If we cannot contact you directly by email, your submission will be deleted.
Contents
* Acceptance Times
* Accepted Genres
* BEFORE You Submit
* Format
* Print
* Writers Exchange
* Message From Senior Editor to Prospective Authors/Editing Advice
Acceptance Times:
The acceptance time is currently now APPROXIMATELY 6 months - we will ALWAYS email you, so don't assume not hearing from us means a rejection, it just means we haven't gotten to your submission yet. And followup is always appreciated in case emails have gone astray.
Genres:
The following genres are currently being accepted:
* Action/Adventure/War
* Business/Finance
* Christian (Fiction and non-fiction)
* Fantasy
* General Fiction (Miscellaneous fiction that does not fit under any of the other categories)
* Historical
* Humour
* Mystery
* Parenting
* Romance - This includes sweet up to sensual rating. Romances can include traditional romance or multi-genre (ie mixed with paranormal, time-travel, mythological creatures etc). We are particularly looking for regency, vampire, werewolf and other paranormal romances. We do not publish: erotica, homosexual romances (you can have homosexual characters in your stories, but we do not want romances featuring homosexual relationships). We also do not want stories that contain non-consensual relationships, bestiality, or undue crudity.
* Science Fiction
* Self-Help/How-To (this includes DIY, Health, Advice, hobbies etc)
* Westerns
* Writing Advice
If your book does not fit any of these genres please send me an email and ask if we would be willing to publish it.
BEFORE You Submit:
I would highly recommend that you read the following book and article before submitting, it will help you remove a lot of the usual problems that cause books to be rejected and generally improve your writing.
The article is:http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/reject.html
The book is: "Pumping Your Muse" by Donna Sundblad.
Format:
Always send an accompanying email with your submission. Any submissions received without this, will be deleted as a suspected virus.
Accompanying email:
All that is required in this email (sent to a href="mailto:writers@writers-exchange.com">writers@writers-exchange.com) are the usual common courtesies (addressed to Mrs Cummins or Sandy Cummins), and a small paragraph stating that you are enclosing a submission for evaluation for publication. Please also include the genre, and approximate word/page count.
Manuscript Format:
Please format all manuscripts in single line with the first line indented, and no double space between paragraphs (and no tabs in the document).
Our preferred font is Verdana, with the text in 12 point and the chapter headings in Bold 16 Point (centered).
I will accept attachments if you inform me in the body of the email that a manuscript is attached (provided it is in a recognised format - docx, doc or rtf)
To prevent having to wait in the queue twice, please send your complete manuscript as an email attachment.
If you wish to chase up your work, leave it two months and then a polite email enquiry is acceptable.
PUBLICATION (EXCLUSIVE): If Writers Exchange Publishes your book, it will be edited by our professional editors, we will provide cover art (with the Author's input) and we will format the book for you into all the formats sold on our website (if your book suits these formats).
We also promote the book for you (though that does not mean you shouldn't promote as well) - we send the book out to reviewers, nominate it for awards, put the book on any other sites that distribute for us.
In return, the version that we edit is ONLY to be sold from our website and any promotion should link to our website. (ie your email signature, links from your website or any online articles that contain your bio etc)
Please note, there is NO charge for editing, and cover art is provided
The author royalties are 50% (as of 1 June 2006).
Print:
Most of our books are coming out in print.
For novels we were using the company Lightning Source who are owned by Ingrams.
Contract:
(Note: This contracts are identical to those sent out to the authors unless specific arrangements have been made on an individual basis).
Writers Exchange E-Publishing PUBLISHING Agreement:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing Terms of Agreement:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing
C/- Sandy Cummins
PO Box 372
ATHERTON QLD 4883
AUSTRALIA
DATE: ____________________________________________
AUTHOR'S REAL NAME: ______________________________
PSEUDONYM: _____________________________________
STREET ADDRESS: _________________________________
CITY, STATE, POST CODE (ZIP): ______________________
TELEPHONE (INCLUDING COUNTRY CODE): ___________________
EMAIL ADDRESS: ________________________________________
TITLE: _________________________________
LEGAL SIGNATURE: ______________________________
DATE SIGNED: ____________________________________
Writers Exchange E-Publishing SIGNATURE: __________________________
DATE SIGNED: __________________________________
This contract is between Writers Exchange E-Publishing and __________________ (Author's legal name).
You, the Author agrees to the following:
1. Author agrees to submit the complete work to us electronically with any revisions we have asked for at the agreed upon time and within reasonable limits or this contract will be void. Publisher reserves the right to final approval of the revised manuscript. The final manuscript will be provided to the Publisher in MS WORD or RTF. If the contract has been signed On Spec the Publisher reserves the right to cancel the contract if the finished work cannot be edited into publishable quality.
