WHO WE ARE
We publish books, both fiction and nonfiction, that people want to read, books that beckon you to take them from the shelf and start reading. We are a small independent publisher based in the Appalachian foothills region of South Carolina. We are not a vanity press, subsidy publisher or so-called self-publisher meaning our authors do not pay us anything at all to have their books published. Instead we pay all costs of publishing and distribution and pay our authors royalties based on sales of their books. Moonshine Cove Publishing's only form of income is book sales, not payments from authors for book design and production.
Our books, both print books and eBooks, are distributed nationally and internationally through Ingram and many regional wholesalers. They may be purchased online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble as well as in most bookstores. If you don't see a particular book you're hunting, ask for it by name. Wholesale copies can be purchased on our website. Our eBooks are available in just about all eBook formats including Kindle, Nook and ePub.
MOONSHINE COVE - BOOKS THAT BECKON
We publish books, both fiction and nonfiction, that people want to read, books that beckon you to take them from the shelf and start reading. We are a small independent publisher based in the Appalachian foothills region of South Carolina. We are not a vanity press, subsidy publisher or so-called self-publisher meaning our authors do not pay us anything at all to have their books published. Instead we pay all costs of publishing and distribution and pay our authors royalties based on sales of their books. Moonshine Cove Publishing's only form of income is book sales, not payments from authors for book design and production.
Our books, both print books and eBooks, are distributed nationally and internationally through Ingram and many regional wholesalers. They may be purchased online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble as well as in most bookstores. If you don't see a particular book you're hunting, ask for it by name. Wholesale copies can be purchased on our website. Our eBooks are available in just about all eBook formats including Kindle, Nook and ePub.
MOONSHINE COVE - BOOKS THAT BECKON
PUBLISHING AT MOONSHINE COVE
Finally, after such a long struggle, the letter or email you've waited for so long arrives. A publisher is offering you a contract. The burst of excitement passes through you like an electric shock. Unfortunately in far too many cases, the idyllic relationship you hoped for with your publisher sours. You become just one more gear in a vast business machine. Your emails go unanswered, or if they are answered, it takes several days. Your ideas for the cover design are not wanted. The slant of the promotional copy does not fit what your had in mind. You have lost control of your book.
Not at Moonshine Cove. We strive to work closely with all of our authors. It's what makes us unique. How well do we succeed? Consider the unsolicited comments from some of our authors:
"I was really impressed with the professional quality of the way you delivered Flowers and really enjoyed working with you on the drafts."--Nick Sweet, author of Flowers at Midnight
"Let me take the opportunity to express my thanks and appreciation. You have been excellent to work with on this project."--David Liebert, Ed.D., Social and Behavioral Science Department Chair, Tarpon Springs Campus, St. Petersburg College, author of Unreasonable Sanity
Not at Moonshine Cove. We strive to work closely with all of our authors. It's what makes us unique. How well do we succeed? Consider the unsolicited comments from some of our authors:
"I was really impressed with the professional quality of the way you delivered Flowers and really enjoyed working with you on the drafts."--Nick Sweet, author of Flowers at Midnight
"Let me take the opportunity to express my thanks and appreciation. You have been excellent to work with on this project."--David Liebert, Ed.D., Social and Behavioral Science Department Chair, Tarpon Springs Campus, St. Petersburg College, author of Unreasonable Sanity
Do you have a goal for your book? That's an easy question to answer--you want it to become a best seller and get made into a big hit movie, of course. You may have another goal too—win the lottery! Both are great goals and both have about the same chance of happening: roughly the same chance an ice cube has with a blow torch flame.
Now that we've got that out of the way, what realistic goals do you have for your book? This is something you should spend some time thinking about before you start querying. Will you settle for nothing less than a big press run and a quarter of a million dollar publicity campaign? Then you need a literary agent, preferably one of the famous ones, the kind that have famous clients. Wouldn't it be great if you had the same agent as Stephen King? Sure it would.
