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We love fantasy! 

 

​Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Occult, Paranormal Fantasy, Portal Fantasy, and Science Fiction Fantasy. 

• Any time period, be it Alternate Universe, Second World, or not-quite Earth. 

• We want fascinating settings, immersive world-building, and dynamic characters we can feel invested in. 

• Unexpected takes on classic tropes, unique magic systems, and themes that highlight the beauty of a diverse world also highly valued.

 

Mixed-genre stories are awesome! 

• We crave blending genres in entertaining ways. Think Sherlock Holmes meets Lord of the Rings; Survival Horror in Dungeons and Dragons; Bridget Jones’ Diary meets A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

• Bring on the mystery, thriller, adventure, comedy, and contemporary woven with strong fantasy elements.

• We accept manuscripts targeted towards Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult age groups.

 

Who are our authors:

• LGBTQIA+, neurologically spicy, minority, BIPOC, and other underrepresented groups in publishing are encouraged to submit. We love reading stories in your own voices!

• Professionalism and civility are key and expected of both authors and staff.

• Authors who are open to and receptive of constructive feedback are a must. Editing isn’t personal, it’s a necessary part of the process.

• Authors who are supportive of diversity, inclusion, and can work well with a variety of people from different walks of life.

• Understand that marketing is an on-going, team effort that continues well beyond the official release date.

• We accept submissions from minors with legal guardian’s permission and involvement.

 

Please let us know if this is a previously published work or a simultaneous submission. If simultaneously submitted, please inform us immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

 

How long should it be:

Novels should be at least 45,000 words to make printing a viable option. Beyond that, as long as the story feels complete and well-paced, we’re not a stickler for word counts described in genre conventions.

Short stories are only accepted for specific anthology submission calls.

 

What we are NOT seeking:

We are not a fan of censorship, however we do have some criteria based on our target audience. While we personally do not seek to silence the following types of novels, they are not a good fit for our brand:

 

• Erotica, Romantasy, Spicy YA, or manuscripts that depend overwhelmingly on sexual depictions to forward a plot. Sexual content and scenes are fine, but must not be more than 20% of the content.

• Splatterpunk, shock horror, excessive gore, torture porn, or depictions of sexual acts of any kind involving minors with adults (teens exploring sexuality with similar-aged peers that serves the story are permissible but should not be overly graphic). 

• Excessive foul language that does not serve the story. The mission of Chaos and Ink Books is to entertain, not to shock.

• Non-fiction and poetry except for specific submission calls.

• Low-content books such as coloring books, planners, and journals.

• Graphic Novels, comics, or illustrated works. We currently do not have the resources to do these manuscripts justice.

• First Drafts which have not been revised or edited to the best of the author’s ability prior to submitting.

• AI-written or heavily AI-assisted works. 

 

Novel Submission Guidelines:

Send an email to: submissions@chaosinkbooks.com

Subject line should read:  SUBMISSION: (title of your story)

 

Please include:

A Cover page with

• your name

• preferred pen name

• legal guardian’s contact info if you are a minor

• email address

• book title

• Whether this is a standalone novel or part of a series.

• If a series, how many books will the complete series be?

• Estimated word count

• Genre descriptor you feel fits best

 

A synopsis of the book, and the expected arc of the series (if applicable)

 

First 10,000 words of the manuscript formatted in the following style:

• 12pt Garamond, 1.5 spaced

• Docx, PDF, RTF, or ODT file.

• Standard Manuscript Format (see https://www.shunn.net/format/story.html for example)

 

DO NOT copy/paste your file into the body of the email. It must be attached as a file. Failure to do so will result in an automatic rejection.

We may ask for a full manuscript before making a final decision.

Authors should expect to hear back within 6–8 weeks of submitting their work.