2. Author agrees to grant Writers Exchange E-Publishing the exclusive rights to publish and sell in digital format (electronic download, disk, CD, or any other digital format known or unknown at this time) of the work mentioned above. This right is extended for the English version only, any foreign language rights remain the property of the author.
3. Author warrants and represents that the material s/he writes and submits is original with him/her: that it does not infringe upon any copyright, proprietary right, or any other right of any kind, that it does not libel or invade the privacy of any person and that the Author has the unimpaired right to convey the rights s/he has granted the Publisher in this Agreement. Author will indemnify Publisher and hold Publisher harmless against all claims, losses and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) which result from breaches of Author's warranties and representations.
4. Author agrees to provide a bio that includes a photo of Author, a blurb to use on the back of disk and for our website and promotional material. Publisher reserves final right to rewrite or edit cover blurb.
5. Author agrees to give Publisher the right to use the Author's name, likeness, title of book, and bio material for publishing, advertising and promoting the work.
6. Author agrees to self-promote material to the best of his/her ability - and ensure that it is clear that their promotion is on their behalf as the Author, not as a representative of Writers Exchange E-Publishing.
7. There is no time-limit on this contract as either the Author or Publisher may terminate contract within 90 days by submitting a certified mail notice to the other party and all rights will revert to Author at time of termination.
8. Author will receive 50% of the retail download price (minus half of the paypal or credit card gateway fees) if Author provided the work complete. For illustrated books the author royalties will drop to 30% to allow 20% to the cover artist.
9. The Author may use an approved excerpt of the work at his/her website but must include a link from Author's website to the Writers Exchange E-Publishing website. (This link should be used for email signatures, or online bios that mention the book).
10. The Publisher's staff editors will edit the book, this edition is NOT to be sold elsewhere without the Publisher's consent, even after this contract is terminated. (The Author retains the right to sell their original version, just not the version edited by Writers Exchange).
11. Publisher will promote through online and offline sources and will keep an updated website but will not be responsible for site downtime and interrupted transmissions.
12. With advance notice, Publisher will work with bookstores, conference hosts, or Author for book signings or contests to provide any needed books. Details will be worked out between Publisher and organisation or bookstore.
13. All other sales, other than those mentioned above will be through the Publisher, via their website, phone, fax, email, mail, or other means as determined by the Publisher and Author will receive royalties after costs*. (When selling through our site Author will receive royalties on LIST PRICE).
*NB - we have received queries on "costs" for the above paragraph, by this I mean that the cost of production or fees from distributors/credit card companies are taken out, and the remainder is shared at the usual ratio between Author and publisher. For example the print books have the cost charged by the Printing company.
The costs taken out are the exact amount that has to be paid by Writers Exchange E-Publishing, there is no extra going to the publisher.
14. The Publisher is responsible for sending out at least three (3) copies of the work for review. The Author may send out such other review copies as he/she deems advisable. The Publisher and Author shall maintain communication as to where the review copies are sent and the reviews engendered by such copies. Getting the word out on the work is agreed by both parties to be a continuing joint effort and full cooperation between the parties is of the highest priority.
15. Publisher can provide cover art for your book. If however Author has cover art he/she wishes to provide, Author must warrant that provided cover art in any form generated either by computer, hand, or photo is owned by Author or doesn't infringe any copyright. Publisher has final approval of any and all cover art. Author will provide cover art to specifications of the Publisher to size, clarity and content.
16. The Publisher will provide the Author with at least one copy of the finished cover art and at least one copy of the finished book.
17. The Publisher is solely responsible for obtaining an ISBN number for the finished work.
18. If the Author chooses not to register the copyright, the Publisher shall not be held responsible for any harm the non-registration might cause the copyright holder in the future. The copyright shall at all times be in the Author's name.
19. The Publisher has the sole right to set the prices of the download and may decide to drop the price after a period of time to stimulate sales.
20. Royalties will be constantly displayed to the author by way of an online royalties page. This page will be update as needed.
21. Royalties will be paid to an Agent or other person in representation of the Author if the Author so specifies.
22. The publisher reserves the right to cancel this contract if the work cannot be polished to a publishable standard.
23. If the author wishes to use the Print on Demand Service they may be responsible for the initial set-up fee.
END SAMPLE CONTRACT.
Note that there is no time-limit on the contracts. Contracts can be cancelled easily by an email from either party. If everyone is happy I see no point in having to renew contracts every so often.
Message from Senior Editor To Prospective Authors:
Are you sending us the very best that you have to offer? Have you gone over your manuscript carefully? Have you checked for spelling errors, sentence structure problems, POV problems, punctuation problems, plot problems? Is your story consistent? Do you know how to show, not tell? Do you understand how to use dialogue tags? Do you know what they are?
The biggest concern for me is Point of View. Shifting POV in mid-scene is usually considered head-hopping. Yes, I know that some well-known authors do this, but they are well-known. Most of you are new authors, trying to find your place in the world of writing. You don't have the luxury to break the same rules that the well-known authors do.
