If you’re thinking about submitting your manuscript to SparkPress, you might be a little apprehensive. Perhaps you’ve never submitted your manuscript to a publisher before. Perhaps you’re looking for an alternative to traditional publishing. To help make your submitting process as easy as possible, we’ve assembled some dos and don’ts.

Happy submitting, and good luck!

DO: Read the submission requirements

Check to see if your manuscript meets our requirements before submitting. For example, if your manuscript is under 40,000 words, we’re likely either going to refer you to our sister imprint SheBooks or tell you you’ll need a developmental edit to help beef up your manuscript. See if we publish your genre and what we want in a submission before filling out the form.

DON’T: Shy away from sharing extra information

We don’t have a section asking for genre, but this is important information to have. If you already have a marketing plan, send it! If you have a reason why your book needs to be published at a certain time, include it. If your book has illustrations and you already have them, include them. Anything you have to make us want to publish your book can help.

DO: Attach your manuscript (or at least 20 pages of it)

When we say “if you have a marketing plan for your book, include it” that is not in lieu of your manuscript. An outline is also not an alternative here, although it is also great to have. At SparkPress, part of our mission is to publish good books, whether or not they are marketable. We judge your manuscript on the quality of the writing; with anything less than 20 pages of a writing sample, we’re at a severe disadvantage in our ability to assess the quality of your work.

DON’T: Leave anything blank

Please do not leave anything blank on the submission form—it makes you look lazy or potentially like you’re hiding something. And write something different in each section. Your cover memo should not be your book summary and/or author bio. It should give us extra information about why you, why this book, why now, why SparkPress. This is a great place to talk about genre, what work has been done thus far, and what your hopes are for the book.

DO: Check out other titles we’ve published

Make sure your book is in good company. Ideally, we’ll have previously published books in the same genre as yours. It’s never too early to start thinking about comparative titles or who you’d like to ask for a blurb. SparkPress authors are usually delighted to be asked to blurb another’s book, and are more than willing to do so.

DON’T: Follow up too soon

If we’ve had your submission for longer than quoted on the submission page, it’s totally fine to follow up. Our submission process usually takes 4-6 weeks, but our window is 3-8. Things happen; people miss deadlines or call in sick and processes change. Please hold off on following up until it has been at least eight weeks since you submitted. At that point it’s more likely that something is holding up your project.

DO: Think about your finances

Publishing a book is an expensive endeavor. Not only do you have your publishing package price ($7,900), but if you are put on Track 2, you will be required to get a copyedit, and if you are put on Track 3, a developmental edit as well. We also highly recommend hiring a publicist. They typically charge $100/hour, with packages starting at 80 or 100 hours. That’s another $8,000-$10,000 minimum commitment. There’s the costs of printing and shipping your ARCs (advanced reader copies) and final copies. In addition, you may want to pay to experiment with Amazon ads or for a review from a prestigious trade magazine, and hire a photographer to get a headshot. Don’t sign without figuring out if you can afford it first.