PORT YONDER PRESS

A Horizon Beyond

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It is not so much the ship as the skillful sailor that assures the prosperous voyage. ~George William Curtis

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2012 SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 


Send:

  • a 3 line (THREE SENTENCE) pitch for your book on the FIRST DAY of any month, emailed to this address:  Contact@PortYonderPress.com.  
  • genre
  • word count
  • three possible high-ranking endorsers 
  • the very best of your previous publishing credits (3 or 4 at most)  
  • Also mention if you're targeting our general market or Christian imprint(s). (As an aside, we're currently focusing more on general market books until a balance is reached in what we have to offer.  In other words, if you submit something for our Christian imprints, the writing must be stellar, the focus wildly different, your credentials and marketing ability second-to-none. It would help if you're Mother Teresa or C. S. Lewis, come back to life.)

The totality of what we receive should equal HALF A PAGE of information or less. If the initial information interests us, we'll ask for the first few chapters, and then possibly a book proposal. Please follow instructions to the "T" or your material will be discarded.


If we don't ask for further info by the first day of the following month, assume we're probably not interested at this time.  Don't resubmit the same manuscript for at least six months.  In the meantime, scour our site to see what we're about and what we like.  We love eclectic, different.  Try us!


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Most of the time, we'll use POD printers rather than the typical short run printers. The benefit for a small press is that we don't have to deal with remainders and returns, which can devastate us financially, especially given this economy.

Visit here and here before submitting to see if this model fits your dreams.  We also have a Preliminary Author Questionnaire we'll have you fill out if we're interested in your initial equery, and a Marketing Questionnaire that will prepare you for the inevitable.

See our "About Us" page to learn about the print-without-remainder digital publishing model.


First, read and heed everything in this article.  The only EXCEPTION to this article is that we DO NOT currently ask that you use an agent.  Feel free to contact us without agent representation.
 
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Topics and writing styles we love to explore:speculative, hard & soft science fiction, literary, essays, dragons, elves & all manner of other fantasy creatures (woven into a whiz-bang of a fantasy story), excellent poetry (free verse & experimental preferred; rhyming only if done exceptionally well), spy/suspense thrillers (think Bourne), hard hitting westerns, the strange/unusual/niche including "weird" or "slipstream" fiction. We're into experimental mixed genres. Give us something quirky and very very unique.

What we don't accept: horror and erotica (we don't do pornography, written or visual). I'm also not a fan of historicals or romance unless it's out-of-this-world different.

Please, little to no explicit or implied sexuality (if you have it, make sure it's tastefully done), foul language should be kept to a minimum, violence if integral to the plot is acceptable but make sure it's not gratuitous.  Sorcery or occult themes are taboo unless intricately tied into the plot and preferably brought to some measure of resolution before the end. Any religious inclusions (of any religion) needs to be skillfully and seamlessly done; we hate preachiness in all its many insidious forms.

We include a rating system with our books: G, PG, PG-14 or M(ature), and also a "Religious Content" notification if it contains more than an offhand reference or two to God or another deity.
 
Did you know that having a book published is seldom a money-making proposition, unless your network / fan base is large? 
Did you know it often takes years and several successful books to get to that point? 
Are you prepared to put in the time and effort to achieve that?


Your Professionalism is important


  • Excellent work

Send us your best work.  Make sure the manuscript you send is clean copy (error-free or pretty close).  Nothing turns us off more than a manuscript full of typos and poor grammar - marks of an unlearned or unprofessional writer, or at the worst, a lazy one.

Join a writers group, submit your manuscript for revision, and get it up to snuff before querying us.

If you need help finding a reliable freelance editor, you may want to contact one of our consulting editors.  You can find info on the Staff Particulars page.
 
  • Excellent attitude

We all know temperamental writers who are difficult to live and work with.  If you are such an author, please consider looking elsewhere for a publisher.  We frankly don't need the stress.

We look for team members who are malleable, sweet-spirited, and easy to work with.  Pride yourself on being otherwise?  So sorry.  Another publisher is just a click away.

  • Excellent team spirit

Our primary goal will be to get this book in print and then into the distribution channels so it can be picked up by bookstores, libraries, etc.  But our budgeting allowance is low, so the bulk of the marketing will be done by you, the author.  We will do some, but minimally so.  We have neither the time nor the money.  Saying that, we will be working with you from beginning to end and need you to likewise work with us. 

If you have this excellent work ethic, attitude and team spirit, please read on about how to market your book.

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Our Distributors - Currently we use Ingram as our book distributor, but hope to expand to Baker and Taylor as soon as we have a couple more titles to offer them, probably in 2011. 

Rest assured, we will attempt to make your book available in all the usual places as quickly as possible, and your marketing efforts will further expand its reach.  We will also be incorporating the use of the Espresso Book Machine wherever available.  If you're not familiar with the EBM, click here.

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Your Advance - We will offer you a token advance (usually $25-50) against your royalties.  When our operating expenses for preparing your book (illustrations, cover art, etc.), free review copies, getting it into the distribution channels, etc., have been met through initial book sales, you will receive 50% of the incoming royalties.  The contract we offer you will deal with the other specifics.
Your Platform is essential


  • Networking

FACEBOOK - If you've not yet availed yourself of Facebook at the very least, we'll be missing a great potential market opportunity for your book.  And as a small publisher, we need you to do more of the pure marketing than we do.  After all, our budget is extremely small, your royalties from us will be higher than most (50%, compared to the usual 16%), and with both a shrinking economy and a shrinking publishing world, we all realize the necessity for the author to be writer, marketer, promoter and sales-person if we're to make it in today's publishing climate.  If you can add Twitter, LinkedIn, writers groups, etc., all the better.  Facebook is an absolute must.

WEBSITE - If you don't have a dedicated author website and/or blog, now is the time to get it started.  Our authors must have one or both.  Again, it's all about marketing, and a website (preferably a blog with somewhat regular postings) is not an option.  We would also like you to set up purchasing capabilities on your website or blog, or minimally have a link to your Amazon page.

ENDORSERS/INFLUENCERS - You will want to be thinking about well-known people who can endorse or influence your book.  If you know no one, I would recommend you join and get involved with one of the many writers groups available, and the more, the better.  Begin to think about who can "influence" or endorse your book, write reviews, host you on their blog, etc.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS - You have connections we don't:  your family and friends, church groups, civic groups, writers groups, acquaintances at work, neighbors, etc.  Inform them of your upcoming release.  Most will be happy to share in your success by purchasing a copy.  Be sure to autograph it if they desire!

OUR PART - Port Yonder Press has a growing Facebook presence as well as this website and a small but growing fan base.  We will list the book here, on Amazon, and post it on our Facebook page, as well as send out occasional reviews and updates through these channels. In addition, we may work with you to develop new markets, but again, we can't emphasize enough the importance of you, the author, taking ultimate responsibility for marketing your book.  We both benefit when your book sells well, and that involves author-marketing.  We will also, of course, send your book, if appropriate, to several top review sites for perusal.

We are trying to be honest when we claim that we can't promise you the world.  What we can do is try to make the best of what you've provided us, stand behind you in its promotion, and make our working relationship with you both pleasant and lasting. 

AUTHOR MARKETING - Book-on-Demand technology is just a bit more costly than typesetting.  Your "take" on a digitally produced book-on-demand will be about twice as much if you plan on selling a greater number of books yourself through your website or book signings.  Even at the higher royalties through PYP, without typesetting your take is less, UNLESS you can market/sell a large number of books yourself.