Submission Guidelines
WORLD CASTLE PUBLISHING IS OPEN FOR NEW SUBMISSIONS
IMPORTANT NOTE. PLEASE READ
The editor previously monitoring the submissions email has recently passed away. We are saddened by her loss. However, she changed the passcode to get into the email, and we can't access the old email address. If you submitted your book to submissions.worldcastle@gmail.com, please resubmit it to the new email address submissions@worldcastlepublishing.com. We're sorry for any inconvenience.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
GUIDELINES
All authors are invited to submit their work, including unrepresented authors, and new unpublished authors. We ask you to review our submission guidelines carefully.
At this time we are only accepting electronically submitted manuscripts. This allows a timely review of your submission.
This is your opportunity to sell yourself and your writing to us. Make it count. We want the complete manuscript. Make sure that it has been painstakingly edited and polished. Also, send us a short synopsis of the book.
Please expect an eight to twelve week turnaround on your submission. If you have not heard back from us by then, please feel free to email us requesting a status.
Please no simultaneous submissions. Submit your work to only one publisher at a time.
WORLD CASTLE PUBLISHING IS A UNIQUE KIND OF PUBLISHER
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We embrace technology
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We are a new and innovative company
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We are looking for new talented writers
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You do not need an agent to submit to us
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We never charge our authors to publish their books
MANUSCRIPT LENGTH
How long should your manuscript be? Long enough to tell an outstanding story. Word count is important, but not critical. As long as the pace of the book is interesting content is what really matters. Below are some general guidelines.
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Short Stories are 5,000 - 14,999
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Novellas are 15,000 - 39,999 Many Young Adult and Teen Novels fall in this range.
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Novels are 40,000 and up. Most novels fall between 40,000 and 100,000 words. Anything in this range will go into print.
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Novels over 100,000 words in length may be asked to shorten the book or if long enough divide into two separate books. The costs to print make the retail price of a book with that many pages high. We strive to keep our prices to the public low and appealing. If a novel is excessively long, it could be rejected altogether.
Generally, we do not accept works of less than 15,000 words. Word count less than that would generally be considered a free read. From time to time World Castle Publishing creates a compilation book of short stories to feature new talent. Watch the website for announcements and short story contests.
We are not accepting children's stories (ages 8 and under) under 18,000 words in length. See note under what we won't accept.
FORMATTING
Submissions should be Times New Roman or Courier New 12pt.
Single spaced.
Indent paragraphs.
No spaces between paragraphs.
The margins should be 1" all the way around.
The chapters should be titled Chapter One, etc...
IMPORTANT! NO HEADERS OR FOOTERS OR PAGE NUMBERS! THANK YOU
DESIRED GENRES
We are accepting submissions in the following genres. Please include your query letter and synopsis in the email body, and the entire manuscript in an attachment in Microsoft Word (.doc), (.docx) or Rich Text Format (.rft) to submissions.worldcastle@gmail.com
The subject of your email should read: Genre Submission (tell us the genre classification of your book): Book Title - Author Name. This will keep it from being deleted as spam.
***IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE***
ONLY COMPLETE MANUSCRIPTS WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION. A DENIAL LETTER MAY BE SENT FOR FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE CURRENT GUIDELINES.
Fiction:
Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller
Horror and Paranormal
Action, Adventure, and Western
Romance
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Middle-Grade: Target audience is 8 - 14 years
Teen: Target audience is 12 - 16 years
Young Adult: Target audience is 15 - 19 years
Non-Fiction:
We are not accepting Non-Fiction at this time.
WHAT WE WILL NOT ACCEPT
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Porn
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Bestiality (shape-shifters don't count)
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Necrophilia
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Bodily Functions (golden showers, etc...)
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Incest
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Sexual abuse of minors
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Consensual sex with minors
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Rape (see paragraph below for more details)
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We don't want sexual violence in the story, especially in a romance. However, in the horror genre, some might be considered if it is in the background of the story, or a build-up toward something happening. Under no circumstances will we publish sexual abuse of minors.
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Works of poetry.
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Nonfiction.
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We are also not accepting children's stories for the younger group. The reasons for this are the costs. These stories tend to be much shorter in nature and most children that young won't be reading their stories online or on an e-reader. The writer wants the books in print and those costs are too high for such short books with no profit potential for the publisher or the author. I do not employ an illustrator.