Speaking Volumes is an independent publisher based out of Naples, Florida. They started out just publishing Audio books, but now they also publish eBooks and paperbacks. At their About Us page, you can learn more about the company and the current staff. Their books are widely available and they publish a number of established authors.

According to their website they are interested in “Fiction, Non-Fiction, Novels, Novellas, and collections of Short Stories in the following genres: Science Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Action Adventure, Horror, Young-Adult, Children’s, Folklore, Poetry and Scholarly works.”

To get a better feeling for what they publish you can browse their author list here or their complete catalog here.

They are open to publishing work that has been previously published as long as all the rights have reverted back to the author. They expect all submissions to be copy-edited beforehand.

To query them, email them the manuscript, a synopsis of the content, and the authors resume and cover letter. They will only review manuscript submissions by email, but if your book has been previously published you can mail them the hard copy.

Audio submissions must be made to a separate editor and email address.

To learn more visit their website here.

I have been submitting for six years now. After submitting for so long, these tips are still a touchstone for me. They always help me keep on track.

My first tip is to set a submission goal for yourself. Set it somewhere that seems reasonable to you: perhaps five submissions to different magazines per month. I often exceed my per month goal, because once I reach that point, I want the feeling of accomplishment to linger. Soon those submissions will really start to add up.

The more experience you have submitting, the faster you get; as you progress it becomes easier to submit your work. I often have 40 submissions out at a time. Three of the most respected authors I know suggested that this was one of the ways that they became successful. I don’t know why 40 is the magic number, but it seems to be the case.

In order to get to 40 submissions out at a time, I typically submit to 10 journals a month. That’s an average of 2-3 a week. Although, I usually submit to around 7 journals in one sitting.

My second tip is to create submission packets.

If you are a short story writer you don’t need to do this, since most journals only consider one short story at a time.  If you are a poet, journals generally want between 3-5 of your poems to consider at a time. I have 5 packets that each contain between 4-5 poems. I always reserve two packets to submit to places that do not accept simultaneous submissions. The rest I submit to multiple places.

My third tip is to keep track of what you submit and where you submit it to.

I keep a Word document that keeps track of which journals I have submitted to, what poems I have submitted to them, and when I submitted these poems. I write down which poems have been accepted and where. I document which journals have rejected certain poems. I update this ‘submission tracker’ every time I submit, otherwise I might submit the same poems to the same journal twice, or submit poems that have been accepted elsewhere, or any similar minor disasters. Make sure you regularly update this document; otherwise it will get out of control. I have included a sample of a very small submission tracker.

Sample Submission Tracker:

Pending:

The New Yorker, Submitted September 28^th. The Living(short story)

Perception, Submitted September 28th, My Teeth, Superman, Pumpkin Bread (poems)

Acceptances:

Waterhouse, Submitted Jan 14th, 2013. Ham, Companion, Uma Thurman (poems).

Accepted Companions:

Block Review, Submitted Jan 25th 2013, Ready (short story).

Rejections:

Three Penny Review, Submitted Jan 7, 2012. Timer(short story).

Apple Journal, submitted Jan, 7, 2013. Pancakes for Dinner(short story)

My fourth tip is to create a couple of biographical statements. When you read submission guidelines, which vary from site to site, almost all of them will require that you include a brief biographical statement and a cover letter. Most submission guidelines are very similar, so as long as you have a biographical statement and a cover letter on a standby it should take you very little time to submit.

One of your biographical statements should be under 50 words and the other should be under 100 words in length. Once your work has been published in various literary journals you should include some of the most recent or prestigious journals in your biographical statement. However, you should not include all of them, that would just be overwhelming and it would come off as unprofessional. Below are examples of biographical statements of less than 50 words, one contains journal names, one does not.

Sample Bio 1:

Maria Smith resides in the rural Pacific Northwest. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous places, including: Tin House, The Liner, and Echolocation, and the anthology Tidelines. Her second chapbook Pancakes for Dinner is forthcoming in 2014 from Hawthorne Press.

