The Publishing Industry as Explained by Tom Grundner

Okay, if you have a book proposal you'd like us to consider, we're not going to BS you. Here's how it works.

The bad news...

    * We don't give advances--an increasingly common phenomenon in publishing. In the long run that's no big deal as these are always advances against royalties, which means the publisher just takes the money back out of your first check(s) anyway.

    * We’ll do as much as we can to promote your book, but our resources are limited. Ultimately the bulk of this task will be on your shoulders--which, again, is not really different than what the bigger publishers will tell you.

    * Your book will (in all likelihood) not appear on the shelves of the major chain bookstores. That is actually less of a loss than it sounds. What they don't tell you is this. IF you can get your book on their shelves (a big "IF"), you have three months for your book to become a very (very) good seller. If it doesn't--it's gone, just as if it had never been there in the first place.

The good news...

    * You will NOT be charged for having the book published. We are NOT a print on demand rip-off thing. We're investing our money, not yours, into your book.

    * You'll receive a royalty of 10% to 12% of the net paperback sales (i.e. 10-12% of what we get). That's the same if not higher than most publishers. We don't do hardbacks at this time, but if and when we do, you'll get 12% to 15% of those net sales.  eBooks (which we're doing more and more), you get 25% of what we get.

    * You will be able to buy your book for your own resale at 50% off the cover price.

    * Your book will be published using the latest state-of-the-art technology. In other words, it will look great. We don't put out junk--that goes for the look of the book as well as the writing.

    * Your book WILL be on the title lists of the world’s largest book distributors, so any customer, at any store, can order it.

    * The book will appear in Books in Print and will be available through both Ingram, and Baker & Taylor--the two largest book distributors in the world.

    * It will be available in Europe via both Gardner's Books and Bertram Books, the two largest book distributors in Europe.

    * It will also be available in Canada via Chapters/Indigo, the largest book distributor in Canada.

    * And it will be available online via Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com,  this website, and God knows how many other independent websites.

Now then, all that being said, I should also point out that we will probably not be publishing very many unsolicited books.  If you want to give it a try, however, we'll be glad to take a look at a (well-crafted) proposal. Just remember... nautical and historical fiction and non-fiction will get our attention a lot easier than something in the "Other" category. By the way, if you have never done a book proposal before, there are lots of books out there (as well as Internet help) that will show you how to do it. If your proposal looks interesting to us, we'll ask for some sample chapters and go from there.

Oh yes, one more thing--everything but everything around here is done electronically. So your proposal has to be sent via email as either a Microsoft Word file or an Apple Pages file.

Don't get your hopes up, but I can guarantee you we will definitely take a look at your proposal and give it serious consideration.

See, I told you we wouldn't BS you.

A Checklist for Submitting to Fireship Press

   1. An industry-standard query letter in the body of the email, including an irresistible synopsis that reflects not only the content but also the writing style of the book in question. For non-fiction books, please also include an outline or detailed chapter list.

   2. Three sample chapters in Word or Pages. These are usually the first three chapters. If you send chapters from further on in the book, please include a paragraph or two of contextualization. Your sample must be in standard manuscript format, observing MLA or Chicago style and punctuation and using Times New Roman, 12 point.

   3. A specific editor.  Please take a look at our titles to get a general idea of what we accept, then see the following list of editors’ preferences and send your proposal to the most appropriate one.

Michael James – Naval history and historical fiction of Europe and the Americas; military history and historical fiction of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Jan Holmes Frost – Historical nautical fiction (especially American), western fiction (American west with strong historical content), historical fiction (American), thriller, mystery and non-fiction.

Jessica Knauss – Nautical and historical fiction (especially medieval), fantasy to include magical realism, action-adventure, biography and history; fiction and non-fiction with a Spanish theme.

We do NOT currently consider erotica, horror, adolescent or children’s books, or books that are exclusively romance. If your story has a romance in it, but primarily falls into another of our accepted genres, we will consider it. 

Any submissions that do not include all the requested materials in the requested format or that fall outside the accepted genres will be rejected unread.  Thank you for making sure Fireship is a good fit for your book before you submit.