Submissions

Horrific Tales Publishing are currently closed to submissions.

What we are looking for:

We are looking for horror novels that thrill, excite and terrify us. We expect strong characters, an engaging plot and a book that we just can’t put down.

We are open to any subject matter, with the exception of the sexual abuse of children, because there are lines that even we won’t cross. Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves, Ghosts or more human monsters are fine, as are anything a little different. Just make it original. We don’t want to see retreads of the old tropes unless you can put a new spin on it. We are also not interested in gore for the sake of it. Blood and guts are fine, but they need to be relevant to the plot.

If we decide to publish any of the novels submitted to us, we will ensure that the books are edited to professional standards, will take care of cover design, formatting and ebook creation. We will also pay an advance against royalties, and will offer 50% Net royalties across the board, which is more than most small presses offer. We will also put a considerable amount of time and effort into marketing the book, although we do expect the author to help out in this respect.

We are looking for novels, of at least 60,000 words, or novellas of at least 25,000 words. We are not looking for anthologies or short story collections at this time.

How to submit.

We don’t want to be deluged with manuscripts, nor do we want submissions for novels and novellas that are not yet complete. To save our eyes and our sanity, please follow the format below.

Send the first three chapters of your novel in MS Word format, along with a complete synopsis of the plot to submissions@horrifictales.co.uk. In your covering email, tell us why this book deserves our attention. What will make it stand out from the crowd.

Please, for the love of God, don’t send us the full manuscript at this time. The first three chapters and synopsis should be enough for us to determine whether we think we will be able to really make your book successful.

Once the submissions period is over, we will evaluate all of the submissions, and at this stage, will invite the very best of the bunch to submit the complete manuscript.

While we are not expecting completely perfect, line edited prose, we do expect a certain amount of polish such as the correction of most spelling and grammar errors. No matter how compelling your plot, if it’s painful to read through your first three chapters, then you are unlikely to progress to the next stage.

Best of luck. We can’t wait to see what your twisted minds can come up with.