The submission process is a critically important initial step on your journey toward publication. This is your first chance to show you can write well (and read and follow directions!).

Please send us your submission by email. We will respond within three business days to acknowledge receipt, and then we will let you know within 60 days if we are interested in the work. We assume that since you submitted your work to us, you are free to negotiate with us for a contract should we wish to speak with you about it.

Do not submit any manuscript that you that you plan to send out as a simultaneous submission to other presses or that you have already sent to any other publisher who has not responded to your submission. We understand that you want to maximize your time usage, but the LPP evaluators also need to avoid investing time and energy in a novel that might be snapped up by another press. We *will* get back to you as swiftly as we can. Please give us time to do the review.

Your submission must be e-mailed to Submissions (at) LaunchPointPress (dot) com and submitted using the Microsoft Word program. If you created your book in some other program, it must be converted to Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx or .rtf) prior to submission.

COVER EMAIL NEEDED
In the email subject line, enter the title of your manuscript followed by author name and the word count.
Example: SUBJECT: My Title – My Author Name – 81,500

In the body of the actual email, please provide the following:
xxx• Legal name and any pen names you write under;
xxx• Full physical address, email address(es), and phone number(s);
xxx• Your website links and/or social media links;
xxx• Short biographical info (perhaps 200-500 words);
xxx• Detail your publishing history, if any;
xxx• Tell us about the genre or genres your book seems to fit into;
xxx• If the book has been published before or someone holds any rights to any aspect of your manuscript, please explain that clearly;
xxx• Tell us specifically why your book would appeal to a lesbian audience and why your work would be a good fit for LPP.

REQUIRED ATTACHMENTS TO THE EMAIL
As attachments to the email, you must include three things:

xxxxx1. A synopsis of the entire work (no more than 500-600 words) including a plot summary that tells the beginning, middle and end.
xxxxx2. A description of characters and of place/setting along with your sense of what genre you're writing (no more than 300 words).
xxxxx3. The entire completed Word-compatible manuscript in .dot(x) or .rtf as a single file attachment. Format it in a standard fashion (8.5x11-inch page, single-spaced, one-inch margins all around, nothing in the headers and footers, and no usage of manual tabs). Do not use HTML formatting. Highlight in RED any news articles, lyrics, diary entries, quotations from other sources, etc. that may need different formatting from the standard layout.

The entire document you submit must be your creative output so that you have the right to register it with the US Copyright Office. If you have used someone else’s material, you must get permission to use it before we will review your manuscript. (This goes especially for quoting song lyrics.)

In addition, you must be able to use Microsoft Word’s “Track Changes” function. If you are unfamiliar, you must learn how to use MS Word before your work can be edited. (You can go to Microsoft Support - or to YouTube.com - to find tutorials and helpful articles about how to use Track Changes.)

We adhere to the elements of style in the Chicago Manual of Style and expect to receive manuscripts with a high standard of grammar, usage, and style.

TIPS FOR SUBMISSIONS
* When formatting the manuscript, use the “Enter” key to start new paragraphs or a new line of dialogue. Never use hard returns at the end of a line of text within a paragraph.
* Do not use hard returns to move to a new page.
* Do not insert page breaks or section breaks, not even after chapters. Double space after your scene breaks and place an end-of-scene signifier (### or ***) between the two scenes.
* Examine books by LPP authors to get an idea of LPP’s style and format.
* Before submitting, have others “beta-read” your work to ensure that you have a solid plot, characters, and structure.
* Find proofreaders to go through your manuscript to look for typos, missing words, bad formatting, doubled words, poor sentence construction, misspellings, etc.
* Use a program (such as ProWritingAid or Grammerly.com among many others) to review your manuscript and alert you to any deficiencies.
* Make use of Google and the Internet to learn all you can about book contracts, editing, revising your own work, and the publishing industry in general.

GENERAL WORD COUNT GUIDELINES
• Crime/Suspense/Mystery/Intrigue/Thriller (75,000-100,000)
• Historicals, generally prior to 2000 (75,000–110,000)
• Literary Fiction/General Fic: 75,000–110,000
• Romance/Romantic Intrigue/Romantic Blend (55,000 – 85,000)
• Series/Sagas (75,000 – 100,000 each book)
• Speculative Fic/Sci-Fi/Fantasy (75,000 – 90,000)
• Paranormal/Psychological Suspense/Horror (65,000 – 90,000)

TOP FIVE REASONS SUBMISSIONS ARE NOT ACCEPTED
• There is little or no lesbian content.
• The plot makes no sense and/or the characters are not presented well enough to make the reader care about them.
• There is too much “telling” (which is cerebral and offputting) and not enough “showing” (clear description including effective emotional "beats" and proper cause/effect).
• Poor sentence construction and many grammatical, syntax, or usage errors throughout.
• Failure to follow the submissions instructions above.

Another reason your submission might not be accepted is that we already have enough authors writing in a particular genre. So don't give up! If we do not accept your manuscript, submit it to other presses until you find one that needs your genre.

The submission process is very important! Please follow it meticulously (whether you are an author or an agent) to give yourself the best chance of positive results. If you have questions about the submission process, you may send your questions to: Submissions (at) LaunchPointPress (dot) com.

Thank you for considering Launch Point Press as a possible home for your book.