome to do so if they wish additional clarifications.
Because final editing may still be being completed when the story is sent - page count may not be finalized. While wrap around covers are nice - they are not required. For the back cover artists can create something related or just remove the major elements from the front cover and send the background as the back cover.
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Editor will add the title and author to the cover and the back cover copy, as well as the WolfSinger logos to the back cover and spine.
PG-13 Rating
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WolfSinger Publications requires that author submissions (especially for our anthologies) be at a PG-13 rating.
Since we’ve had several authors requesting information about what this rating construes, we’re providing these guidelines. As a general rule, when you are submitting, if you would be embarrassed to show your story to your grandmother, you might want to revise for WolfSinger.
VIOLENCE:
Keep violence and gore appropriate to the situation. Keep the action moving.
LANGUAGE:
Used appropriately, swearing is the spice in a manuscript. Too much and it lessens the impact and reduces the descriptive quality.
Generally, keep explicit language to a minimum. WolfSinger has published stories with even the f-word included, but these are rare circumstances where the word fits the situation. Editors may choose to remove or replace swearing if the story’s otherwise good and the author is agreeable.
NUDITY:
Circumstances may have your characters baring skin. Keep instances matter-of-fact and not related to erotica.
SEXUAL CONTENT:
WolfSinger is NOT an erotica market. We do not include stalkerish, abusive, or sexually explicit material in our books or anthologies. Romance is fine, but leave the intimate details of the relationship to the reader’s imagination.
For novel submissions - the rating may approach an R rating but again - everything must be important to the character and the story - we do not want to see something thrown into a story just because it seems interesting to do so.
NOTE:
Final decision regarding inclusion of any manuscript is at the discretion of editor(s) and the publisher.
Standard Manuscript Formatting
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WolfSinger Publications requires all submissions to be in Standard Manuscript Format. This enables the editor to quickly read and format submissions for publication.
Here are our basic requirements for a submission:
1. The manuscript should be typewritten, not in longhand.
2. Save the document as a .doc or .rtf format.
3. Use a 12-point font like Courier, Courier New, or Times New Roman.
4. Use black text on a white background. Editors have to read a large volume of submissions and this avoids eye fatigue.
5. In single space, include your real name and your contract information, address, city/state/ZIP, phone number, and email address on the upper left-hand side of the first page.
6. Put an accurate word count at the top right of the first page.
Example:
Jane Doe 1,234 Words
111 Center Street
Anytown, USA 11111
(555) 555-5555
jdoe@jdoe.com
7. Center your submission’s title halfway down the first page. Also centered, beneath that type: the word by followed by your pen name or your real name, whichever you write under.
8. Margins should be at least one inch around.
9. Indent the first line of each paragraph ½ inch.
10. Double-space your story’s text. Do not add extra spaces between paragraphs.
11. Section breaks should be indicated by a blank line, then center #, follow that with another blank line.
12. Please use italics for thoughts, other emphasized text.
13. Spell-check and grammar check your manuscript before you submit. Make sure it’s your best work. Our staff will do light editing, but we expect professional quality work.
POETRY
Unlike short stories or novels, format your poems like they would appear in print. Single-space within the body of the verses and then double-space to indicate a break between each verse.
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Couple of Notes on House Style
(for both anthology and novel submissions)
In dialogue numbers need to be spelled out - in very rare cases will numerals in dialogue not be edited to words.
Dialogue tags should follow the "dialogue," they said pattern rather than the "dialogue," said they.
How My Review Process Works
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​FOR NOVELS
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My process is little different for novels/novellas
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Stage One:
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I do a quick read of the synopsis that should have been included in the cover e-mail to see if the story sounds interesting. Then I save the story on my to be reviewed folder. Stories are not rejected off of the synopsis.
Stage Two:
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I will read the first chapter and basically see if the story and characters start to draw me into the book. If not, I will put it down - take another look at the synopsis to see where the story might be going. If the synopsis still seems intriguing I will plan on coming back to the story to give it another chance - maybe the author started the story to early or is spending too much time in set-up. If the synopsis doesn't grab me and make want to give it another chance - then the story will be rejected.