Sample Bio 2:

Joshua Thomas is a poet, editor, and recovering New Yorker who now lives in Idaho. Joshua once wrote a sonnet every hour for twenty-four hours straight. He loves to hike, cook, and read.

My fifth tip is to create a standard cover letter for all the journals that you are submitting to.

A cover letter should be as simple as possible; an editor does not have a lot of time and does not want to be bogged down by the details. If I am submitting to a journal I particularly like, I will include a note about why I like it. Sometimes journals will request that I include additional information such as titles and word count in my cover letter and I will cut and paste that information in.  Otherwise my cover letter is almost identical to the sample letter.

Sample Cover Letter:

Dear Editors,

The following poems are for your consideration.

Thank you for your time,

Katharine Hathaway

My sixth tip is to always read the submission guidelines.

Now this might seem like common sense but many writers figure if they have read one submission guideline they have read them all. This is not the case. For many literary journals up to 25% of the work the reject because it is not what they publish and I am not talking about stylistic preferences.

For example a literary journal that explicitly states they do not accept genre work will receive a fair amount of science fiction short stories. Or a journal that publishes poetry receives hundreds of short story submissions a month.

Krishan Copeland the editor of Neon phrased in well when he said “Neon publishes dark slipstream and magical realist fiction and poetry. A six-hundred page hard-boiled noir detective novel isn’t likely to find a place in its pages. Neither is a feature-length documentary film, or any number of hobby articles or fashion pieces. And yet these are all things that I’ve been offered in the past year.” You can read Krishan Copeland’s full article 6 Cover Letter Mistakes That Can Ruin The Chance of Publication here.

Also many people who don’t read the submission guidelines will end up being automatically rejected, either by a filter on the email the editor has set up, or by the editor themselves, because they notice the submitter has not followed one guideline or another.

For example if the journal says they only accept submissions were the work is cut and pasted into the body of the email and you send that work as an attachment, they will likely reject your work without ever reading it. That might sound callous, but many editors read hundreds of submissions every month, and they set up their submission guidelines a certain way for a reason. So please follow them as much as possible.

They publish various contemporary forms of poetry—experimental, free verse, hybrid form, visual poetry, prose poetry, found poetry, and more—and are especially interested in contemporary Japanese short forms, such as tanka and haiku. You can get a sense of their style by reading past issues online. Both emerging and established writers are welcome to contribute to the explosion.

Sonic Boom is published three times a year online, and each issue contains work from around 65 contributors. Right now, Sonic Boom is accepting submissions for their sixth issue. The deadline for submissions is July 1. Submitting authors can expect a response within about one to four weeks, but should not query about their submissions until 21 days have passed. Most submissions are acknowledged within one day of receipt.

Poets may submit up to three poems, 40 lines or fewer, in any of the following forms: free-verse, experimental, postmodern, prose poetry, found poetry, or remixed poetry. Poets may also submit up to three visual or concrete poems, two pages or 40 lines or fewer. Sonic Boom also accepts Japanese short form poems: senryu, haiku, tanka, kyoka, or sedoka. Poets may submit up to ten poems in any of these Japanese forms. Fiction writers may submit up to two pieces of flash fiction, 500 words or fewer. Sonic Boom does not accept horror fiction and rarely publishes speculative fiction. They do accept vignettes, short scenes, hybrid forms, haibun, and tanka prose.

In addition to submissions for their journal, right now, Sonic Boom is also accepting submissions for the Second Annual Senryu Contest. Poets may submit one original and unpublished senryu for consideration in the contests. Five contest winners—three top picks and two honorable mentions—will receive gift certificates. The deadline for submitting to the contest is June 25.

Sonic Boom accepts submissions via email, but not online or by post. They do not accept simultaneous submissions or previously published work. Writing that has appeared on a personal blog, Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, or flickr is not considered published.

If you would like to learn more or submit to Sonic Boom, please visit their website at http://sonicboomjournal.wix.com/sonicboom#!emotional/c1t44.

