What We Accept

We will read and review manuscripts for young adult (YA), New Adult (NA), and Standard Fiction in the following genres and their related sub-genres:

• Fantasy and Science Fiction
• Horror and Paranormal
• Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller
• Action, Adventure, and Western
• Romance and Erotica

• Bestiality (shape-shifters excepted)
• Necrophilia
• Bodily functions (golden showers, etc…)
• Incest
• Abuse of minors
• Consensual sex with minors
• Rape
• Porn (erotica excepted)

Submissions Process

Please read the following guidelines carefully. At this time we are only accepting electronically submitted queries. This allows a timely review of your submission.

Please allow at least three months for a response. Do not call or email the Melius Scripto offices.

We will not review any submissions that do not come to us in the following formats:

For All Novel Manuscript Submissions

Include a standard query letter in the body of your email.

• Please include titles for up to three comparative books published in the past five years. These should be books that have a similar audience to your book and that you feel will compare with your book in the marketplace. Briefly explain how your manuscript is different from these books.
• Include complete contact information with phone number.
• At the end of the query, insert a few lines and include the first five pages of your manuscript. DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS. Emails with attachments will be deleted.
• Subject line must be formatted as illustrated below. Emails that do not use the subject line formatting may be considered spam and not read: <GENRE> : <story title> by <author name>

Send email to: Contact@MeliusScriptoPress.com

For Picture Books, Comic Books, and Graphic Novel Submissions

Your submission should be targeted to teens or adults. We are not publishing children’s illustrated books at this time.

Cover letter (in body of email) should include the following:

• Synopsis of the story, including the ending
• Short bio mentioning your previous publications or other relevant background information

• Please provide titles for up to three comparative books published in the past five years. These should be books that have a similar audience to your book and that you feel will compare with your book in the marketplace. Explain how your manuscript is similar to and different from these books.

For Picture Books, Comic Books, and Graphic Novel Submissions Cont.

• Send no more than five sample illustrated pages as PDF attachments. Total file not to exceed 4MB.
  • It is NOT necessary to provide illustrations with the story text. However, should we accept your project, illustrator services cannot be provided for free or as part of the contract at this time. We have a network of freelance illustrators, but you may also want to find your own.

• If the story is illustrated, we will evaluate text and art separately. Note that we may be interested in either the story or the artwork, but not necessarily both.
• Subject line should read: <PICTURE BOOK (or COMIC BOOK or GRAPHIC NOVEL)>: <genre>: <story title> by <author name>.
• Send email and attachments to: Contact@MeliusScripto.com

Manuscript Format Policy

If we request the full version of your book or story manuscript, please be sure it is formatted as described below.

• Submissions should be in Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier New 12pt. black
• Double spaced.
• Indent paragraphs ½ inch (1.27 cm).
• No spaces between paragraphs.
• The margins should be 1″ all the way around.
• Use a title page
  • Don’t number the title page. Begin numbering with the first page of the text of the book, usually the introduction, prologue, or chapter one.

• Contact info:  Aligned left and single spaced, near the top of the page, include contact information: Your real/legal name, address, phone number, e-mail address. Follow with the word count. Alternatively, you can set word count apart by listing it at the top of the right side of the title page.
• Title and author:  About 1/2 the way down the page, centered, enter the full manuscript title (all caps or mixed caps); on the next double-spaced line, type by or a novel by or a story by; on the next double-spaced line, add your pen name or your real name plus your pen name—Alexis Chesterfield writing as Billie Thomas.

Manuscript Format Policy Cont.

• Subgenre:  For some genres, including romance and sci-fi, you can include the subgenre, such as suspense or Regency. Include this information either above or below the word count.

• Use a header on each page, including your last name, the title of your novel in all caps, and the page number. Align the header to the right, so the information doesn’t interfere with the text of the manuscript. (Jones/Taming the Monster/1)
• Start each new chapter on its own page, one-third of the way down the page.
  • The chapter number and chapter title should be in all caps, separated by an M-dash or two hyphens: CHAPTER 1—THE BODY.

• Begin the body of the chapter four to six lines below the chapter title.

• If you use scene breaks, indicate them by inserting a blank line and centering the number sign # in the center of the line.
• Center a number sign # on an otherwise blank line one double-spaced line down from the final line of text of the final chapter or epilogue at the end of the manuscript. Or simply write The End.
• Use a single character space only, not two spaces, between sentences. If you forget this one, we won’t turn down your manuscript because of it, but it’s just a good habit to get into, especially for those of us who learned on typewriters and always added two spaces between sentences.

Notes on Manuscript Length

We do not accept works less than 20,000 words for general submissions. From time to time Melius Scripto sponsors an anthology or other compilation book of poetry, flash fiction, or short stories to feature new talent. Watch the website for these announcements and contests.

This is a popular subject of debate among writers. In general, your manuscript should be long enough to properly render its plot while telling an outstanding story. However, literary industry gurus know that readers’ attention spans have limits that are challenging to surpass. To give your story its best chance, we strongly recommend that you understand the general guidelines below:

• Picture Books – 500 – 700 words. The standard is text for 32 pages. That might mean one line per page, or more.
• Flash fiction is generally 100 – 500 words. These word counts are often provided with each opportunity.
• Short Stories are 1,000 – 10,000.
• Novellas are 20,000 – 50,000.
• Novels are 50,000 and up. Most novels fall between 40,000 and 120,000 words. It often depends on the genre:

Notes On Manuscript Length Cont.

• Young Adult – 50,000 – 80,000.
• New Adult – 60,000 – 85,000
• Adult Novels: Commercial, Women’s, and Literary – 80,000 – 110,000
• Sci-Fi and Fantasy – 100,000 – 120,000
• Westerns should be around 65,000.
• Paranormal – 75,000 – 95,000
• Romance and erotica – 40,000 – 100,000

• Novels in any genre longer than 120,000 words in length need to be amazing. There is just no other way to put it. Research has demonstrated time and again that readers’ attention spans are growing shorter. You not only need to earn that attention, but you must keep it with consistently good writing.