Children and Young Adult Fiction

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Featherweight Publishing is an imprint of the parent company MLR Press, LLC. We are looking for high-quality stories that includes kids' emotional lives and interests from children's picture books to YA novels about issues that affects teens of all gender identification to kids books written by kids.

We offer our readers material in a variety of formats: fiction, nonfiction, and even cookbooks for kids. We are interested in positive, intriguing, and well-written stories that engage and entertain whether it is through humor, adventure, romance or the paranormal.

All materials need to be appropriate for kids. The work should not talk down to the audience. Your work should be simple but not simple-minded for the youngest readers. Added elements of adventure and mystery engage the slightly older readers while teen readers demand more sophisticated works that reflect true to life relationships they are experiencing themselves. Mystery and paranormal elements are popular in Young Adult works.

All material submitted should show positive role models and positive resolutions to the conflicts presented in the stories. We accept manuscripts with both mainstream and GLBT main characters.

 

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT

Frankly, we don't much care about formatting, except that we can accept only Word .doc, .docx or .rtf files, or Open Office files. Also, don't use orange six-point sans serif text on yellow background. Still, we've been reading most of our lives; we can adjust to exotic fonts and formats —but we'd rather not. Remember, though, that the easier the reading is, the better the editor's frame of mind. Also,make very, very sure that you have proofread and spellchecked your text. We take it as an indicator of your seriousness as an author if you haven't had sufficient respect for your own work to do at least that much to help it reach an audience.

SUBMISSIONS

We accept only electronic submission via email.

Your submission will have three parts: a cover letter, a synopsis, and a partial or full manuscript. Each and every one of these items should be proofread and spellchecked. If you haven't shown that much respect for your presentation, you can't expect us to take it seriously either.

The letter: In your cover letter, include your real name, your pen name (if any), your manuscript's genre, word count, your contact information, and a summary of your writing or publishing experience. (If you're a first-time author, say so. We won't hold it against you. All our authors had a first time.) Point us to your promotional website, if you have one. Tell us, for instance, to which writers' organizations you belong or in which writing contests you earned a prize or mention.

The synopsis: Give us a synopsis of your story. You might open it with brief descriptions of the major characters. Then briefly detail the significant action in the story. A synopsis is not a blurb. We need to know the story. All of it. Including the ending.

The partial or the full manuscript: The final component is the story itself. For works over 55,000 words we'd prefer to see the first three chapters plus the final one. Prologue and epilogue do not count as chapters. All works under 55,000 words need to be sent in as full manuscripts.

Send the cover letter, synopsis and manuscript to submission.featherweight@gmail.com

ILLUSTRATIONS

Send drawings or artwork in either JPG or TIFF format only. It will be up to us to decide if the artwork meets our standards and the book's needs. If it does not we will choose a professional illustrator for your work.

REVIEW TIME

If you submitted a partial manuscript, the editor might request the full manuscript before making a final decision. We try to respond to every author within three weeks of the date of submission to acknowledge receipt. We do not use form letters to reply. Each submission gets a thorough reading and the senior editor writes an individual evaluation. That kind of attention takes time. Even if your manuscript isn't suitable for us, you'll have a professional evaluation in hand to help you improve your story. If we declines your manuscript, don't take it personally. We might think your story is very good. But, if we don't have readers who buy your kind of story, it's not fair to you or us to go to publication. Seek the best market and publisher for your story.

ACCEPTANCE

If your story is accepted for publication, the publisher will contact you with details of an offer, including information about rights and royalties. Featherweight Publishing is a royalty-paying publishing house and does not charge authors to publish their works.

We are a print publisher, but we also make our titles available in all current electronic formats when able. Certain picture books do not convert well to some formats but usually will be made available in pdf. Royalty rates are as follows: 15 percent on net for print and 50 percent on net for ebook/audio book. Our titles are carried in such outlets as Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and independent bookstores in North America, Europe and Asia.

Each year, the publisher and other staff select a strategic handful of publishing and reader events at which they host booths. Authors are welcome to join them at these events. Additionally, the publisher tries to alert authors to online events and forums in which they may participate to promote their work.

 

CRAYON LINE

We believe in fostering new talent and exceptional abilities especially when it is found in our young. Featherweight offers our CRAYON LINE of titles (by kids for kids) specifically to nurture the writings of children. We believe that encouraging and mentoring highly talented young people is our way of paying it forward to ensure the written word continues on for future generations.

This submission are evaluated just like any other submission, gauging age appropriateness and author skill level. Any accepted manuscripts from underage authors will require signatures from their legal guardian or parent.