Stage Three:
This is where I try to read the story all the way through. I'm hoping the story and characters will allow me to turn off my internal editor so that I make it through to end. If I find myself being distracted by other stuff and it feels like the story is bogging down, I will put it down and plan on coming back to it. If this happens the next two times I pick up the story to continue reading then it be rejected. If the story causes me to want to turn page after page then it will go into my accepted folder and a contract will be sent out.
As WolfSinger Publications is a one woman operation - it can take me a while to get through the submissions that come in during our open submission period. This part of the reason I limit the open submission period to only 3 months. Please be patient with me, I do try to respond as quickly as I can.
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For Anthologies
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Stories received during an open call for anthologies go through a 3-4 stage review process.
Please note I don't start working on the review process until the submission period closes for the anthology.
Stage One:
This is where I open each story and do a quick read of the first page - if the story draws me in enough to want to continue reading past that first page - it moves forward to the second stage.
I don't look very closely at formatting at this stage - so if you fail to follow standard manuscript formatting it typically doesn't affect whether you move to the next stage or not.
If your story draws me in enough that I find myself reading to the end it may even get bumped to the 3rd read folder - bypassing the 2nd read folder completely.
Other than knowing the total number of submissions received - I don't track the numbers.
I don't send out rejection notices until I go through the 2nd read folder - this is where I do look at the numbers and if I still have more stories than I'm planning on accepting I will then send out the rejections for those that didn't make it into the 2nd read folder.
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Stage Two:
First thing I do is look for those stories that failed to follow standard manuscript formatting and move those stories to a formatting issues folder. If your story ends up here - that means it is at the bottom of the review stack. If I move enough stories into the 3rd read folder your story will not reviewed and you will receive a rejection for not following formatting guidelines.
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After I pull any stories for formatting issues, I then sit down to read all of the stories slated for a 2nd read. I plan to read each story to the end, but if I find myself being easily distracted or not caring about the characters or their story, I will stop and then move the story to the rejection folder. Stories that I find myself drawn into and I finish all the way to the end will move to the 3rd read folder.
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Depending on the number of stories moved to the 3rd read folder - I then go ahead and send the rejections for stories with formatting issues. I do not send the 2nd read rejections at this point as I want to make sure I end up with enough stories. I have also in the past ended up doing two anthologies when only one was planned and if that happens I will go back through the rejected stories to see if any of them can convince me they should be included.
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Stage Three:
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This is where I go through the stories that made it into the 3rd read folder. Since they have already been read through once - this is to see if they continue to hold my attention and still draw me into the story. I will also be looking more closely at things like word count, overall theme of the story (how well it fits with the other stories I will be accepting).
Depending on how many stories move to the acceptation folder, I will consider a second anthology and do a 4th read to trim the TOC down to the appropriate number of stories and word count.
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Once I have the final TOC set, I will send out contracts for the stories I would like to accept and the rest of the rejections.
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Note to Authors:
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Please note my emails are a blend between a form and a more involved rejection. The most common reason for a rejection is that your story just didn't grab my attention and I wasn't compelled enough to keep reading. This is not a slam on you or your writing. When an editor is reading submissions, they are first looking for stories that grab their attention, stories that appeal to them and if I stop reading early in the story (especially for those that don't make it into the 2nd read folder) I'm not going to have any critiques to offer.
Also, just because your story might not have grabbed my attention - doesn't mean another editor won't love it and snap it up.
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Stories that are accepted for magazines and anthologies are quite frequently a matter of personal preference on the part of the editor; and well-written and crafted stories are often rejected because they just didn't appeal to that specific editor or didn't fit with the vision they had for that issue or anthology or for their press.
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Never take rejections personally, but look at any feedback the editor takes time to give and re-read your story with that feedback in mind. You may disagree with what the editor said and that's fine, but taking the time to consider it and think about why you agree or disagree will help you grow as a writer.