Sorry, but that's the truth.
POV should only be changed at a scene break or a chapter break. I can usually tell when it's intentional or the author really doesn't know what POV is.
Another big issue is telling versus showing. When you begin to tell the story, as opposed to showing what happens, you lose your intimacy with the reader. Readers begin to skim at this point. Have you ever had to read a history book for school? You all have at some point, I am sure. What parts did you remember? Was it the pages of narrative, where you were told what happened? Or was it the pages where the story was shown either by dialogue, quotes, or as a piece of fiction? I would bet the latter. Would you like to go to a movie and have the words simply shown to you on the screen? Of course not. You go to a movie to be immersed in that world, to become one with it for a few hours. Your book should do the same thing. You need to create a world with your words. You need to paint the picture, show the reader what you are saying, immerse the reader in your world. A good book will hook the reader so thoroughly that they will have a hard time putting it down, will want to get back to it ASAP, and will oftentimes be oblivious to what is going on around them. My sister is testimony to this. Whenever she was totally immersed in a good book, you could shout her name right beside her, and she wouldn't register it. *G*
Another peeve of mine is improper spelling. Please, don't assume that I know everything either. I don't. I look it up. So should you. Word will not catch everything. Trust me.
A couple of other things here. The last several books I have done I have noticed the tendency to continually use the person's name in dialogue as in:
"Ted, I don't know what you mean."
"Well, Ned, let me explain."
"Oh, yes, Ted, please do."
Do you talk like that? Do you really realize how little you say another person's name when speaking to the person? Listen to conversations around you, listen to your own. You'll see how little you actually use another person's name when speaking to them.
A really big pet peeve of mine is what I call simultaneous actions:
Going to the door, he opened it. Picking up his pants, he put them on.
Things like that. You cannot do both actions at the same time. You first go to the door, then you open it. You first pick up the pants, then put them on. Besides reading better, it eliminates an ing word, which are weak words in most cases.
Punctuation is a biggie as well. Some problems that I see consistently are the use of pronouns.
Incorrect: "I want to go there," He said.
Incorrect: "I want to go there." He said.
Correct: "I want to go there," he said.
Correct: "I want to go there." He said it with a grin.
Commas are a big issue with me. Mainly because of the tendency worldwide to not use them! I like commas. They seem to make the sentence read better. I use them where they make sense. I know that some books will say that you don't just use commas where they make sense, that there are rules for commas. I agree, but with the media failing to use them, I guess it's not a huge issue if authors fail to use them. *Sigh*
I still like commas before the word too when it ends a sentence, and on both sides of the word too when it's in the center of a sentence (if it means also).
BTW, it's means "it is". Don't use it when you mean its. Look it up.
All writers should have a thesaurus, a dictionary, and some sort of grammar book on their desk. They should also use them. *G*
[Note from Sandy: As of September 2004 Writers Exchange will be using "Style Manual for authors, editors and printers" 6th edition Published by John Wiley & Sons as our overall standard. So if in doubt, get a copy of this book (you can buy it online) and read it for our editing standards. This is an Australian book and will be a bit different from the US standards that most authors/editors will be familiar with from the States]
If you would please go over your manuscripts and double check them before you send them in, it would speed things up considerably. As an aside, Sandy is very open to helping new authors get their break, but I can tell you right now that NY would not accept manuscripts with obvious errors. They simply get too many submissions. They will not do your editing for you. That's your job. It's part of being a writer.
Some further editing advice from our author Dotti Enderle:
There is a wonderful "Highlighting" method of self-editing that I teach in my writer's workshop. It's simple. Take four highlighters - pink, blue, yellow, and green. Then highlight your manuscript from beginning to end like this:
Pink - action
Blue - dialogue
Yellow - thoughts and feelings
Green - narration
When you've finished, you should have a fairly balanced manuscript of colors. If you have lots of green, watch out. You're probably telling, not showing.
Remember that action, dialogue, and emotion (inner dialogue) are story.
Description is NOT story. So be careful not to stop your story to describe something.
Example of stopping the story for description:
I hurried to the food court, knowing I was uber-late meeting Sandy and Jenna. They were already five minutes ahead of me, scoping out the hot guys at the video games.
"It's about time you got here," Sandy said. Jenna nodded, rolling her eyes. She wore a t-shirt with the cutest pink kitty on the front. Sandy had on her usual low-cut camisole.
Looking down at my own clothes, I knew I couldn't compete. This had disaster written all over it.
Keeping the story flowing:
I hurried to the food court, knowing I was uber-late meeting Sandy and Jenna. They were already five minutes ahead of me, scoping out the hot guys at the video games. "It's about time you got here," Sandy said, her bra straps peeking from her low-cut camisole. Jenna nodded and rolled her eyes. Even the pink kitty on the front of her t-shirt looked cuter than me. This had disaster written all over it.
