OUR PROCESS
She Writes Press is unique in the world of publishing because of our mission and built-in community of women writers and readers, and also because we offer a much-needed alternative in a rapidly changing publishing landscape. You, the author, invest in your publishing package up front, but you retain 60% of the net profits on your print books and 70% of the net profits (minus a small distribution fee) on your ebooks.
Unlike self-publishing platforms that publish whatever comes through regardless of quality, She Writes Press only publishes manuscripts that we deem to be publish-ready, based purely on the merit of the writing and not on author platform or other subjective measure.
Submit Your Manuscript
Submit the first 50 pages of your manuscript, along with a short synopsis (not to exceed 2-3 paragraphs), and chapter-by-chapter summaries. For examples of chapter summaries, click here for fiction and here for memoir. If you don’t have formal chapters, or you have a nonfiction book or outlier genre, please do your best to approximate chapter summaries.
Distribution
One of the top benefits of our hybrid model is having your book traditionally distributed. Our books are distributed to the trade by Simon & Schuster.
Your She Writes Press book is for sale in print and online!
SUBMIT YOUR MANUSCRIPT
At She Writes Press, our submissions process is more than just a transaction. We have a two-tiered submissions process which gives you the opportunity to get two points of feedback—from reviewers who are in the business, as well as our internal editorial staff. Our primary goal is to get your project ready for publication. If it already is, we’ll give you the green light. If it needs a bit more work, you’re going to find out why and what to do about it.
We are currently acquiring projects for publication in Spring 2027. We publish books on seasonal lists and launch each season approximately 14-16 months prior to the date that can expect to be published.
We are pleased to announce that as of our Fall 2024 season, our books are now distributed by Simon & Schuster.
If you need to publish before January 2027, we unfortunately cannot accommodate you at this time.
She Writes Press specializes in memoir, literary fiction, and nonfiction. Our sister imprint, SparkPress, specializes in genre fiction, commercial fiction, young adult, new adult, and middle grade. Neither publishes children’s books.
Learn more about submitting to SparkPress here.
OUR PUBLICATION TRACKS
Our primary goal is to accurately assess your project and its readiness for publication. If we determine it to be ready to go, we’ll give you the green light. If it needs a bit more work, you’re going to find out why and what to do about it.
Submissions is a two-tiered process. Once you submit your first 50 pages and chapter summaries, we will evaluate your submission. Within 6 weeks, you will receive an assessment from our team, letting you know whether or not you’re moving forward to Tier 2, along with our rationale for this placement. If you’re not moving forward, we invite you to connect with one of our approved coaches. Any author who works through a full revision with a SWP-approved coach is invited to resubmit directly, and we’ll waive the submissions fee for resubmission. Any author who works through a full revision with an outside coach or editor is invited to resubmit through the Submittable platform.
Tier 1
Publishing Track
Submissions that are put on the Publishing Track will move forward to the second tier of our process (see below). This means it may take another 4 weeks before we let authors know whether we’ll be offering a contract.
Coaching Track
There are many reasons we might determine a submission not be publish-ready, or not a right fit for She Writes Press, including but not limited to: needing a developmental edit, insufficient submissions materials, and manuscripts that are significantly longer or shorter than what we publish (manuscripts should be between 40K-100K words; if your manuscript is shorter than 40K words, see our ebook-only publishing platform SheBooks.net). If you land on this track, we invite you to connect with one of our approved coaches. These are coaches who’ve been vetted by She Writes Press. They are not staff, or even affiliated with She Writes Press. You are not obligated in any way to resubmit or publish with She Writes Press if you work with one of our approved coaches. We like to provide this resource as a support to writers, and we invite anyone who works through a revision process with one of our approved coaches to resubmit directly (fee waived). Writers are also welcome to work with outside coaches, but must resubmit via Submittable and pay the Submittable fee again.
Tier 2
Green Light
This track is for those authors whose work we deem publish-ready. The assessment will notify authors of our impressions based on your 50-page submission and chapter summaries, and the level of editorial work we feel the work requires.
All manuscripts get a proofread as part of our publishing package. If your assessment suggests a copy edit, we encourage but do not require that this work be done by a She Writes Press copy editor. We offer copy editing at the rate of $100/hour. We employ a strong stable of copy editors who are proficient in Chicago Manual of Style (the style guide of choice for book publishing). Find more information below (see Editorial/Proofreading).
Yellow Light
This track means we are interested in your manuscript, yet have contingencies (i.e., your manuscript needs to be trimmed, we want to offer a specific redirect, or a sensitivity read, or we want to consider your work for a future season due to overlapping subject matter or because a current list is full, etc.). Your assessment will detail what the contingencies may be, and will suggest next steps for moving forward together.
