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What makes a good submission to Brookview Press?
- The author first sends a query letter via e-mail,
or snail mail, describing the project and his or her background. If
the author has previously published stories, articles, or books, this
should be stated. This raises our level of interest!
- A well-told story. If someone unrelated to you read
a chapter to a friend, would the friend ask for more? Our readers often
report that they read manuscript submissions in bed before going to
sleep. If they reach the end of a chapter and are tempted to keep reading
just a little bit more before turning off the light, then we know the
book has potential.
- Real characters. Do they speak? Is the dialog realistic?
Does the main narrator (author) or other supporting characters go through
change or come to a greater life understanding?
- An interesting setting. Brookview Press publishes
books about nature. Therefore, they take place outdoors! The manuscript
should have a vivid sense of place. While it’s good and necessary to
get inside the narrator’s head, the reader must know where they are
in physical terms — what the narrator is doing, seeing and feeling at
all times. Are you hiking through a steamy, tropical rainforest with
birds chattering above you while remembering a lost love? At Brookview
Press, we're travelers ourselves and always yearn for new places or
even old places to re-visit. If a manuscript totally “transports” us,
then it has a good chance with Brookview Press.
- Well thought-out structure. Manuscripts with a unique
or interesting structure have a special appeal. However, this doesn’t
mean confusing timeframes, illogical arrangements, or “cute” placement
of text down the sides of a page, but rather, meaningful alternatives
to strict chronological order. Are there two stories going on at once,
one in real-time, the other from the past? Is the truth of the book
reflected in its structure?
- Page sense. A printed page that has no physical
breaks is tough on the eyes and may indicate that the author’s thoughts
ramble on without regard to the reader. When a reader sees a huge block
of unbroken text, she sees a hurdle, rather than an inviting page that
draws her in.
What Brookview Press is not interested
in:
- Poetry
- How-to or Guidebooks
- Religious sermons
- Children's books
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