The Belfire Press release schedule is full until early 2014. It is unlikely that we will open for out-of-house submissions until December of 2013.

Any unsolicited submission prior to our next reading period will be deleted unread, and go without response. We do welcome queries, simply contact us through the form (linked below).

What we are looking for:

We generally seek submission packages in the following fiction genres: horror, thriller, mystery, adventure, fantasy, romance, historical, science fiction, paranormal, and YA. We are particularly interested in cross-genre works.

Our non-fiction and children’s lines are invitation only, however we will look at queries any time throughout the year.

What we don’t accept:

We are not accepting any of the following: poetry, erotica, zombies, or bizarro. Submissions sent to us that are of these genres will be deleted unread, and without response.

Our poetry imprint, Needfire Poetry, handles all poetry submissions, however we are closed to all non-house queries for the foreseeable future.

We have included a list of suggested publishers below who do read in the other areas.

• Erotica
  Ellora’s Cave – http://www.ellorascave.com/
• Zombies
  Permuted Press – http://www.permutedpress.com
• Bizarro
  Raw Dog Screaming Press – http://www.rawdogscreaming.com

Preparing your submission package:

First, let’s cover what we don’t want to see in your package.

Simultaneous submissions will be deleted unread, without response – so if your novel is under submission elsewhere (including via agent!) please refrain from wasting our time and yours. If your manuscript is not complete, do not submit a submission package to us, simply query our interest with a synopsis.

As of January 1, 2012 – our word count limit is 90,000. Any novels longer than 100k that can’t be edited down will be asked to split into a novel and a sequel, or will be rejected. Costs prohibit setting a reader-friendly price on paperbacks of extreme length, and even at a high price, royalties for the author and the company suffer.

Send only .rtf files – absolutely no other file types will be accepted. We work on Windows XP machines, and use older versions MS Office. Do not send us new version files and claim it is the same thing – the new MS Office is incompatible with our versions. Any and all non-requested file format will be deleted unread.

What we do want to see:

Make sure your sample chapters are formatted as listed below. There are specific reasons for this; for example, most new writers use far too much formatting, fancy fonts and ridiculous tabs and these create problems when formatting for print if the manuscript is accepted. But mostly, it’s for our own benefit – be gentle with our eyes.

We only accept submissions sent to us via the submission form (available only during our open reading periods). All other contact information is listed on the website. We will notify you if we have received the submission successfully, however if you do not receive an email within 72 hours of sending the submission, query admin@belfirepress.com.

Now, a ‘cover letter’ in the body of the email. This should include the basic information: name, contact information, genre, word count/page count and title. Previous writing credits and biography are not necessary at this point, but feel free to include them if you think it’s necessary.

The following files be attached to the form, each as a separate file.

• a brief synopsis (no more than five paragraphs summing up the entire book, please)
• the first three chapters (in one file, and formatted as required)
• your ideas for marketing and promotions

Formatting:

Formatting your manuscript to our specifications will greatly improve your chances that we’ll actually read through the whole proposal. Trust me, we know there are those out there who think they are too great and wonderful to do so, and may call us elitist for asking for the simplest of tasks… however, as long as we’ve been in the trenches, we know better. We’re also happy to help if you don’t know how to format to these specs.

• The font throughout the proposal (except email) should be in Times New Roman or Garamond 12pt. Courier or Courier New is also acceptable, but less preferred.
• Margins should be set to 1″ all around; this can be changed in the File>Page Setup>Margins screen.
• All text (including chapter headings, break headings etc.) should be left aligned; first line indent and line spacing must be changed to 0.3 and 1.5 respectively. You can do this in Word by going to Format>Paragraph>Indents and Spacing. Do not use tabs or space bar to create the first line indentation. Punctuation should be followed by a single space, not double.
• No hard breaks between paragraphs (hitting return twice to break between paragraphs). Following paragraphs can be started on the next line.
• Scene breaks or changes in point of view need to be separated by a hard break, centered asterisks (* * *) and a hard break.

Things You Should Know:

This section may be updated at our discretion, at any time.

If your title is accepted, you will be offered the following for First World Print & Ebook rights (net=cover price less printer/distributor fees):

• Print – 25% net, statement and payment beginning the second quarter following release date
• Electronic – 50% net, statement and payment at the end of the second and fourth fiscal quarters
• Copies – 3 copies for personal use, not for re-sale
• Discount – 30% on all purchases of title, unless 100 or more are purchased at which point a further discount may be negotiated.
• You will be sent – 1 eARC for proofing, 1 eCover wrap for proofing/approval

Production, marketing and promotion information is sent with acceptance notice.

Payments are made for North American authors by check, in US Funds. International authors are paid by Paypal. Payments are held until $25.00 accrues, or paid out in full at the end of the fiscal year (by February 28, yearly).

We are willing to negotiate on certain terms, but others are set.

Belfire Press and the imprints The New Bedlam Project and Needfire Poetry, will no longer seek pre-publication endorsements or blurbs for cover or interior use on accepted manuscripts. If the author has previously received such materials and wishes to use them, that is fine.

Once a title has been edited, formatted and the files have been accepted by our printer, we will not make further changes at our expense, unless the error is very clearly ours. Authors asking to change files to add blurbs, additional notes, or change the text itself can negotiate terms.

Our titles are printed in two formats:
5.25″ x 8″ (novels, Needfire)
6″ x9″ (anthologies, TNBP)