There are several ways you can get an agent like that: 1. You are famous; 2. You have a million followers who read your blog; 3. You write for a magazine, ezine or newspaper with a huge circulation; 4. You appear on national television every few days; 5. You are filthy rich.
If none of these are true, you can try lesser known literary agents. What's that? You say say you've already tried four hundred different agents and got nowhere? That's no surprise. It can be harder to get an agent than a publisher. No, really, that's true. Do some research and you'll see. With agents, maybe 1 query out of one hundred is successful. Your chances are about ten time better at Moonshine Cove. We typically offer contracts to about ten authors out of a hundred queries.
But maybe you know all of this already. Maybe that's why you are considering sending a query to Moonshine Cove instead of Random House or Simon & Schuster. Wait--that's right. The big publishers only accept queries from literary agents? Why? Because they can.
Before you decide to query us, make sure you will be happy with us if we offer you a contract. We don't have any huge press runs; as a matter of fact, we don't have press runs at all. Our books are printed when an order is received. Neat, simple, highly efficient. No warehouses stacked with books that can't be sold. No waste, no returns, no going out of print—that's what print on demand technology offers. POD is the wave of the future. The dirty little secret of the big publishers is that they are using this technology too, for their lesser known authors, the ones with names you probably wouldn't recognize. That's actually most authors.
We also don't have any huge budget for publicity. In fact, we make it clear to each and every Moonshine Cove Author that that they will have to shoulder most of the responsibility for promoting their book. Most of your sales will be through Amazon instead of book stores. The reason is that, although book stores can order our books, they are unlikely to stock them because we do not accept returns. The exception to this would be independent deals that an author might work out with a store.
As we hope this section demonstrates, we are also honest with authors, no sales talk, so spin, no rose colored glasses.
Still interested? Read on.
Now that we've got that out of the way, what realistic goals do you have for your book? This is something you should spend some time thinking about before you start querying. Will you settle for nothing less than a big press run and a quarter of a million dollar publicity campaign? Then you need a literary agent, preferably one of the famous ones, the kind that have famous clients. Wouldn't it be great if you had the same agent as Stephen King? Sure it would.
There are several ways you can get an agent like that: 1. You are famous; 2. You have a million followers who read your blog; 3. You write for a magazine, ezine or newspaper with a huge circulation; 4. You appear on national television every few days; 5. You are filthy rich.
If none of these are true, you can try lesser known literary agents. What's that? You say say you've already tried four hundred different agents and got nowhere? That's no surprise. It can be harder to get an agent than a publisher. No, really, that's true. Do some research and you'll see. With agents, maybe 1 query out of one hundred is successful. Your chances are about ten time better at Moonshine Cove. We typically offer contracts to about ten authors out of a hundred queries.
But maybe you know all of this already. Maybe that's why you are considering sending a query to Moonshine Cove instead of Random House or Simon & Schuster. Wait--that's right. The big publishers only accept queries from literary agents? Why? Because they can.
Before you decide to query us, make sure you will be happy with us if we offer you a contract. We don't have any huge press runs; as a matter of fact, we don't have press runs at all. Our books are printed when an order is received. Neat, simple, highly efficient. No warehouses stacked with books that can't be sold. No waste, no returns, no going out of print—that's what print on demand technology offers. POD is the wave of the future. The dirty little secret of the big publishers is that they are using this technology too, for their lesser known authors, the ones with names you probably wouldn't recognize. That's actually most authors.
We also don't have any huge budget for publicity. In fact, we make it clear to each and every Moonshine Cove Author that that they will have to shoulder most of the responsibility for promoting their book. Most of your sales will be through Amazon instead of book stores. The reason is that, although book stores can order our books, they are unlikely to stock them because we do not accept returns. The exception to this would be independent deals that an author might work out with a store.
As we hope this section demonstrates, we are also honest with authors, no sales talk, so spin, no rose colored glasses.
Still interested? Read on.
Submission Guidelines
NOW ACCEPTING QUERIES
Query first (email only). Put either Query (Novel) or Query (Non-fiction) in the subject line. Paste in the first five pages after your letter. Don't include any attachments because we will not open them.
