How to Submit Your Manuscript to PaperBox Books Publishing

 

What we're looking for?

The Process - What happens when we receive your submission

How we pay

A word of two of advice

What to submit and how to send it

Glossary of Writing Terms we use for Submitions

 

 

 

 

What we're looking for:

Proper spelling

It might seem a no-brainer, but make sure you run your novel through a spelling check. If your novel is full of errors, we can't publish it. We've promised our readers high quality books.

Style Check

Every writer has a unique voice. Some use long flowery statements, think Gabriel García Márquez, and some refuse to use punctuation and capitals like James Frey. No matter what your voice and personal writing style it must remain consistent throughout your entire novel.

Story Flow, Continuity and Conclusion

We all love those books you just can't put down until the end and we all hate being pulled out of a story because the author has contradicted themselves. A blue sedan is suddenly a pink convertible, a character's name or outfit inexplicably changes or a scene so confusing that we can't understand what just happened.

Our test-readers watch out for these types of anomalies in addition to sub-plots that aren't resolved and main stories with a conclusion that has nothing to do with what's happened in the book, e.g. a lottery win to magically save the day.

Characterization

Characters are the glue that binds a story together. As readers we need to care about them and wonder what will happen next in their journey through the story. Each main character needs it be identifiable and consistent throughout the story. Any actions they take contrary to reader expectations have to be addressed. Each character has a responsibility to help move the story forward toward the conclusion.

Character Development

We also look for character development and how it is incorporated into the story. Main characters should not be static. As the story progresses, they must learn something about themselves along the way. Spiderman wouldn't have had the same impact if he hadn't learned 'with great power comes great responsibility'.

Back to Top

 

The Process - What happens when we receive your submission

When we receive your submission, we'll send you an acknowledgement via email. Please make sure you have http://www.paperboxbooks.com added to your whitelist. Your submission will be assigned to a test-reader who will let us know if the writing was clear, the story flowed and if they were engaged enough in the story to want to read more.

After we review their assessment, we'll either send a request for the entire manuscript or a rejection letter giving you the reasons why we're not able to accept your manuscript and suggestions for improvement.

If we need to reject your novel, don't give up. It's been said J.K. Rowling was rejected 22 times.

We will never reject a manuscript based on market needs, it defeats our purpose. We will however automatically reject any work that promotes hate or features hard-core porn as its main story device.

If we request to see your entire manuscript, it is with the expectation that it will be sent within 2 weeks. Once received, it will also be assigned to a test-reader and assessed. Based on the assessment, we will either reject your story with suggestions for improvement, give a conditional approval (some changes need to be discussed before acceptance) or we will accept it for publication.

Once your manuscript is accepted the fun really begins: Book Covers, Author Bios, book reviews and more.

Back to Top

 

How we pay

Even with e-books there is a cost to publish. We've done a lot of research and selected our distribution channels to give the best possible exposure with the least amount of expense. Amazon, for example, charges 65% of the cover price in return for the use of their huge distribution. While it seems like a lot, the benefit of having your book listed with them outweighs the expense.

Authors will receive between 15-30% of the cover price per book sale, depending on the distribution channel the sale comes through. For a $10 book that's $1.50-$3.00 royalty per sale. According to Writer's Market, this is well above current market average. Payment will be provided quarterly provided the amount owing to the author is over $20.00CDN. At this time we do not offer advances.

On signing, PaperBox Books will acquire exclusive e-publishing rights for a renewable term of one year. A two part contract will be signed by the author and Paperbox Books Publishing. Part one will outline author and publisher responsibilities and conduct for the duration of our business association. The second section will refer to the terms of payments for each title published by PaperBox Books Publishing. This second part will be done separately for each title PaperBox Books agrees to publish by the author.

Books will be uploaded for sale as quickly as possible after the contract is signed. Timing depends on availability of cover art and speed of reviewer responses

Back to Top

 

A Word or Two of Advice

Do not send in your query, synopsis and first three chapters until your novel is completed and you are in the final stages of proofreading and editing. If we request to see the rest of your manuscript we expect it to arrive within days-not months.

Before you submit your manuscript have someone else read it. Preferably someone you trust to give you an honest opinion and helpful suggestions if necessary. It's amazing how often when editing our own novels we miss obvious mistakes because we read what we meant to say instead of what is actually on the page.

Ditch your ego. Our goal is to publish as many authors as we can. If your proof-reader, or PaperBox Books, offers advice take it into consideration. If two or more proof-readers stumble on the same section, it needs to be fixed.

Back to Top

 

What to submit and how to send it

To Submit a Novel

Please email us at submit@paperboxbooks.com a query letter with a 250 word pitch for your novel. Also, please attach a 1-2 page synopsis of your novel which describes the main story with at least one sub-plot and the first three chapters. (approx. 30 pages)

To Submit a Short Story

Please email us at submit@paperboxbooks.com a query letter with a 250 word pitch for your short story and attach the entire short story.

Important to Note

Because our goal is to publish every author with publishable work, we are not able to accept simultaneous submissions.

Please send your attachments in word, rich text or plain text formats. We will not accept PDFs.

As writers, we know the wait between submission and response is painful. While our response time will entirely depend on the number of submissions we receive, we will do our best to let you know within one month. If we cannot accept your manuscript, we will include our reasoning and offer suggestions for improvement.

Email is finicky at best, if you do not receive notification from us within 48 hours that your submission has been received, please resend.

Back to Top

 

Glossary of Writing Terms we use for Submissions

What is a Pitch?

A short 2-3 paragraph designed to make you want to read the book. Examples are found on the back of most novels. They tell you enough about the story to make you want to buy the book.

and a Synopsis?

For fiction a synopsis is the summary of the story which outlines the main story line and at least one sub-plot. As a publisher, we need to see how you develop your story and if the conclusion matches the set-up

If your work is non-fiction, we need a chapter by chapter outline to show the topics you will cover and how you intend to develop your theme.

Why do you want our chapters?

We need to see how you write.

Three chapters gives us a good indication of your writing ability and the quality of your storytelling. If by the end of the third chapter we don't have clear understanding of your story or we're not invested in the issues facing your characters and eager to read more then perhaps it needs more work. If we cry when we realize we have to wait for chapter four, we have a winner.

If your manuscript is littered with spelling errors we will not publish it. It's not only your reputation on the line, but ours too.

Back to Top