Author Information
Tell me more about PublishAmerica.
The Maryland based publishing company is fundamentally opposed to
charging any publishing fees.
By not charging its authors any publishing fees at any time, PublishAmerica
has saved them, all combined to date, an estimated $50+ million that
might have otherwise gone into the coffers of vanity publishers.
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How can you publish without charging me a fee?
Just like any other traditional publisher, we earn our income by
selling books, not by charging publishing fees to our authors. We pay our
authors a royalty payment for each book sold. By 2006 we had paid
out more than $1 million in royalties. We sell a book every sixteen
seconds every day.
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How long will it take to publish my book?
It depends. Factors that affect the production time that are beyond our control include how well written the manuscript is and how quickly the author can work with us during the process.
We can release a book in as little as six to eight weeks from the signing of the contract; however, most books will be released in four to six months from the signing of the contract.
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Do you have an age requirement?
All authors published with PublishAmerica sign a contract to have their work published. As such, we can only enter a contract with those authors who are eighteen (18) or older.
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Do you accept submissions from my country?
Currently, PublishAmerica is open to submissions from the United States, Canada, Western Europe, India, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
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What genres are you interested in seeing?
PublishAmerica is currently open to all genres except:
- Coffee table books
- Screenplays/scripts/movies
- Theses
- Text-books
- Gift Books
- Books of quotes
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Can I submit a book that’s not in English or that has been translated from a different language?
No. We only consider English language works.
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How long does my book have to be?
In general, we require books have a minimum of 4,000 words. Poetry books must contain at least 50 poems. Children's picture books must be a minimum of five pages and no more than 45.
There is no upper page or word count limit for what we consider.
We can consider works in progress or shorter works to which the author would like to add material in order to meet the minimum requirements. Please fill out the form below to contact us about such a book.
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Do I need an agent and can you provide/recommend an agent?
We do not require that you have an agent to submit your work to us. Also, we cannot recommend or provide you with an agent should you desire to work with one.
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I haven't copyrighted my book yet, is that a problem?
No. Under federal law, anything original is considered copyrighted the moment it is written. No application for copyright is necessary. However, if an author wants to officially register the copyright, it is generally recommended that he/she submits the work for registration with the Library of Congress, though you are under no obligation to do so. If a legal matter were to come up later, this would be one way to prove that the work is indeed your work.
Those who elect to officially register their book may find instructions for doing so here: www.loc.gov/copyright.
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I want to include illustrations in my book. Is that OK?
Will you provide illustrations for my book?
Can you recommend an illustrator?
Yes. Please do include illustrations, pictures or graphics that you want considered when submitting your manuscript.
PublishAmerica does have an in-house illustration service for our children's picture books. If you are interested in this service, please contact us via the form below. We cannot recommend outside illustrators.
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Can I use a pen name?
Yes. We will need your legal name on the contract and for payment purposes; however, we can publish the book under a pen name. One word of caution: publishing is inherently a public act—releasing the work to the public; therefore, we cannot guarantee any author’s anonymity.
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How can I submit?
The best way is to start by filing out the form below. Tell us about your book and you. A member of our Acquisitions staff will contact you within seven days concerning your book. If you have not heard back from us within that time frame, please contact us again.
If you would like to submit a manuscript, send:
- Your Complete Manuscript or for a work not yet complete Three Sample Chapters from Your Manuscript and an outline of your work.
- Any pictures you want considered for the manuscript (if you don't have pictures yet, please include a note that you will be including pictures in the final draft of the manuscript)
- An Author Bio
- An email address through which you can be contacted.
You will be notified when we receive your manuscript along with an estimated time for the review process to be completed.
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I already have a book published with PublishAmerica when can I send in my next work?
Welcome back! We are always honored when one of our authors comes to us with his or her new project. Last year alone, more than two thousand of our authors submitted their next work to us. We will be happy to consider your next book at any time.
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What’s an author bio?
The author bio is typically a paragraph about the author with items relevant to writing and publishing. It should not read like a personal advertisement. Things to consider including are previous publishing credits, author influences, how you came to write the book, etc.
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If I mail you my manuscript, do I have to include a SASE (self-addressed-stamped envelope)?
We recommend that you include an SASE that is large enough for your manuscript to fit in and with the appropriate postage amount if you want the manuscript returned should we not be able to accept it. All manuscripts are destroyed within one month of rejection if no SASE is provided.
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How do you want the manuscript formatted (i.e., font size, font type, spacing, etc.)?
We prefer manuscripts to be double-spaced, in a font such as Times New Roman at 12 point.
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How long does the review process take?
When we have received your submission, we will confirm via email that it has been received. The actual review process takes a week or less.
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Do you provide an ISBN?
Yes. Each of our books will receive a unique ISBN that we provide.
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Do you offer an advance?
Yes. The amount of the advance will be outlined in the contract should we accept your work.
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Do you offer editing and book cover design?
If your book is accepted and signed to a contract, it will first enter our Pre-Production Department. During this phase, your contact person in Pre-Production will set a deadline for the submission of all materials needed for the book’s production. Once they have received all items needed and ensured that they are in the formats we need, your book will enter the production process.
A senior editor will review the work to determine the level of editing the book may need. If we feel that the book needs extra editing attention, we either ask the author to make the changes that we deem necessary or we assign the job to our professional editors. We do not edit for content, style, voice and the like and ask that those elements are set by you in the final draft you will provide our Pre-Production Department. You will have at least two opportunities to view the text of your book during the process and suggest further changes.
We will then place your book with one of our cover designers. They will work with any materials or ideas you have provided and the book itself to create a suitable cover design. Note that we cannot use copyrighted images for the cover unless you have obtained permission for their use. We also retain the final say over the design of the book to insure that we release a marketable work.
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None of this answers my question or I want to submit a query for my book.
Please complete this form for questions or submissions, and our staff will be happy to help you. All fields are required.
Please do not fill out this form if you are trying to contact another department at PublishAmerica or if you are inquiring about an order you placed. Please see below for methods of contacting other departments.
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