1) QUERYING

Please query the right imprint, at the correct email address

A) Purple Unicorn Media

For art, travel, light and philosophical fantasy, poetry, romance and literature.
Email info@purpleunicornmedia.com

B) Scimitar Edge

For alternate history, science fiction, steampunk, cyberpunk, historical fiction, epic and heroic fantasy, urban fantasy, history, biography & genealogy
Email editor@scimitaredge.com

C) Dancing Unicorn

For children's books, including picture books, and fiction for children up to young teens
Email publish@dancingunicorn.co.uk

2) YOUR EMAIL

A) SUBJECT

Please make the title of your email obvious as to what it is about

B) CONTENT

Information on your submission should include the following:-
- Its title, or ideas of a title if uncertain
- Author name (whether your real name or a pen name)
- The genre of the submission, both wide (e.g. science fiction) and as specific as possible (e.g. time travel romance)
- The length in word count. Feel free to also give it in chapters etc
- Synopsis: this really only needs to be a couple of pages
- Similarities to other authors etc, not because we want you to claim to be "the new X" but because it helps with understanding the book's positioning, and in who we choose to read the submission.
- Ideas for a cover; whilst PUM and its imprints reserve the absolute final say over what is used as a cover, we are happy to work with authors who already have ideas as to what they would like to see. Whilst less frequent in novels etc, we are aware that poets have often sourced something that they wish to use. We are very open to receiving such additional enclosures, but please specify any known copyright issues with the image, and where you got it from.

3) THE ATTACHMENT (YOUR SUBMISSION)

Please make sure that your query includes EITHER:-
A) A sample couple of chapters, from anywhere you think is best
or
B) The full manuscript
Sending us just the description undermines your own efforts, requires additional emails, and will place any such submission below those who fulfill our request.

4) YOURSELF

Please provide relevant professional details. In general we would like to see:-

A) BIO

Readers expect to see some biographical account of the author, either on the back cover or at the end of the book, and this can be purely professional, leaving any personal information to your discretion. This can be focused on professional work only, or on writing only, or on interests only, or can be a full personal statement. What we are looking for is something we can promote and which works well with the advertising. We don't need to know what you don't want to tell us. But what you tell us needs to work for both parties.

B) LINKS

Whilst we do not require authors to have social media links or an online presence, we do require to know about any you do have, that go by the same name as your book will go out in. These include:-
- website, or blog: - if you have a web presence, we want to visit it, and get a feel for how you already present yourself, and how readers may already see you.
- social media links: these are very useful in marketing and promotion, and if you have professional accounts it is very useful for us to view them. Conversely, if you have blended your professional work with personal rants, and conspiracy theories, it will be useful for us to know that this might be a problem!

We would hope that any such presence an author has would be at your disposal to use to promote your book once it is published.

C) PUBLICATIONS

Again, we neither require an author to have a list of previously published work, nor do we need to read any that you do have. But we wish to be made aware of what you have published, using the same author name, and where. If you wish to let us know about additional publications, under other pen names, that is at your discretion.

5) READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

We put online the Terms and Conditions for publishing with us, and expect all submitting authors to read them. They are prominent on our website and form a BASIC contract, and we generally add to this with specific clauses, as agreed with the author. But the basic online contract is what you will be agreeing to, so please read it in full. These will answer many questions you may have, and save both time, and confusion, where any progression to a formal review of a manuscript occurs. Feel free to ask any additional questions of us, if you have any.

6) OUR PROGRESS

A) Acknowledgment

We will acknowledge your submission, either from the email address submitted to, or from our GMail account, and give an indication of initial timescale for review. This will depend on factors such as if the submission is being sent out to associates, who may be better placed in the relevant genre, or if it is joining a long queue to review.

B) Initial Reply

Initial reply after this review - we will either reject your submission, humbly and with an explanation if one is relevant, or we will offer to progress it to a formal review.

C) Formal Review

The formal review process has two main strands:-
1) We work with you the author to make sure we both want the same thing out of any publication.
2) We look to see how we would position and market the book, and if it meets the needs of our stable.

D) Offer or Rejection

If we wish to publish your work, and the formal review has gone well for both parties, we will then make an offer of publication. Otherwise, we will give you a formal rejection.

NOTES

- Please white-list our GMail account - purpleunicornmedia@gmail.com

- If we make an offer of a Formal Review and have not heard back from you within 10 days we will issue a Rejection