The current goal of the habit of rainy nights press is to release two new books per year. We are a very small press with regional and internet distribution only, and our press runs are not expected to exceed 1000. Our emphasis is on new or under-appreciated authors whose work addresses important issues related to peace, social justice, ecology, or inter-cultural understanding.
We are interested in the following genres:
- high quality poetry** and fiction
- literary nonfiction
- non-fiction which addresses important social issues.
- native american fiction, poetry and non-fiction.
Because we are a small press with volunteer editors, we ask that your manuscript be fairly polished, if not professionally edited. In the rare case of a “diamond in the rough,” dealing with a vital and timely subject, we may be inclined to take on some major editing tasks, but we simply do not have the resources to farm out this work. We are extremely picky about this. Polish it up.
We can not pay advances, and the only author compensation beyond royalties, will be in author copies. In exceptional cases, we may provide an advertising budget beyond our standard promotion on the web and in the Portland, Oregon market. Book sales will depend upon the willingness of the author to sell their own work. Even the big publishers generally require this, unless you are a superstar.
Please send us a polished manuscript which meets the following criteria:
- 40,000 to 80,000 words,
- literary fiction, creative non-fiction, social of cultural criticism (no poetry at this time),
- work must deal with an important social, cultural or political issue,
- author must be unpublished in the genre (in book-length form),
- in the case of fiction, we require literary quality - we are not looking for pedantic screeds or genre fiction (ie: “entertainment” fiction),
- include a cover letter with a short marketing plan telling us how you would promote your book,
- manuscript should be in rtf (rich text file) format. Please do not send us word or wordperfect documents. Almost all word processors allow you to save in this format.
Please send queries or manuscripts to:
editors (at) rainynightspress (dot) org
* We usually respond to queries within a few weeks. Full manuscripts may take a little longer - give us six to eight weeks.
** We are currently not actively seeking poetry or poetry chapbooks, as we are trying to diversify our catalog.
