Publishing House Submission Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House. We are currently accepting submissions for fiction. At this time, we do not accept: short stories, short story collections, children's books, picture books, poetry, non-fiction, true crime, memoirs, fictionalized memoirs, biographies, or choose your own ending books.

Submission Guidelines

Romantic Fiction: We are accepting submissions for Romantic Fiction with a word count of 55,000 to 120,000.

Light Erotica: We are accepting submissions for Light Erotica with a word count of 60,000 to 120,000.

General Fiction: We are accepting submissions for all other forms of fiction with a word count of 60,000 to 120,000.

TWCS Publishing House will not accept or review submissions with any of the following topics or elements:

• Bestiality
• Graphic or eroticized incest
• Necrophilia
• Pedophilia (no sex involving underage characters)
• Graphic or eroticized rape
• Extreme fetishes

Submission Procedures

• TWCS Publishing House will only consider complete manuscripts. Do not submit with us if all you have is a partial or a proposal. We will delete it.
• Please do not send a full manuscript at this time. If we want a full manuscript, we will request one.
• All work submitted must be the authors own work. Any stories that contain scenes or plot lines that bear a striking resemblance to previously published work are in breach of copyright law and will not be considered.
• We only accept electronic submissions at this time and cannot accept paper submissions.
• After you submit, you will receive a submission number that is to be used in the subject line of all correspondence. If you do not receive a number within 30 days, please resend your submission and let us know you did not receive a submission number.
• You will receive a response (a request for full manuscript or a decline) in approximately 8-12 weeks. Please do not ask for the status of your query before week 12 unless you are retracting your submission. After week 12, you are welcome to send an email requesting an update. Please be nice.

Please include the following information in your query email:

• Legal Name
• Pen name
• Contact Email
• Contact Phone
• Working Title (include series name and details if applicable)
• Word Count
• Genre(s): main genre, subgenre(s)
• Pertinent facts about you as an author
• Any previous publishing experience
• A short blurb about yourself (no more than three paragraphs, please)
• Please put QUERY in the subject line of the email, for example, if you're submitting to the Young Adult Fiction, your subject line would read: QUERY YOUNG ADULT.
• A short summary of your story (no more than three paragraphs, please)
• Attach the first three chapters of your book (double spaced).
• Attach a 2-3 page synopsis (singled spaced) in a separate file from the first three chapters. Please include the overview of your story's arc, the beginning, middle, and end. Include the climax and resolution.

File naming conventions:

• Please name the chapters 1-3 file BOOKTITLE_1-3_sub (replace BOOKTITLE with the title of the story)
• Please name your synopsis file BOOKTITLE_syn (replace BOOKTITLE with the title of the story)

Send submission to submissions@thewriterscoffeeshop.com

Manuscript Formatting Requirements:

• File type: .doc (preferred) or .rtf only (All other file types will be ignored)
• Font: Times New Roman, 12pt black
• Line spacing: 2 (double spaced) unless otherwise noted
• Margins: 1 inch all
• Use a single space between sentences
• No double-spaces or extra returns between paragraphs
• Use your word processing functions to indent new paragraphs. Do not tab or use the space bar.
• Use page-breaks between chapters
• Do not use style elements or sections breaks
• Page numbers should appear at the bottom of each page, centered (use a footer).
• Your name and title of your book should appear at the top of each page, centered (use a header).

Please include a title page listing the following information:

• Legal name
• Pen name
• Contact email
• Contact phone
• Working title (include series name and details if applicable)
• Word count
• Genre(s)

A few tips

• Please use spell check.
• No bold, underlined, or other special fonts except italic, used only where appropriate.
• No use of all-caps to indicate shouting or intense emotion.
• Point-of-view: We prefer first or third person. Limit point-of-view to essential characters. POV impossibilities and/or most head-hopping within scenes frustrate the editor. You don't want a frustrated editor.
• Punctuation: Keep it simple. Eliminate clusters of emdashes and/or ellipses. No use of multiple end of sentence punctuation!!?! One is sufficient.
• Repetitive word use: Eliminate repeated words and phrases in proximity and throughout the work.
• Eliminate as much passive voice as possible and use active voice.
• Unnecessary words: Common offenders are that, had, and, really, very, little, then, and then, just, about, against, so, all, but, like, was/were, suddenly, immediately, however, therefore, etc.
• Sentence structure: Generally speaking, it should be varied to avoid striking uncomfortable rhythms. Beware of paragraphs with every sentence starting with articles and/or pronouns. Beware any overabundance of present progressive verb tense, possessive pronouns, -ly adverbs, and prepositional phrases.
• Dialogue tags: Sometimes, less really is more. Not every line needs a tag, and "said" and "asked" are just fine. Use a good mix of action and/or speaker attribution tags. Seek balance and clarity when distributing front, middle, or end.