Blank Slate Press was founded in 2010 to discover, nurture, publish and promote new voices from the greater Saint Louis, MO region. We are expanding our area to include the Midwest. Our "adventure in the future of publishing" is starting small with only one or two titles a year. Our first titles--The Samaritan by Fred Venturini and Dancing with Gravity by Anene Tressler--were greeted with wonderful reviews and Dancing with Gravity won the 2011 Literary Fiction category for the International Book Awards. Our next title, Daybreak by Steve Wiegenstein, is due out early 2012.
The Blank Slate Press imprint is genre-blind but with a literary sensibility. We accept genre fiction, literary fiction, and young adult fiction submissions, and we are looking to publish a few non-fiction titles eventually. The bottom line is great writing, intriguing characters, and a little somethin’ somethin’ to stand out in the crowd–even for non-fiction. BSP seeks excellent writers who are committed to and excited about marketing their book, fostering their author presence online and off, and building a community of readers. You do not need to have an agent to submit your work. Unfortunately we cannot at this time accept children’s books, picture books, or graphic novels.
Checklist
We are tiny and are only planning to release one or two titles per year.
Submit the first 50 pages of a complete draft
One title only
Manuscripts should be at least 60,000 words. (We currently do not publish novellas or short story collections.)
We consider all genres and literary works in both adult and young adult markets
We prefer manuscripts in Microsoft Word
Synopsis (that includes the ending), less than two pages
Author bio with contact info
Fill out the Author Questionnaire here
We will confirm receipt within 10 days
Allow 6-8 weeks for response
Submit your 50 pages as a Word attachment to query @ blankslatepress.com with subject: title—genre (e.g. Dancing with Gravity–Literary Fiction)