Open to unsolicited queries
Submissions
Surrender Point Press is expanding. We are accepting unsolicited queries for novellas of 20,000 to 35,000 words.
We want stories that are weird or dark in nature, and that have something to say. A theme. A message. Social commentary. A salient point. Strange for its own sake is not enough, and neither is a sermon without a story. We want both at once.
What we want
- Length
- 20,000 to 35,000 words. Novellas only. We are not reading novels or story collections at this time.
- Tone
- Weird, dark, queer, transgressive, uncanny, gothic, horror-adjacent. Literary ambition welcome.
- Substance
- The book must be about something beyond its plot. Tell us in your query what it is arguing.
- Format
- Query letter plus the first 20 pages. Standard manuscript format. Courier New, 12 point, double spaced.
How to submit
Use our submission form. Paste in your query letter and attach the first twenty pages of your novella as a single file. Use standard manuscript format: Courier New, 12 point, double spaced, one-inch margins, your last name and the title in the header with page numbers.
Your query should tell us what the book is about, what it is really about, the word count, and a little about you. One page is plenty.
Everything goes to the publisher, David Sparks. Please do not email submissions. We read everything and respond to what we want to see more of.