eBook Submission Guidelines

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Please read these guidelines thoroughly before submitting. New authors are always welcome! If you don't know your craft, learn it first, and then submit!!!

Scriptor Publishing is NOT a vanity press or self-publishing site. We publish at no cost to the author and place their books with online eBook sellers for a 15% commission of author royalties that can be a minimum of 35% and a maximum of 70%, depending on its placement and retail price. We concentrate on Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook, which together make up 95% of the eBook market. Electronic publishing is booming, expanding exponentially every year while traditional publishing loses ground. In a few short years, Electronic publishing should hold half the book market. Get in now while the opportunities are excellent. Nowhere else can you make such incredible royalties.

We're looking for:

	Manuscripts to become electronic books only (you may still publish your manuscript in paper format in any manner you please, with whomever you please). You keep all other rights to your manuscript.
	Fiction mostly, but we will consider some non-fiction (we like creative non-fiction and memoirs written frothing and overflowing with dialogue-don't just TELL your story. If you want to TELL someone something, use Western Union).
	Characters with whom we can empathize and sympathize-and antagonists we can love to hate. We want to see the growth in at least the protagonist throughout the story that ends in some form of character change or epiphany. Character is more important than plot!
	Well-written stories with good grammar, spelling, and story flow.
	Well-plotted stories with twists, turns, and unpredictability.
	Most genres. Our highest priorities in order of preference are: Women's (particularly in sci-fi, fantasy [not high fantasy], historical, and contemporary), Science Fiction, Fantasy (not high fantasy just yet), Historical, and Contemporary. In children's eBooks, we're most interested in middle grade and young adult.
	Bundles of four short stories with some tie-together theme for anthologies (bundled per author and tied by genre, time period, subject matter, common character, etc.).
	Most any POV.
	Submissions in English only.

We DO NOT want:

	Fan fiction.
	Flash fiction, unless in an anthology exceeding 8,000 words.
	Single Short Stories.
	Pornography (we will take well-done erotica).
	Hate-based stories.
	Excessive violence or profanity exceeding appropriateness of the story.
	Unimaginative plots.
	Talky scenes without moving the plot along or developing the characters.
	Less than three-dimensional major characters.
	Grammatical and spelling nightmares (We will work with less than perfect manuscripts to help bring them up to professional standards as long as they don't need a major overhaul, and that the author do most of the work with our editing guidance).

Many (but not all) of the genres we accept are:

	Action-Adventure
	Crime
	Erotica (stories must have consenting sex between legal-age adults and must NOT contain: Bestiality, necrophilia, rape, golden showers, defecation, pornography, or stories without a plot or characterization.
	Fantasy
	Historical
	Horror
	Inspirational
	Mainstream
	Middle Grade
	Mystery
	Novellas
	Paranormal
	Romance
	Science Fiction
	Suspense
	Thriller
	Western
	Women's
	Young Adult

Format:

	Only Word 2003, 2007, 2010, or .rtf (rich text format) files are accepted and only when asked for.
	1.5" margins.
	11 pt Times New Roman font.
	Double spacing -- and Word 2007 and 2010 users, make sure your manuscript is set to "No spacing" under "Home" and "Styles". If you don't reset the default, it leaves a half space between paragraphs.
	First line indent of .5 inches. PLEASE … do NOT use the tab key, spaces, or set a tab by clicking in the ruler to indent. DO use the first line indent feature found in the paragraph dialogue box. Do NOT indent the first paragraphs of chapters or scenes (initial paragraphs), and make sure your horizontal ruler bar shows no special marks when someone clicks into any initial paragraph.
	Do NOT include headers, footers, or page numbers.
	Start your manuscript with the title and author centered at the TOP of the page. Do NOT skip down one-third of the way from the top of ANY page to start a story of novel chapter. Chapter or story should start two lines after the author name.
	Do NOT skip a line between paragraphs.
	Do NOT have two or more characters speaking in the same paragraph.
	This publishing company adheres to CMoS (Chicago Manual of Style). All Scriptor-published eBooks WILL conform to CMoS.

Capability of the author:

	Must display excellent mastery of the writing craft.
	Illustrate proper formatting for eBook manuscripts.
	Be an acceptable grammarian.
	Have a good working knowledge of Microsoft Word (Must know how to use the comment feature and be able to perform search and replace with a high degree of skill.

How to submit:

	Do NOT send any attached submissions of the work until they are asked for.
	First contact should be through a one-page query letter, the first chapter (NO prologues, please), and your brief synopsis (not more than two double-spaced, regular pages). All should be placed in the body of the email, query first, chapter/ second, synopsis last (short stories in anthologies need no synopses). The email process is flawed.
	If you don't receive confirmation of receipt within two weeks, please resubmit.
	Email your query submissions to submissions@EugeneOrlando.com.
	The subject line of the email should start with the title followed by a dash with the genre last … like this: A Tiger's Heart - Historical.
	Response times could vary, but they should not exceed six weeks
	Simultaneous submissions are okay.

Only YOUR original work should be submitted. It should be free from any legal claims. You must hold the copyright to your own work. The copyright does not have to be registered. We can help you register it if you desire, but you must pay for it. No works are accepted if they already are involved in another company's contract for eBook printing rights. All previous contract issues must be resolved. If the work has been previously published in any paper format, we will only accept it if the rights have reverted back to you.

We will provide a free ISBN number for your use while you are under contract with Scriptor for Nook publications only (all our numbers are register in Scriptor's name with Bowker). No ISBN numbers will be used for Kindle as they have their own identifying numbering system. ISBN numbers are not needed for short works. Bar codes are not needed for eBooks.

All communications will be made via email unless otherwise agreed upon.

Any works that Scriptor Publishing accepts will be subject to intensive editing. You will be given a self-editing instrument first, be expected to apply it to your manuscript and follow it to the letter in the proper order, and resubmit. After that, a Scriptor editor will be assigned to work with you one-on-one.

Please adhere to all the submissions requirements. Look them over three times at least. When you submit, go over them with a fine-tooth comb to make sure you've met every requirement. The biggest reason most publishing companies and agents don't reply to submissions is the lack of regard for submission requirements. It's much easier and less time-consuming to hit the delete key on a submission than it is to write back and ask for proper adherence to the submission guidelines. Remember that most publishers and agents receive hundreds of submissions every week. DON'T make it easy for them to reject-most are looking for any reason to reduce their workload.

All questions should be directed to scriptor@EugeneOrlando.com. All submissions should be sent to submissions@EugeneOrlando.com.