Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

Frequently Asked Questions Series: Installment Two

Welcome to the second installment in our new series of Frequently Asked Questions!

Over several years of dealing with queries and submissions, we’ve found that some questions get asked more frequently than others. So, over the next few months, on every alternate Monday, we’re putting up two or three of these, together with (because we’re nice like that) their answers.
The comments section will be open for anyone who’d like to ask for clarification, and Samhain staff will be along to provide further details or answers to supplementary questions.
At the end of the series, all the questions and answers—together with any extra ones we’ve gathered along the way—will be put up on the Samhain site as a permanent resource.

(click here to view installment one)

Topic One (continued): Submitting Your Manuscript to Samhain Publishing

1.5. My manuscript has a tragic ending but it’s still a love story. May I send it to Samhain?
If we can market it as erotica, or as fantasy/science fiction/ urban fantasy with romantic elements, yes. If it falls into another genre—contemporary, romantic suspense, historical—and has no “happy ever after” we can’t market it as a romance, and therefore we’re not able to consider it.

1.6. My manuscript is unfinished/ unpolished. May I send it anyway?
Samhain does not consider unfinished manuscripts. It takes up our editors’ time, and we don’t like spending time on something when we have no guarantee it will ever be finished. Also, if we read your first few chapters and want to see more, it’s frustrating to be told we have to wait while you write it!

You can send an unpolished manuscript, but unless you’re that rare writer who makes no typos or mistakes, you’ll improve your chances by not doing so! The more polished and professional-looking your manuscript is, the more favorable our first impression.

1.7. I’m not sure if Samhain would like my book. May I send just a query to begin with?
If your book falls into one of the genres we publish (erotica, romance or fantasy/ science fiction/ urban fantasy with strong romance elements) then there’s really no point sending a query rather than a submission. Our acquiring editors need to read the manuscript to make any kind of decision, so (assuming the book falls into one of the genres we publish) no manuscript is ever rejected on query letter alone. If you send just a query email, all you’ll get is a request to send in the submission itself!

Of course, if you have a specific concern about your manuscript—for instance, a plot element that you feel might make it unacceptable to Samhain—please do feel free to email our submissions address (editor@samhainpublishing.com) for clarification.

1.8. What plot elements are unacceptable to Samhain?
Anything depraved or illegal presented in a positive light or as titillation: pedophilia, rape, incest, necrophilia, bestiality, racial intolerance. Please note that in our sexually explicit material all characters must be at least eighteen.