Red Light
Submissions that land on the Red Track after Tier 1 were carefully considered, but we ultimately determined the submission is not a right fit for She Writes Press at this time. Writers are always invited to resubmit in the future, and anyone who lands on this track may decide to engage a SWP-approved or outside coach. We waive the submissions fee when writers engage a SWP-approved coach, but regardless of the project, it’s always reevaluated as a new submission. Working with one of our approved coaches does not guarantee landing the Green Track, nor does it guarantee the offer of a contract.
EDITORIAL/PROOFREADING
If your submission was given the Green Light, that means your manuscript is ready for . . .
Proofreading
(included in the She Writes Press publishing package)
All authors publishing on She Writes Press will have their final manuscript proofread before going to layout. This is primarily to catch stylistic errors, but typos and grammatical errors may also be found at this time. Your manuscript will be reviewed by both a proofreader and your Project Manager to ensure quality control. Our ultimate goal is that every SWP book mirrors a traditional publishing model, and we strive to publish error-free books.
PRODUCTION
Your Cover
Your cover design usually coincides with the editing or proofreading stages of your manuscript.
There is nothing more important when it comes to selling a book than your cover. That’s why at SWP we up the ante when it comes to cover design to make sure that your books are competing with your counterparts at the traditional houses.
The She Writes Publishing package includes a high-level custom cover design. Our Creative Director, Julie Metz, comes to us with over thirty years of publishing experience at traditional houses under her belt. We take our cover designs very seriously, and while it’s a collaborative process and we want more than anything for you to love your cover, we also consult and direct this process to make sure we’re giving your book its best chance of success in the current marketplace. We also work with expert custom interior designers who will make sure your interior is as lovely as the cover it rests between. As part of the package, we do full file preparation, both for e-publication and for POD (print-on-demand) or print. The production process begins the moment you submit a manuscript that we have deemed ready for publication.
You start the design process as soon as you sign your contract with SWP by filling out a cover memo to help our creative team understand your sensibilities, as well as give examples of other book covers that appeal to you. Where it’s needed, we offer title and subtitle support, as well as input on your back cover copy and leads to potential endorsers.
Layout & Design
Your manuscript will be laid out into a beautiful custom design by one of our interior designers once you’ve approved your final cover design and accepted the changes the proofreader has made to your manuscript.
At this point, you’ll have a chance to review the manuscript and correct any formatting mistakes and other small errors that become visible once a book is designed and actually looks like a book. A given manuscript typically goes through two to three rounds of changes post-layout.
Final Production
Once you and your project manager have finalized the interior, you’ll need to decide what’ll go on the back cover. The She Writes Press publishing package includes an editorial review and edit of your back cover, and then we’ll get it designed for you. At this point, the book is ready to go to the printer.
Once both the cover and interior files are approved and to your liking, your book will be uploaded and made ready and available for POD (print-on-demand), or it will be prepped for printing. You will receive Advance Reader Copies* of your book. This is your last chance to catch anything before the book is printed. A few months after you receive your Advance Reader Copies, you send us any remaining final changes, we’ll update it, and pass the book off to the printer and the ebook converter.
*The cost of printing your ARCs and final books is not included in the She Writes Press publishing package.
DISTRIBUTION
One of the top benefits of our hybrid model is having your book traditionally distributed through Simon & Schuster (S&S).
The benefits to traditional distribution are too big to quantify, and one of the primary reasons that She Writes Press is a leader in the hybrid publishing space. With our distributor, SWP has a built-in sales force, which gives visibility to your books, and, importantly, ensures they won’t receive any push back from independents (which is one of the biggest pain points of self-published authors). We have a whole team of reps who go out into the marketplace to sell books, not just to the big accounts (Amazon, B&N), but also to independent bookstores, libraries, online retailers, and specialty markets.
Your book will be available in Ingram’s catalog, which is available through Edelweiss. This is one of the primary online databases that booksellers review when choosing what books to order and carry.
Simon & Schuster manages both our print and e-book distribution. Our e-books are available through 127 distribution partners. S&S also has international reach. While we do not have an active sales force selling your book into foreign marketplaces, foreign bookstores and other outlets will be able to order the book efficiently and easily.
If you’re curious why traditional distribution matters, we invite you to download Chapter 6 of Brooke Warner’s book Green-Light Your Book: What You Need to Know About Data and Distribution.
PUBLICITY
The She Writes Press publishing package does not include a dedicated publicity campaign. While most authors hire publicists, and we encourage and welcome that, it’s not required. We provide a list of recommended publicists in our Author Handbook.