Submitting Your Manuscript to Wildhouse Publishing
There are many ways to publish a book these days. Wildhouse Publishing (WHP) is different. We are highly selective, only publishing top-quality books with the potential to touch some part of the unique WHP audience. And we offer an optional partnership acquisitions channel in which gifted developmental editors guide authors every step of the way, from proposal to manuscript to production (see Services for details about the conventional and partnership acquisitions channels).
Working with WHP
Wildhouse Publishing curates books for unconventional people with adventurous spirituality. We publish a variety of genres, in several imprints, but WHP focuses on trade publication (so not academic tomes or textbooks for classrooms) and always keeps our target audience in mind. We want to support gifted authors who also intend to address the WHP audience, even when it is financially risky to do so.
We only do traditional publishing, where the publisher carries all of the financial burden of bringing a book to reality and authors are paid through royalties. We do not consider hybrid publishing projects. We do not consider fee-for-service publishing projects.
All WHP books are fully vetted through WHP‘s editorial advisory board. In this way, WHP can embrace established authors with large platforms, and also welcome newer, untested authors with great ideas into the WHP author family.
The Wildhouse Advantage
A sample of what your book will receive when you choose to publish with WHP:
- In-depth developmental editing – in the partnership acquisitions channel, developmental editors will work closely with you throughout the entire process, beginning by refining your proposal to the board of directors. Our developmental editors are experienced coaches who are also experts in the ins and outs of publishing, adept in providing you support, advice, mentorship, and guidance.
- Board selection – all WHP books are passed through a rigorous Board selection process to ensure we are publishing exceptional projects that will speak directly to our target audience.
- In-house publicity machine – when you publish with WHP your book will benefit from our extensive connections to targeted journalists, bloggers, podcasters, radio hosts, and influencers.
- Marketing and social media training – we provide you with publicity support and training customized to your needs.
- Flexibility – tailored marketing and publishing for each book.
Note: We are continually trying new things and expanding the services we provide our authors. This list is not exhaustive!
Submission Guidelines
Nonfiction Submissions (imprints: Wildhouse Publications and Wildhouse Crossings)
Your nonfiction submission should include the following information:
- Tell us about your book. Give us the title, a one-sentence summary, a 100-word back-cover summary, a one-page summary, and a detailed description and annotated table of contents in enough detail for us to understand what your book accomplishes. If you have one or two sample chapters, be sure to include them.
- Tell us about you. Who are you? What is your story? What makes you the right person to speak to your audience? We want to get to know you!
- Tell us about your audience. Be specific about your book’s target audience: who are they and how will you reach them?
- Tell us about your platform. Help us understand how we will work together to get the word out about your book. Tell us about your social media platform and how you plan to connect with potential readers to promote your fabulous book.
Please format your proposal in Microsoft Word, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman, with one-inch margins on 8.5″x11″ (Letter-size) pages. Send us a single document containing the entire proposal and sample chapters in Microsoft Word (DOCX) format. We advise you to take Jane Friedman’s advice and use something like her nonfiction proposal template; she is speaking our language, and her nonfiction proposal template hits all the right themes as far as we’re concerned.
Once you have drafted your proposal, submit it through https://whp.submittable.com (look for the Wildhouse Publications nonfiction or Wildhouse Crossings submission portal on WHP’s Submittable site). Note: WHP and Crossings open for submission in January and February of each year, and sometimes for a month in the Fall.
Fiction or Poetry Submissions (imprints: Wildhouse Fiction and Wildhouse Poetry)
WHP seeks full manuscripts for fiction and at least twenty poems if not the entire manuscript for poetry. We want a cover letter that (1) describes your platform as a novelist or poet, (2) summarizes the book, (3) specifies the audience you are trying to engage, and (4) tells us how you plan to reach that target audience.
Once you have drafted your proposal, submit it through https://whp.submittable.com (look for the Wildhouse Fiction or Wildhouse Poetry submission portals on WHP’s Submittable site). Note: Wildhouse Fiction and Poetry open for submission in January and February of each year, and sometimes for a month in the Fall.
