We are looking for inspired and imaginative explorations of fantasies, considered writing, well-developed characters, and interesting stories. Stories need to be written in a modern idiom and the reader must find it easy to suspend her disbelief.
WHAT TO SEND US
In the first instance, for single author titles (novel, novella or single author collections), you should send the following:
i) A short paragraph explaining what the submission is about, within your email (for short stories please state the title of the collection you are submitting to).
ii) For novels, novellas and single author collections of short stories, an outline of the work. Include the first chapter/story and two other chapters/stories of the finished text of single author titles which show your writing at its best.
Send your submission to the editorial email address: Adam.Nevill@harpercollins.co.uk
We will attempt to acknowledge your proposal within a week of receiving it. But please be patient for news of an editorial decision. We are already receiving a large volume of proposals each week, so we’re constantly working with a huge backlog. The average waiting time for a full response can be as long as three months.
Once your proposal has been acknowledged, we’d very much appreciate if you don’t write or call to ask how it is faring.
Please do not send hard copies.
At Mischief we do pay advances for novels and novellas, as well as a very competitive royalty rate.
HERE’S A LIST OF THE MOST COMMON REASONS WHY WE REJECT MANUSCRIPTS:
- It’s too silly
- Mishandling and misunderstanding of consent
- The central characters are unsympathetic/unattractive
- The writing lacks fluency, compression and authority and suffers from: repetitive sentence structure, limited vocabulary, overlong, overcomplicated sentences, blatant exposition (info dumping in ‘author’s voice’), overwriting: excessive adjectives, adverbs etc., lack of coherence/focus
Read the full guidelines here >>
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For inquiries: Adam.Nevill@harpercollins.co.uk
For submissions: Adam.Nevill@harpercollins.co.uk
Website: http://www.mischiefbooks.com
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