If you have any questions, comments, or additional words that you want to be added to this list, please email us at support@authorspublish.com.

Advance

An advance is a signing bonus  that is paid to the author before the book is published. It is paid against future royalty earnings. So for  every dollar you receive in an advance, you have to earn a dollar from book sales before you receive any additional royalty payments. Most independent publishers do not offer advances.

Anthology

A published collection of poems or other pieces writing, usually on a theme.

“Big Five”

Previously known as “The Big Six, this term refers to Penguin Random House, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster, the five largest publishers in North America. All of these publishers have multiple imprints. All of these publishers and most of their imprints require agents. 

Chapbook

A 10-20 page collection of poetry, or less commonly fiction or creative non-fiction, by one author.

First Publication Rights

This term is most commonly used in the context of literary journals and magazines. Most publications will not publish work that has previously appeared in a different literary journal, print or online. Because of this most publishers require First Rights. These can also be called First North American Serial Rights or First Serial Rights. No matter what they are called it usually means that you are giving that publications exclusive rights to publish your poem first. After they publish work the rights revert to you, sometimes right away, sometimes after six months. Many publishers of poetry and short story manuscripts want your work to have been previously published in literary journals.

Genre

A category of artistic composition, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. Genre can refer to poetry, prose or non fiction in terms of form. Or it can be a subject matter classification referring to science fiction, mysteries, or various other established types of stories. If a  literary journal or publisher says they are not interested in genre work they are using it as a subject matter classification.

Imprints

An imprint of a publisher is a trade name under which a work is published, many larger publishers use imprints as a way to market specific books. For example science fiction books are usually published by a different imprint than mystery books, even if they are published by the same publisher.

Independent Publishers

A publisher that is not an imprint of the Big Five or a large media corporation. Independent Publishers can be small start ups, or large established presses like Chronicle Books. Most do not require agents in order to submit.

Literary Agent

A literary agent is someone who represents writers and their written works to publishers and assists in the sale and deal negotiation of the same. Many publishers require authors to submit their work through a literary agent.

Literary Journal

A magazine that publishes primarily poetry, fiction, and/or creative non fiction. Also commonly referred to as journals or reviews.

Manuscript

An unpublished book length work of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry.

Reader

Used mostly in the context of larger journals and contests generally have volunteer readers, individuals who read a large chunk of the work submitted and who decide what part of that work they are going to pass on to the editors.

Reprints

Work that has been previously published elsewhere. This includes self published work. Some publishers are particularly interested in publishing reprints as long as all the rights belong to the author. The majority of publishers only consider reprints of work that have been previously traditionally published.

Royalties

Royalties at their most basic refer to the amount of money an author earns off each copy of their book that is sold.

SASE (Self Addressed and Stamped Envelope)

If you submit to a publisher, a contest, or a literary journal via the mail, most publishers require that you include a SASE (Self Addressed and Stamped Envelope) so that they can respond to your work with a rejection or acceptance letter.

Self Publishing

When you publish your own work either directly on a platform like the Kindle or when you use a vanity press.

Solicited Submissions

Submissions from authors that the publisher’s directly request. Most literary journals publish a mix of solicited and unsolicited submissions. Editor’s can solicit the work of friends or of famous or emerging writers. Most time when your work is solicited it is published.

Submission Manager

An online program that handles submissions electronically. The most common one is submittable. Both literary journals and manuscript publishers use submission managers.

Traditional Publisher

A publisher who never charges you any fees, and who pays the author for their rights.

Unsolicited Submissions

The bulk of submissions to most journals are unsolicited. They are the submissions sent through submission managers, post, or emails to literary journals. If a manuscript publisher says they do not accept unsolicited submissions, you can not submit to them unless someone at the publisher has explicitly asked to see your work, or you have an agent who can submit your work for you.

Vanity Publisher/ Press

Also known as assisted publishing. Any publisher that charges you in order to publish your work is a vanity publisher.