A Call for Submissions!

Turtleduck Press is looking for new members—independent-minded science fiction and/or fantasy writers who have a polished manuscript and are interested in joining a co-operative publisher.

The Turtleduck Press brand assures the reader that the work in question has met the standards of the members, all of whom are staking their own writing careers on the quality of the work that TDP as a whole releases.

For more about us, see our “About” page. For examples of what we publish, see our list of novels and anthologies.

Membership

We are an indie press working on a co-op model. Think of it like renting a selling space inside a store. You get the benefits of the store—bigger audience, brand recognition, associates with experience—but retain the ability to sell your wares the way you’d like and for the price you set. At TDP you get the benefits of publishing through a small press while still getting the perks of self-publishing. Members are charged only a share of the website hosting and P.O. box fees (around $45 per year). All royalties remain with the author.

Benefits of membership include:

  • Two rounds of rigorous editing by an experienced editor at no cost.
  • Access to the expertise of the existing members to help you format, design, publish, and market your book. (You will be expected to contribute according to your skills.) No cost involved.
  • Use of the TDP brand, including an author page on our website, our logo on the back of your book, and participation in our blog posting rotation and the rotation of free short stories we put out monthly.
  • Use of the P.O. box as an address for newsletters.

To become a member, you must submit a polished SF/F novel with romance elements (see below for submission guidelines). If your work is accepted for publication and you agree to the terms of membership, your book will be placed in the next available slot in our regular schedule. We currently publish two full-length works a year in ebook and print formats. Because of our limited number of slots, we follow a standard query process and a rigorous vetting and editing process, just like any publisher.

Submission Guidelines

We are looking for speculative fiction (science fiction and fantasy) novels, both adult and older YA, including steampunk, dark fantasy, etc., which include romance either as a strong subplot or as the main plot. We do not publish horror or erotica. Word count should fall between 50,000 words and 120,000 words. We’ll consider works outside this range, but only if they really wow us.

Our mandate is to publish works of quality that would otherwise fall through the cracks. We are particularly interested in works in less-commercial areas of the speculative fiction umbrella, such as:

  • subgenres that are less of a focus in the current market—science fantasy, science fiction romance, and so on
  • cross-genre/genre-bending
  • literary, slipstream, and magic realism
  • works by or about underrepresented voices such as LGBTQ and people of colour

Email your submission to membership@turtleduckpress.com. Submissions must include a standard query letter and the first five pages of your manuscript, all in the body of the email. Emails with attachments will be deleted unread.

We respond to all queries, but we are not able to provide personalized feedback on every query.

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