We publish 4-6 titles per year (we’re setting sustainable targets) and are actively seeking submissions from Australian writers of science fiction and fantasy a little outside the mainstream. Our submission guidelines and process are outlined below, and you can also check our Writers’ FAQ for more information.
Submission guidelines | How to submit
Submission Guidelines
Before you submit: Please make sure you read these guidelines and the Writers’ FAQ thoroughly and that your expectations are realistic — we are small, we are new, and we distribute primarily to online retailers, not physical bookstores. Please don’t waste our time and your own by submitting without understanding that.
Also, it’d be nice if you could first just take a moment to be sure you meet our most basic criteria: that you’re Australian, that your manuscript is completed, and that it is speculative fiction. If any of those three things are not true, please do not submit.
Length: 70,000 words upwards. We’re not imposing an upper limit but ebooks tend to be short; if you’ve got a monster of a word count, we might have to consider splitting the book into several volumes (but see our caveat about multi-volume stories below). We want a good novel-length story told in as many words as it needs, no more, no less. We’re not looking for short story collections, novellas or poetry at this time.
Type: We’ll consider anything that falls even loosely into the category of science fiction or fantasy, but we’re looking most of all for polished writing, fleshed-out characters, and clever dialogue. That doesn’t mean your characters can just sit around being witty — you also need to give them a strong story so they’ve got something to do and talk about. Stories with decent female characters, humour and/or a bit of romance are in with a headstart.
Rights and payment: We will ask for exclusive and worldwide electronic rights. It must be worldwide; the last thing you want your readers to see is the dreaded ‘this book is not available in your geographic region’ message. You may also optionally give us print rights so that we can produce a printed version of your book.
Your royalty will be 50% of net revenues (in whatever format), paid quarterly. Net revenue is the total receipts from a book, minus the fees paid to the distributor, retailer, or (if applicable) printer. As an example only, if the recommended retail price of an ebook is $10, the net revenue is generally somewhere between $4-$5, of which you would receive half as your fee for licensing your work to us. We pay our costs out of the other half, and get to keep whatever happens to be left over.
You will receive an advance on your royalties of $500. Note, then, that you will only start earning quarterly royalties once your advance has been earned out…and that it is entirely possible this will never happen. If you don’t earn out your advance during the term of your contract with us, you don’t have to pay it back.
How to Submit
We accept email submissions only (let’s save a few trees). Send a synopsis and your first three chapters to submissions@winterbournepublishing.com.au. It will be read by our main editor, Wendy Palmer.
(More information HERE.)
Submission guidelines | How to submit
Submission Guidelines
Before you submit: Please make sure you read these guidelines and the Writers’ FAQ thoroughly and that your expectations are realistic — we are small, we are new, and we distribute primarily to online retailers, not physical bookstores. Please don’t waste our time and your own by submitting without understanding that.
Also, it’d be nice if you could first just take a moment to be sure you meet our most basic criteria: that you’re Australian, that your manuscript is completed, and that it is speculative fiction. If any of those three things are not true, please do not submit.
Length: 70,000 words upwards. We’re not imposing an upper limit but ebooks tend to be short; if you’ve got a monster of a word count, we might have to consider splitting the book into several volumes (but see our caveat about multi-volume stories below). We want a good novel-length story told in as many words as it needs, no more, no less. We’re not looking for short story collections, novellas or poetry at this time.
Type: We’ll consider anything that falls even loosely into the category of science fiction or fantasy, but we’re looking most of all for polished writing, fleshed-out characters, and clever dialogue. That doesn’t mean your characters can just sit around being witty — you also need to give them a strong story so they’ve got something to do and talk about. Stories with decent female characters, humour and/or a bit of romance are in with a headstart.
Rights and payment: We will ask for exclusive and worldwide electronic rights. It must be worldwide; the last thing you want your readers to see is the dreaded ‘this book is not available in your geographic region’ message. You may also optionally give us print rights so that we can produce a printed version of your book.
Your royalty will be 50% of net revenues (in whatever format), paid quarterly. Net revenue is the total receipts from a book, minus the fees paid to the distributor, retailer, or (if applicable) printer. As an example only, if the recommended retail price of an ebook is $10, the net revenue is generally somewhere between $4-$5, of which you would receive half as your fee for licensing your work to us. We pay our costs out of the other half, and get to keep whatever happens to be left over.
You will receive an advance on your royalties of $500. Note, then, that you will only start earning quarterly royalties once your advance has been earned out…and that it is entirely possible this will never happen. If you don’t earn out your advance during the term of your contract with us, you don’t have to pay it back.
How to Submit
We accept email submissions only (let’s save a few trees). Send a synopsis and your first three chapters to submissions@winterbournepublishing.com.au. It will be read by our main editor, Wendy Palmer.
(More information HERE.)
