Submission Guidelines

We cherish every book we publish

SUBMISSIONS

Our submissions policy is fairly rigid. This is because we are in business and, whilst we are nice people and enjoy our work immensely, we will not be able to continue to publish books if we do not make a profit. There, we are out in the open.

If you are an author, we are certain you will have put a lot of time (and heartache) into your manuscript. We believe you are entitled to receive payment for this. So, if we don’t believe your submission can generate income for all parties involved we will not waste your time further (or ours).

If we like your work but consider you may prove to be a proverbial pain to work with, we may also decline to publish. We want to work close and long term with our authors and life is just too short.

We do not not pay advances, but we do pay a higher than average royalty and we aim to pay this at more regular intervals.

You may be considering self publishing – maybe just uploading it electronically to an online retailer. Good, do it. But first, consider these important questions

- does your work deserve better ?

- as well as being a great author, are you a good businessperson?

We sincerely wish you every success with whatever you decide.

We know that we will cherish every book that we publish.

CRITERIA

We are seeking to publish well written Contemporary Fiction, Travel Literature, and Biography if edgy! No genre, no children’s books, no poetry, no single short stories, no guide books, no recipe books.

Length guide:

  • Full length (70k words +)
  • Novella (not to be confused with a short novel) (20k – 40k)
  • Short story collections with central hook (70k words +)

METHOD OF SUBMISSION - GOLDEN RULES TO BE FOLLOWED!

We only accept electronic submissions via and the following is strictly observed:

- Paper submissions are binned without reading.

- Attachments to emails are deleted without opening.

- Submissions not made via submissions@ouenpress.com are deleted without opening.

Please submit:

  • an OUTLINE/SUMMARY of your MS, and
  • the FIRST 4000 words of your MS, and
  • a BRIEF resume of your writing experience.

These MUST BE included in the main body of the email. Whilst you may wish to include a covering letter, please do not.

REJECTION LETTERS

We do not send out rejection letters or emails. If you do not receive communication from us within 60 days of submission, it is unlikely we will be seeking to proceed with your manuscript on this occasion. This does not mean we have not enjoyed your work, it is simply not in line with our planned programme at this time.

We thank you in advance for considering Ouen Press as your publishing partner.

AGENTS

We are pleased to accept submissions from agents and directly from authors.

TIME SCALE

We currently receive a substantial number of submissions, please be patient - we will contact you within 60 days, if we are seeking to move to the next stage with your manuscript.