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Submission Guidelines for:
Editors / Publicists / Designers
Currently, we publish 1-2 books per year. For now, we prefer to keep the number low so that we can be certain our books are of the best quality, both in content and production. We have a strong preference for women authors and books written from a Jewish perspective. Why women authors? Because within the realm of Jewish literature, especially outside of children's books, women authors are sadly underrepresented. Yaldah Publishing hopes to make strides toward correcting this imbalance. Does this mean if you are a male writer, you shouldn't bother submitting? Not at all. It just means that your query letter should explain why you're a good fit for Yaldah.
Yaldah Publishing was founded on the value of k'lal Yisrael, and that there is no single "right" way to be Jewish or express one's Judaism. We welcome stories that reflect the variety of Jewish observance and practices, as well as the diveristy of Jews and Jewish thought. We are also happy to consider stories that explore the cultural, social, and religious relationships among Jews who express their Judaism differently. However, we will reject any story that singles out one form of Jewish practice as "true," or delegitimizes other Jewish practices. Also for the record, we consider those who call themselves "Messianic Jews" or "Jewish Christians" to be Christians, and will not consider stories from that perspective.
We will consider adult fiction and non-fiction, children's chapter books, and both adult and children's Jewish liturgy resources such as siddurim and haggadot. At this time, we do not publish children's picture books or books entirely in Hebrew. If your manuscript is fiction for adults or children, your story should be unique and original, with interesting, believable characters and situations. It should have well-paced action and engaging dialogue. Children's chapter books should be a minimum of 10,000 words.
We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts, but we do accept unagented manuscripts.
Please send a professional query letter by snail mail only to Yaldah Publishing, PO Box 18662, Saint Paul, MN 55118-0662. Include in your query letter the following:
- A summary or description of your finished manuscript
- How this work is unique
- Your writing experience (this is not a deciding factor, but it does help us know who you are)
- Your target audience and related marketing ideas
- Why you'd like Yaldah Publishing to be your publisher
- Your contact information, including mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address, and web site if applicable
- If you would like a response, you must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE)
Please allow up to two months for a reply.
During many of the major Jewish holidays (Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Passover) business runs very slowly. Please keep this in mind when submitting your query.
We do not accept simultaneous submissions. If we ask you to send your manuscript, we expect you will not query any other publishers until you hear back from us (please allow up to two months; usually it will be less). If your manuscript is already under consideration with another publisher, please let us know.
If asked to send your manuscript, please be aware of the following:
If you send your manuscript via snail mail and you want your manuscript returned should it be turned down, you must include a SASE with enough postage. We do accept electronic submissions in PDF or Microsoft Word (Windows), but we may ask for a hard copy via snail mail as well. Any other electronic document formats will be deleted. We strongly encourage you to have your manuscript read by a critique group and/or "beta-readers" prior to submission. Please pay attention to spelling, punctuation, grammar, and accuracy. Proofread your manuscript and do not rely solely on a computer's spell-check ability.
Manuscripts must be double-spaced and typed or printed in a typeface no smaller than 12 points. Please include your name and page number on each page.
We will contract for cover and interior artwork (if applicable) separately, unless you are both the author and illustrator. Please let us know if you plan to do your own illustrations and we can discuss it further.
If you would like to see a sample copy of our standard book contract, click here. Please note that some terms are negotiable and that this is a guideline only.
We are always happy to find more artists with whom we can contract for cover art and/or interior illustrations. Please send a cover letter describing your style of work and any specific experience related to book/cover illustrations along with your bio and samples that show skill in book illustration and/or cover art by snail mail only to Yaldah Publishing, PO Box 18662, Saint Paul, MN 55118-0662. Color photocopies or digital art on CD-ROM are preferred. Do NOT send original art. We will keep the samples on file with your contact information.
Our contracts with artists can be either work-for-hire or payment for licensure to use the artwork. Payments can include flat fees, royalties, or a combination. Specific terms will be negotiated as part of contract negotiations prior to beginning any artwork.
Editors / Publicists / Designers
We currently contract with editors and book layout designers on a non-retainer basis, and consequently we are happy to consider you for future contract work. Please send a cover letter describing your work ethic and any specific experience with book manuscripts along with your bio and samples of your work by snail mail to Yaldah Publishing, PO Box 18662, Saint Paul, MN 55118-0662 or by e-mail to info@yaldahpublishing.com.
We prefer to work with publicists on a retainer basis, especially for a specific book release. If you are interested in contracting with Yaldah Publishing, or if you would like to make your services available to any of our authors, please send a cover letter describing your experience, especially any experience with book promotion (both pre-publication and post-publication), along with your bio and samples of promotional work you've done for others, by snail mail to Yaldah Publishing, PO Box 18662, Saint Paul, MN, 55118-0662 or by e-mail to info@yaldahpublishing.com.