Manuscript Submissions

Brick Cave Books seeks to work with new and emerging authors writing in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres.

Scope of Submissions

This submission process is intended to govern full length books intended to be published with Brick Cave Books. This process does not govern submissions for The Box, Brick Cave Fictioneers, or First Words.

Roll Up Your Sleeves

Brick Cave Media believes the current nature of the market makes it imperative that the author and the publisher work cooperatively in promoting a book.

Currently Accepting

• Science Fiction
• Fantasy
• We will consider additional genres based on submissions.

Currently Not Accepting

• Due to a backlog of unpublished poetry titles, we are unable to accept poetry manuscripts at this time.
• Horror
• Romance
• Non-fiction.

The Importance of Craft

Brick Cave Media is seeking authors with a keen understanding of craft. To that end, we encourage prospective authors to engage their local writing communities in efforts to better understand their work.

We are involved with some events and organizations, including:

• Cirque du Livre Writer’s Conference, sponsored in part by Brick Cave Media
• Arizona State Poetry Society, of which Brick Cave Media is a member
• Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, of which Brick Cave staff are members

We strongly encourage prospective authors read from the Brick Cave catalogue prior to submission.

Submission Period and Guidelines

Submission Period

Submissions are ongoing. Notifications for full manuscript submittal are made on the following schedule:

Timeline to publication

Once accepted, we will extend a contract to the author. Brick Cave may ask for some additional work on the manuscript, and there are additional workflows based on cover creation and other factors. We do not guarantee a set date of publication until we have moved through those processes with the author.

When We Publish

We are looking to maintain a schedule of 4-6 titles each year. We may ask to accept a work with the intent of publishing it farther out than our original expectations, depending on our lineup.

Core Guidelines:

Submissions are now being accepted digitally through the Consolidated Brick Cave Submission Form (BCSF). Submitting authors are asked to confirm that they have read and adhered to the guidelines below.

Meeting the requirements below, submitters are asked to submit a single PDF file that contains the first 3 chapters of their manuscript. The BCSF does not allow file formats other than PDF, and incomplete submissions, or submissions that fail to meet the guidelines below will not be considered.

Cover Letter, including:

• Relevant information about the full manuscript (words, etc.)
• If you are writing a series, if any other works related to the series (even peripherally) have been published, please advise us
• We want to know about you as a writer and a person. Do not try and impress us with name drops, awards and such (certainly share your successes and such, but a person is more than the sum of their awards). Tell us why you like this manuscript. What motivated you to send it to us? Why should we snap this manuscript up and work with you?
• This will be pasted into the Cover Letter field of the Query Manager form.

Formatting: First 3 Chapters, including:

• • Text of your chapters should be double spaced.
  • At least 12 pt font with 1” margins on all sides.

Additional Details

• • Contact information should be on cover letter, and name and title should appear on all pages of manuscript.
  • You must be able to provide your final edited manuscript in electronic form.
  • No simultaneous submissions
  • We will review manuscripts between 50,000 and 125,000 words.
  • Agent-ed submissions OK.
  • Previously published works will not be considered.
  • Paper submissions will no longer be considered after 7/1/2020.

Open Submission Form (Query Manager)