LIST AT THE TOP OF YOUR QUERY THE TITLE, AUTHOR'S NAME, WORD COUNT AND GENRE.
Make sure your query is the best writing you can do since it may be the only sample we ever see. Don't try to be fancy. Direct and to-the-point is better. In your second paragraph, tell us what your book is about and why it's worth publishing. Convince us it's worth our time looking at more.
Your third paragraph gives you a chance to tell us about yourself including your writing background, published work and how you plan to promote and publicize your book. If you are a published author, be sure to tell. List each book, its genre and how well it has sold. NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT CALL YOURSELF A PUBLISHED AUTHOR IF YOU MEAN PUBLISH AMERICA OR NUMEROUS OTHER SIMILAR COMPANIES.
Failure to follow these instructions will result in automatic rejection.
PLEASE NOTE: WE PUBLISH ONLY WORK THAT HAS NOT BEEN PUBLISHED BEFORE. IF YOUR WORK HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN ANY FORM, E-BOOK, VANITY PRESS, SUBSIDY PRESS, SELF-PUBLISHED, PLEASE DO NOT SEND US A QUERY. YOU WILL BE WASTING YOUR TIME AND OURS. WE ALSO DO NOT PUBLISH POETRY, FANTASY OR NOVELS SHORTER THAN 45,000 WORDS, SO THE SAME APPLIES.
NOW ACCEPTING QUERIES
Query first (email only). Put either Query (Novel) or Query (Non-fiction) in the subject line. Paste in the first five pages after your letter. Don't include any attachments because we will not open them.
LIST AT THE TOP OF YOUR QUERY THE TITLE, AUTHOR'S NAME, WORD COUNT AND GENRE.
Make sure your query is the best writing you can do since it may be the only sample we ever see. Don't try to be fancy. Direct and to-the-point is better. In your second paragraph, tell us what your book is about and why it's worth publishing. Convince us it's worth our time looking at more.
Your third paragraph gives you a chance to tell us about yourself including your writing background, published work and how you plan to promote and publicize your book. If you are a published author, be sure to tell. List each book, its genre and how well it has sold. NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT CALL YOURSELF A PUBLISHED AUTHOR IF YOU MEAN PUBLISH AMERICA OR NUMEROUS OTHER SIMILAR COMPANIES.
Failure to follow these instructions will result in automatic rejection.
PLEASE NOTE: WE PUBLISH ONLY WORK THAT HAS NOT BEEN PUBLISHED BEFORE. IF YOUR WORK HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN ANY FORM, E-BOOK, VANITY PRESS, SUBSIDY PRESS, SELF-PUBLISHED, PLEASE DO NOT SEND US A QUERY. YOU WILL BE WASTING YOUR TIME AND OURS. WE ALSO DO NOT PUBLISH POETRY, FANTASY OR NOVELS SHORTER THAN 45,000 WORDS, SO THE SAME APPLIES.
What Are We Looking For?
We only publish work that is original and that has not been published before. If we ask to see more, we will let you know. If we ask (and only if we ask), first and foremost, don't send us anything that hasn't been edited. Make sure your work is error free, clear and concise. Send us exactly what we ask for, not more, not less. We try to make a decision on whether we want to pursue your work further within two weeks to a month from the time we receive your query. If you haven't heard from us within a month, you should contact us again because sometimes we miss seeing query letters that our spam filter caught.
Do not send us anything by regular mail, electronic submission only. Submit your query to this email address: publisher@moonshinecovepublishing.com. Do not send us anything except a query letter with the first five pages of your manuscript PASTED into the body of the email (pasted, not attached). We will not open attachments or click on embedded links.
If we ask to see your manuscript, send it only if it's your final edit. If you're still thinking of making changes, it's not ready to send, so please don't send it. Our decision will be based only on that version of the manuscript, not another one that you want to send later. We will accept no changes or no later version of the manuscript until we move to the editing stage.
