Submissions and solicitations for submissions are presently suspended.

We are NOT considering new authors for publication at this time.

See our requirements below and check back later to determine when our Submission Status changes (at which time we will post our submissions e-mail address).

Do you know that publishers require an adherence to advertised guidelines?

Are you familiar with the terms, "solicited," and, "unsolicited submissions?"

If you answered, "no," to either of the above questions or are uninformed about what is expected of you, please read Writer's Market by Writer's Digest Books or download our e-booklet addressing these and related issues. Read more about our e-booklet here: GETTING PUBLISHED: WHAT YOU WANT, NEED & SHOULD KNOW.

OUR OVERARCHING PRINCIPLES

The Lighthouse Press, LLC. is a small, independent publishing company. We determine the prospective demand for the titles we accept and arrange our, "plan of attack," around that determination.

We are, "David," competing in a global marketplace dominated by a number of, "Goliaths," and for the very few titles we actually accept, we become even more critical. We look for good, already well-crafted, edited and grammatically correct book-length manuscripts of literary merit that appeal to firm, intended audiences. This is not to say we will not want changes. We probably will.

You must be interested in quality before seeing your name on it in print. If this isn't you, approach someone else.

We are interested in committed authors who view their craft not merely as a job, but as an occupation. We expect attention to detail and professionalism beginning with the manuscript and ending with the book as well as the resulting image of the author who penned it.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We average four to ten new titles per year and publish all genres of fiction and nonfiction. While we consider all topics we do not accept pornography or works of extreme physical violence. Period. Erotica as a small portion of the overall work is acceptable on a case-by-case basis and at the sole discretion of the publisher.

HOW TO SUBMIT

We only accept solicited manuscripts. To garner our solicitation you must adhere exactly to the following guidelines and advice.

1. First and foremost: Be familiar with our requirements and advice.

2. When we announce that we are, "accepting submissions," that is the time to solicit our interest. When we announce that submissions are, "suspended," that is NOT the time to solicit our interest. Not too many things are more likely to spoil your chances than soliciting us when we are not accepting submissions.

3. We do review unagented work, but do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

4. Unsolicited submissions are disposed of without ever being reviewed or opened.

5. Send a letter of inquiry via e-mail or in the alternative, U.S. postal mail.

6. If inquiring via U.S. postal mail you must correspond to our mailing address only and must include a valid e-mail address. Our response and 75% of our correspondence is funneled through electronic mail.

7. Any material sent via U.S. postal mail at any time whatsoever must have postage in the proper amount or it is refused by way of delivery not being accepted.

8. Any material sent via U.S. postal mail will not be returned regardless of the inclusion of SASE. The acceptance or rejection of your submission will be delivered to you via e-mail.

9. Your query letter, preferably sent via e-mail or U.S. postal mail to our mailing address, must contain the following elements, and no less than these elements:

a)  A cover letter (or, "message")

b)  The equivalent of at least a one-page synopsis/outline of your manuscript

c)  An estimated word count of your manuscript

d)  A brief bio ("brief," being a page or less)

e)  10 pages from your manuscript

f)   A list of your published work/credits, if any

g)  A description of your manuscript's intended audience

10. If inquiring via e-mail attachments should be either Microsoft Word or Adobe pdf files.

11. Whether your inquiry is via E-mail or US postal mail to our maiing address, you will be notified via E-mail that your submission has been received. After a review of your inquiry we will respond via E-mail that we are interested or not interested. If we are not interested we will explain why. Unless othwise indicated, our decision is final. Our response time generally ranges from two weeks to one month.

IF WE SOLICIT YOUR MANUSCRIPT

If we solicit your manuscript then submit it by adhering exactly to the following guidelines and advice:

1. Submit amanuscript as an e-mail attachedment. We also accept non-returnable data disk via U.S. postal mail to our mailing address.

2. Be prepared to supply a hard copy of your manuscript in the event we follow-up with a request for it.

3. We accept submissions in the electronic formats of Microsoft Word or Adobe Page Maker. If you have saved your manuscript in another format (such as Word Perfect, for example) create a backup of your file and then use Microsoft Word to convert and clean-up conversion errors before submitting your file to us.

As outlined in the advice herein below, you must submit an excellent, "electronic manuscript," so be sure to clean-up any and all conversion errors.

OUR RESPONSE

We respond to manuscript submissions within one to three months. If we reject your manuscript we will respond via e-mail that we are not interested and explain why. As noted hereinabove, our decision is final unless we indicate otherwise.

If your manuscript is accepted for publication we will discuss any desired changes or alterations. After creative/editorial issues are resolved you will be asked to sign an Author/Publisher Contract. Once the contractual relationship is established the actual mechanics of the, "resolved," creative/editorial changes will begin. This is usually a time-consuming process. Depending upon the particulars, this can involve six months to a year or more.

PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION

We will work with you on the content and look of your finished book. However, acceptance, creative/editorial oversight, formatting, layout, artwork and cover design of your manuscript and resulting published book are at our discretion and all contingent upon our having final approval.

THE BOOK

The finished book and time schedule in which it is completed will depend upon a number of factors, including our initial decision regarding the format in which to print your book. Generally, the vast majority of our titles are Mass Market Trade publications, but we also consider hardback editions.

TERMS

We absorb the entire cost of publishing the books we accept. We ask only that the author cooperate and actively assist in marketing his/her book. We pay royalties of 10% of list price on short run printings, 12% of list price on the first 5,000 copies sold on long run printings and then 15% of list price on those same long run printings when sales surpass 5,000 copies. No advances at this time. We provide Author's copies at 60% off list.

ADVICE

Manuscript pages should be double spaced with one inch margins all around.

We expect clean manuscripts indicating the author has proofed and self-edited before submitting. We work collaboratively with our authors to achieve a marketable title. In order to help us accomplish that, you must submit superior workmanship to begin with. Take the utmost care to present an impeccable manuscript that attends to grammar, spelling, punctuation, accent marks and other diacritical marks wherever appropriate. We want involving literature, of course, but too many times inattention to the mechanics is indicative of problems that we are not here to fix. We are not here to teach you the craft of writing, grammar, spelling, punctuation, proof reading or any of the other items mentioned hereinabove. If upon reading your manuscript it is obvious that is what you need, you have wasted your time and ours. We will certainly work with creative differences and we will certainly edit your manuscript, but we do not abide shoddy work. We have found that the best and most professional writers are those who write what they love and love to write.