Submissions will from now on only be accepted from the 1st to the 7th of each month, with submissions reopening from the 1st of September until the 7th of September 2023. Submissions will then be closed again until the 1-7st of October. So you have a week of every month to submit. Please note, any submissions sent outside of this time will not be considered and will not be replied to.
Please send a digital copy of your submission to submissions@midnightsunpublishing.com. Please include a subject line stating your name, the title of your manuscript, and its genre (e.g.: Jane Doe, ‘High Tea’, Picture Book). Please attach your manuscript as a Word document or Word docx. only, titled, ‘Name: Manuscript Title’ (e.g. Jane Doe: High Tea).
Send the first 20 pages only! If we are compelled to read more, we’ll ask for the rest. We want digital manuscripts with 1.5 or double line spacing. Choose Times New Roman or another easy-to-read font.
Please also include a synopsis of your manuscript (if it’s a longer work. This is not needed for picture books) where you tell us about the main movements in the story, its themes and how it ends. We want to know this. You should not make it a mystery or an enticing blurb. You can attach it as a separate document or make it the first page of your submission.
Please proofread thoroughly and always let someone else read it too before sending us your manuscript. Typos really put us off and we don’t want to turn away an otherwise fantastic project because we have spotted a simple mistake in the first paragraph.
Include a cover letter in the body of the email with your name, the title of your manuscript, your contact details (including email address and phone number) and the word count of your project. If you have previous publications or other relevant experience, please feel free to include it in the letter and also write a paragraph about yourself and your interests if you wish. We would also like to know how you would classify the genre and where it fits in the market. For example, are there any other authors or books you would compare your manuscript to?
Only send one manuscript at a time and wait to receive a response before sending any further projects. This applies to picture books as well as longer fiction. Look at our list carefully and choose only the manuscript that you think would intrigue us the most. Here are some of things we are looking for: stories that are well written (fiction or non-fiction) about interesting characters who are developing a sense of self. The environment, gender diversity, sexuality and desire, feminism, ageing, mental health, physical differences, adversity, racism, love and many other topics are all on our reading lists. We love short stories and novels for adults as well as middle-grade and YA novels and of course picture books.
We are not currently publishing poetry, plays, horror, romance or memoir so please don’t submit manuscripts that fit into those categories.
If you have submitted to us within the designated timeframe and not received a response from us within six months you may email us to check on your submission. Please do not email us earlier than this as your email will not be responded to.
While we do accept simultaneous submissions, it is absolutely essential that you contact us to withdraw your submission if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere or you pursue another mode of publishing, such as self-publishing.
If you follow these guidelines, your manuscript submission will be read by one of our editors. If you have already sent your manuscript according to our previous guidelines, please don’t panic, we will still read your manuscript and respond in due course.
If we love what we read, we will be in touch by email to request a hard copy of the full manuscript to be sent to our office. Please be aware it may take 3-6 months for us to get back to you about your submission. Unfortunately, due to our large workload, we cannot provide individual feedback on submissions.
Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will not be reviewed or responded to.
We look forward to hearing from you!
