SFWP Publishing Submissions
Thank you for considering SFWP! Please note that submissions are closed. If you have not received a link to this form from an SFWP staff member, then we will be unable to consider your submission at this time. We are a traditional publisher with a long lead-time for books. We are currently looking to fill our 2027-2028 seasons.
SFWP's titles are eclectic. We're open to just about any genre or style, and we don't believe in sticking with or pursuing the current literary fads. SFWP's mission is to recognize excellence in writing. Before you submit, though, you should review our current titles to see if we're a good fit for your work.
Submission material will be read and considered by our editorial staff. We prioritize the ethical and respectful care of our writers’ work. As such, authors of accepted submissions retain full copyright license to their work.
SFWP is distributed globally by the Independent Publisher's Group. Our books are available in print and electronic form everywhere books are sold everywhere in the world. We actively pursue subrights via the Susan Schulman Literary Agency, and have sold many secondary rights on behalf of the authors, ensuring that the larger share of advances and royalties goes to the authors. We have extensive, long-term relationships with trade publications, sales reps, subrights agents, and bookbuyers worldwide.
We ask that your submission include a cover letter, which contains:
- a one-paragraph summary of your project,
- the total word count,
- a brief author bio,
- and detail why this book is right for our list.
Guidelines
New Manuscripts
Guidelines
- Submissions must be full-length, previously unpublished manuscripts; we are not seeking proposals or works-in-progress.
- We are open to simultaneous submissions. However, if your work is accepted elsewhere, we kindly ask that you withdraw your submission.
- Due to the volume of submissions we receive, even hen subs are closed, it may take us up to six months to respond. If you’ve received a confirmation email from Submittable, your work has been received; you may check the submission status at any time by visiting this link. Please send your work only if you feel it is ready to be read; we will not be accepting updated versions of the same work once submitted.
- Your manuscript should be complete -- a workable first draft that's ready to begin the editorial process. Or you should be confident that, if we want to see more, you can really wow us with what you have.
- It doesn't have to be about New Mexico. We publish a wide range of books that are distributed worldwide, both fiction and nonfiction, and in any genre. In fact, only one of our authors lives in Santa Fe.
- The questions on the form are very important:
- Social media/online footprint: We are seeking authors who are active and engaged online. In the 2020s, the weight of book marketing is on the author. The algorithm at Google and Amazon is designed to highlight the author over the publisher. As a small press, our marketing budget is slim. So if you are unwilling or unable to promote your book widely, then we may not be the press for you.
- Marketing copy: We ask that you briefly describe your book. Think of the back cover of any book in your library -- this is the format we're looking for.
- Comparable titles: All books have comparable titles, and being able to recognize those titles is essential for an author. We aren't able to even list a book with our distributor without providing these titles. If your answer to this question is that your book is unique, then we are not the press for you. Even Shakespeare had comparable titles.
Out of print work
There are many factors that go into reprinting a book. Some guidelines are below, but it's probably wisest to shoot us an email to discuss the situation further.
- Typically, we will only consider work that has been out of print for more than 10 years.
- If you have self-published the work through Amazon or elsewhere, in print or electronic format, we probably won't be able to consider picking it up. Even if you remove the Amazon listing, anything that we release will still be considered a "reprint." Reprints and new editions rarely get reviewed by the trade journals and are often dismissed by the sales reps. This, of course, dramatically reduces the earning potential of a book.