Submissions

 

Netherfield House Press aims to offer readers unique, high quality books that bring something different to the world of books. All of our titles are offered in both digital and printed formats. NHP books are available on our website as well as through a variety of online distributors.

We are not a subsidy or vanity publisher, and we never charge our authors fees of any kind. NHP authors receive royalties of 30% of the cover price from digital formats sold through the NHP website, 30% after distributor's cut from digital formats sold through third party distributors, and 10% after printing cost on print formats. Authors do not need an agent to have your work considered at NHP, though agented authors are welcome as well. Simultaneous submissions will be considered at NHP; let us know if you decide to publish it elsewhere. You may also feel free to send us more than one manuscript at a time, as long as they are not in the same series (for a series, please only send the first book and wait for a response to make sure your series is a good fit for NHP). At this time, we will only consider previously published works by existing NHP authors as long as you hold full rights to the manuscript.

All NHP accepted manuscripts undergo a multiple stage digital editing process with professional, experienced editors and copy editors. However, manuscripts sent to NHP should still be polished to the best of your abilities before you submit them to ensure your story makes a good first impression.

Fiction Submission Guidelines	Nonfiction Submission Guidelines
General Submission Guidelines

 

Fiction

NHP will consider a variety of fiction ranging from 50,000 to 130,000 words (computer count) in length. We are not looking for widely published traditional style stories...we aim to offer stories that break the standard formulas. We are interested in both single titles as well as series. If sending a series for consideration, please include a 1-page series synopsis that gives a brief summary of where you plan to take the series with each subsequent book. Also, each book in the planned series must be able to stand alone. NHP does require first refusal rights for series books; we invest a lot of time and effort to grow each series, and we understand that readers do not want to see a series broken up among different publishers. We want to help grow our authors and their readership at NHP. However, we do not require first refusal rights for single title books.

We will not consider stories featuring depraved elements such as rape, incest, pedophilia, bestiality, or necrophilia. If you are concerned as to whether a plot element in your story is unacceptable at NHP, please feel free to ask us via email at submissions@netherfieldhousepress.com.

Young adult: We are interested in both character-driven and plot-driven YA stories with high concepts. Protagonists should be extraordinary people faced with compelling conflicts that drive them to act. While their decisions may not always be the best, readers should be able to relate to your protagonists' motivations. Stories featuring sexual content will be considered, but these scenes should not be graphic or gratuitous, and authors should be willing to tone down the heat level if requested in order to ensure our YA titles are suitable for our younger readers. All subgenres of young adult fiction will be considered, including stories without a romantic element, as well as YA romances featuring same-sex couples.

Romances: We are seeking romances in all subgenres of romance, including same-sex relationships, and in all heat levels. However, we are not looking for erotica. Menages are allowed as long as they are triad romances (i.e. the heroine or hero is in a romantic relationship with the other two protagonists involved). We are interested only in romances with happy endings. Marriage is not required at the end of the romance, but the story must end with a strong commitment between the protagonists. We would love to see a variety of protagonists beyond the traditional...heroines do not always have to be beautiful or feisty, and heroes do not have to be alphas who are rich or cowboys (though we will certainly consider these types of characters as well). Your protagonists DO need to be intelligent and likable, or at least redeemable with strong, valid motivations behind their actions. We are also seeking strong internal and external conflicts with unique premises...make sure the issues keeping your protagonists apart can not be easily resolved with just an open and honest conversation, and have not already been widely used before in traditional publishing. Graphic novels must have their own artwork; we do not provide artwork for graphic novel scripts.

We are not currently seeking: poetry or short stories under 50,000 words.

Nonfiction

For nonfiction, we are currently looking for books with well-defined target markets by authors with strong personal experience on that topic who can bring either a unique or deeper focus in that subject's area. Authors should include information in your query that tells us why you are qualified to write on your chosen topic, and what unique qualities your book brings to the subject. Illustrations should be high quality and necessary to support the text content.

Currently seeking: how-to's and small business/marketing.

We are not currently seeking: recipe books.

Submission Guidelines

Current response time: 4-6 weeks.

For fiction...please send a full manuscript with 2-page synopsis and query letter by email only to submissions@netherfieldhousepress.com. A team of readers will be going through the submissions, so please address your query letter to NHP Submissions Team. Your synopsis should give a very brief overview of your story...we use synopsis to see the general plot of your story, the main turning points, and the ending, NOT to judge the quality of your writing style. Do not include any quotes or exerpts from your manuscript in the synopsis. If your manuscript is the first in a planned series, please also include a 1-page series synopsis giving a brief summary for each planned book for the series so we can see where you plan to take the series in general. In your query letter, tell us the name and genre of your manuscript, its computer word count, a short one or two paragraph description (similar to what you would find on the back cover of a book at a bookstore), and a paragraph about yourself including personal experience directly relevant to the story plus any previous professional publishing credits and/or awards. Your email should be the query, with the synopsis and additional materials submitted together in one file titled YOURNAME_BOOK TITLE and saved as an RTF.

For nonfiction...please send a proposal to submissions@netherfieldhousepress.com that includes a brief one to two paraphraph synopsis, a complete table of contents, two to three sample chapters demonstrating the book's main content (not the introduction), and a query letter that details what your book's competitive titles are, how your book is unique, your intended target audience, how your book will offer something different to that audience, and your personal experience/professional credentials and any previous professional publishing credits that show why you are qualified to write this book. Your email should be the query, with the synopsis and additional materials submitted together in one file titled YOURNAME_BOOK TITLE and saved as an RTF. Only manuscripts that have already been completed will be considered.

If our acquisitions team thinks your manuscript might be a good fit for Netherfield House Press but feels that it might need a few changes, we will not hesitate to send a request for revisions and an invitation to resubmit. However, if your manuscript will not be a good fit for our selection of titles even with revisions, please understand that we do send out form letters. This is due to time limits on our staff's part, and is in no way a reflection of your writing. If time permits, personal feedback may be included. If you receive a rejection from us, please do not resubmit that same manuscript. Instead, send us something new that might be a better fit with our current needs.