Do not send us anything by regular mail, electronic submission only. Submit your query to this email address: publisher@moonshinecovepublishing.com. Do not send us anything except a query letter with the first five pages of your manuscript PASTED into the body of the email (pasted, not attached). We will not open attachments or click on embedded links.
If we ask to see your manuscript, send it only if it's your final edit. If you're still thinking of making changes, it's not ready to send, so please don't send it. Our decision will be based only on that version of the manuscript, not another one that you want to send later. We will accept no changes or no later version of the manuscript until we move to the editing stage.
What Genres are you Interested In Seeing?
Novels - adventure, action, historical (especially ancient Rome & Greece), historical romance, mainstream, mystery, romantic suspense, hard science fiction (not fantasy), police, political, suspense, thriller, true crime and anything else that strikes our fancy.
Non-fiction - economics, history, military, nature, political, psychology, science, self-publishing, writing and others.
What if We Turn you Down?
Rejection is part of being a writer. If we do not agree to publish your work, don't take it personally. It's only a business decision, not an opinion about the quality of your writing or your worth as a person. All such decisions are subjective and different publishers will have different opinions. Send your work out to other publishers and literary agents who are accepting submissions. Brian Grove has a good up-to-date website listing publishers who accept submissions which is well worth a visit: http://myperfectpitch.com/book-publishers-accepting-submissions/
Non-fiction - economics, history, military, nature, political, psychology, science, self-publishing, writing and others.
What if We Turn you Down?
Rejection is part of being a writer. If we do not agree to publish your work, don't take it personally. It's only a business decision, not an opinion about the quality of your writing or your worth as a person. All such decisions are subjective and different publishers will have different opinions. Send your work out to other publishers and literary agents who are accepting submissions. Brian Grove has a good up-to-date website listing publishers who accept submissions which is well worth a visit: http://myperfectpitch.com/book-publishers-accepting-submissions/
Is Moonshine Cove a Vanity Press?
Moonshine Cove Publishing is a small independent press, but NOT a vanity or so-called subsidy press. What that means is that you do not pay us to publish your book. We are selective and we publish only what we like. If we do contract you to publish your book, you will never have to pay us a cent. Instead you will be paid a royalty based on the number of copies your book sells. Our royalty rate is higher than most publishers. The exact terms are spelled out in detail in our standard publishing contract.
Be careful when you shop around your manuscript. Companies that charge you money to publish your book don't like to come right out and say that. If their presentation is slick enough, you many think they're not charging you anything until you get into the fine print of the contract. If you do decide to pay a publisher, shop around for the best deal because the charges vary tremendously, from as little as a few hundred dollars to more than ten thousand.
How can Moonshine Cove publish your manuscript for free? Because as mentioned above, we are selective. Unlike Vanity Presses who will publish just about anything, we are very careful about what we choose to publish. In fact, approximately 90% of the queries we receive are rejected.
Be careful when you shop around your manuscript. Companies that charge you money to publish your book don't like to come right out and say that. If their presentation is slick enough, you many think they're not charging you anything until you get into the fine print of the contract. If you do decide to pay a publisher, shop around for the best deal because the charges vary tremendously, from as little as a few hundred dollars to more than ten thousand.
How can Moonshine Cove publish your manuscript for free? Because as mentioned above, we are selective. Unlike Vanity Presses who will publish just about anything, we are very careful about what we choose to publish. In fact, approximately 90% of the queries we receive are rejected.
How Many Copies of My Book will be Sold?
No one can answer that, but in all likely hood, not many. That's the reality of the publishing industry today. The number of sales, however, depends greatly on the author, particularly how much time the author is willing to devote to publicizing and marketing her or his book. The more effort the author puts into this, the more copies of the book will be sold. All such marketing efforts will be at the author's own expense. Moonshine Cove spends money to publish your book and to make it available nationally and internationally, but does not have funds for marketing. We do make available to our authors suggestions of how to go about this, but we are unable to do it for you. Writing the book is only half the battle, less than half the battle. If you want it to sell, you, the author, must publicize and promote your book at your own expense. If you are not willing to do that, Moonshine Cove is not the right publisher for you.
