The Merry Blacksmith Press is looking for titles to fill our coming publishing year and is now open to submissions.

Genres of Fiction
Right now, we're mostly looking for science fiction, fantasy, and related sub-genres. We like space opera, mad science, first contacts, slipstream, alternate worlds, alternate history, steampunk, high fantasy, rural fantasy, dark fantasy, and humor.

Horror is a tough sell with us, so if you try--make sure you have something original to offer. If you're going to try harder, something in the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft will getmore attention than Anne Rice.

We will consider mystery, but again--make it original and interesting.

We'll consider romance and erotica, but you get bonus points if you can put a genre swing to it.

Fiction (Long)
Right now we're mostly looking for either a.) reprints of works that have since gone out of print that the author has regained the rights to and b.) new works by authors who have been had at least one previous novel published professionally. Because sales rely on author-based promotion and reputation, it helps to have an audience already in existence. While we will consider new works by authors without a publishing history, the odds are a little bit longer.

That said, this is an ideal way to make some money on a backlist, continue a series that another publisher has dropped, or to publish omnibus editions of previous works.

Fiction (Short)
We'll readily consider collections of short stories by a single author. The author must have clear rights to reprint all stories, or have those rights cleared by the publication date.

If you're looking to sell an anthology, we will consider your pitch, although we will only sign with the editor and it will be the editor's responsibility to wrangle individual author rights and payments.

Non-Fiction
We'd love to see some how-to books--particularly in the areas of genre writing and publishing. We'd also like to see biographies and studies of notable genre authors and editors, and any other sort of study relevant to various genres. Histories of things like science fiction or fantasy would be interesting to receive, as would books on the history of fandom. We would also cheerfully consider gaming books, trivia books, reference works, and even interesting cookbooks.

Both new material and reprints are welcome, as would be collections of essays by either a single author, or several--so long as there's an editor we can work through.

Comics
Some of our favorite comics are the single-panel gag cartoons. If you have a collection of these you'd like to show us--please send it along. We'll consider graphic novels, but are only printing grayscale interiors at this time. Are you a cartoonist who spends a lot of time at conventions? We'd like you to consider having us make an art book for you to sell. If you have a webcartoon you'd like to see in print, we'd like to see that, too.

If you have a how-to book on cartooning--that would be neat.

Poetry
We will consider poetry collections by a single author. Please contact us for details before submitting anything.

Misc.
If you have something you would like us to consider that doesn't fall into any of the above categories, give it a shot anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

How To Submit:

First, I'm sad to say that as a start-up small press, we're not properly equipped at the moment to work with authors and distribution outside of the US. It's our fervent hope that we can expand our range in a year or so--especially with our friends in Canada, Australia, the UK, and Ireland--but for now, we're afraid we can only accomodate US authors and sales.

For all submissions except comics, please send a query letter to submissions@merryblacksmith.com. Introduce yourself, give a bit of your publication history, and describe your proposed project. If we wish to see more, we will promptly reply and ask to see further material. Do NOT send any attachments with your query letter, but rather keep all contents of the letter in the body of your e-mail message.

For comics, we're afraid we're going to have to insist on old-fashioned snail-mail for the time being. This is partly due to keeping control over the sizes of files we'd otherwise receive online, and also to discourage those who don't have enough passion about their work to photocopy it and stick it in an envelope. If you wish your copies returned, you must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Please do not send originals or your only copies. Along with your submission, include a cover letter introducing yourself and your project.

All mailed submissions should be sent to:

The Merry Blacksmith Press
c/o John Teehan
70 Lenox Ave.
West Warwick, RI 02893

Will we open art to online submissions in the future? Possibly. But the sooner we see your work, the sooner you're more likely to see it published.

Payments:

We're a small publisher at the moment, but our rates are better than most based on percentages from net sales. We provide copies to the creators at very reduced rates so you earn more when you sell them yourselves--a great deal for convention appearances!

If we are interested in publishing your work, we can get down to more of the nitty-gritty involving payments and contracts.

Questions?

Contact us at submissions@merryblacksmith.com.

We look forward to working with you!

(Please note, we are not accepting design submissions at this time.)

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