INTRODUCTION:

Many have commented on that logo of ours, of which we’re quite proud. Why our name—Evolved Publishing? Like the characters in our logo, our industry is evolving. Authors’ expectations are naturally shifting, and we want to provide them what they’re demanding: higher royalty rates, greater creative control, clear and fair contracts, high editorial standards, professional cover art, and a reputable brand they can proudly promote.

First, people sometimes confuse us with an authors’ cooperative or some sort of fee-for-service provider, so allow us to reiterate that we’re a publisher. There are no costs of membership; indeed, there is no “membership.” We refer to our authors, editors, and artists as team members because we function in an enthusiastic, cooperative, information-sharing, team environment. That’s a matter of organizational management style—indeed, it’s a mandatory requirement for all of our team members. We operate in such a way as to make the experience a positive, creative, supportive one for all our teammates, because it keeps morale high, and everyone more efficiently focused on the tasks-at-hand—writing and selling quality books.

Furthermore, authors are not required to pay up-front fees to publish with us. We do offer that option for services such as editing or cover art, in case the author wishes to maximize their royalty rate (can be as high as 81% of retailer royalties paid) and perhaps move the project up on the calendar (no-fee options tend to be booked well in advance). We encourage authors to take on some of that responsibility, if they can, but that is entirely up to the author. We offer more options, not fewer, and give the author greater control to determine the best course of action for their own career. Depending on which contractual options an author chooses, and on the specific needs for that project, the author will enjoy a royalty rate ranging from 60% to as much as 81% of retailer royalties paid. We believe those author royalty rates are among the highest (perhaps the highest) in the industry.

We focus our efforts on eBooks, POD (Print-on-Demand) books, and audiobooks. We believe the market as a whole is moving towards the electronic environment in a big way. This means that not only will most people in the future be reading their books, or listening to them, on electronic devices, but that even those who still want to hold a print book in their hands will be doing their shopping online—at least, a good percentage of them will.

If your primary goal is to get your print book into retail stores around the country, as traditional publishing attempts, you might as well stop here. If, on the other hand, you share our vision that electronic—in all its forms—is the way of the future, please read on.

Quality is Priority #1: This is not only our motto; it’s practically our religion.

The new market dynamics have made it cheap (for those willing to cut corners on quality) and easy for anyone to publish, and that presents some challenges to those trying to find a solid footing in the marketplace. The way we do that is simple, and it revolves around two sets of two words each: “Quality Catalog,” and “Cross Promotion.” We provide our readers a selection of quality, well-edited, finely polished pieces across multiple genres. We rely on our reputation for doing so, and on our broad catalog of offerings, and everyone on the team succeeds accordingly.

Of course, it’s more difficult than that. We must also market our books and seek to reach the greatest audience possible. Our management team heads that effort, but every member of our team gets to play. Everyone has input. Everyone participates. We work as a team.

Ultimately, this business is one that requires the “long slow grind.” Lightning occasionally strikes, propelling an author to stardom seemingly overnight, but most authors have to work at it for years before achieving their ultimate dreams. Some never make it. It’s been our experience, and the general industry experience as a whole, that most authors achieve their “overnight” success after they’ve published 3, 4, even 5 books that appeal to the same general audience. And yes, sometimes it takes even more than that to make real money. Want to make a living as an author? Plan on needing a catalog of 12+ books. Other authors drop off the radar after 3, 2, or even 1 book. Like any other publisher, we can offer no guarantees of your success as an author. We can only guarantee that you will be treated with respect, that you will be intimately engaged in the decision-making process that affects your career, and that your work will enjoy the support necessary to make it shine in the eyes of readers.

Whether you’re an author, an editor, an artist, an audiobook producer/narrator, or a translator (from English to a foreign language), we’re looking to bring on board individuals who share some of our core philosophies:

• Quality matters. Professionals triumph in the marketplace over the long haul.
• A well-coordinated team of like-minded professionals, working together toward a common goal, improves their odds of ultimate success.
• Books are not simply paper and cardboard, nor are they electronic files in the cloud. They are the fountains that spring from an author’s soul. The rest are merely vessels by which the readers drink.
• Authors have primary control over their own destinies.

NEXT STEP: There are 5 additional tabs at the top of this page — Authors, Editors, Artists, Narrators, Translators. Just click on the tab that applies to you, and read on for further information, and for submission guidelines and process.

And in case you missed it on our Home page, you might want to watch this video.

AUTHORS:

NOTE: We are uncompromising on quality. Frankly, we’re tough, and word has clearly gotten out about that, as two things have happened: 1) We receive fewer submissions than in our earliest days, and; 2) The overall quality of those submissions is higher than in the past. These are good things. Well, we’ve been really busy with the addition of several new authors, combined with new projects for our existing authors, and thus we’ll be shortening our submission season each year, in order that we may keep up with the heightened workload. Please see the submissions schedule(s) below.

WE ARE AGAIN OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS. YOU MAY NOW SUBMIT YOUR BEST WORK.

Publisher’s Note: Al Galasso, Executive Director of NABE, Endorses Evolved Publishing

Everything below applies when we are open to submissions.

IMPORTANT NOTE: First, send all submissions to Submit@EvolvedPub.com. Second, a fair warning regarding submissions: we are highly selective. If you’ve been watching us, or reading our books, you know we take seriously our commitment to quality. So, to improve your odds of acceptance, please send us a manuscript that you’ve taken the time to polish to a fine sheen. For some direction in that regard, you would do well to visit this page: Resources for Writers.

NOTE: If you haven’t yet read the Introduction page under the Submissions menu, please start there to find important preliminary information.

CURRENT RESPONSE TIMES: 6-8 Weeks (We try our best.):
Depending on just how many submissions come our way, and the quality of those, a significant backlog may form, meaning it might take us a bit longer than usual to work through our submissions queue. Please bear with us if that happens.

At this time, we are not accepting submissions in the genres listed below, having chosen to focus on our core strengths (which these are not):

• • 1. Romance and Erotica
    2. Middle Grade Books for Kids 9-13
    3. Lower Grade Books for Kids 6-9
    4. Children’s Picture Books
    5. Short Stories or Anthologies
    6. Poetry

Although we accept most other fiction genres, we’re particularly interested in the genres listed below, which we believe represent our core strength now and into the future:

• • 1. Suspense/Thriller (Most Subcategories)
    2. Mystery/Crime/Detective
    3. Fantasy (Dark, Epic, Religious, Urban)
    4. Science Fiction (Most Subcategories)
    5. Horror/Occult/Paranormal Fiction
    6. Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
    7. Literary Fiction
    8. Historical Fiction
    9. Women’s Fiction
    10. Young Adult (Most Subcategories)

Who are we looking for?

For starters, we’re much more likely to accept an author prepared to sign a 3-book (or more) contract versus a 1-book deal. If your 3 books are part of a series, your odds improve even further, although 3 stand-alone books that appeal to the same general audience (same genre) are also highly valued. Why? Frankly, it’s all about the economics of this business, what you might call the harsh reality – we don’t want to just publish your books; we also want to sell them. Don’t let anyone fool you: that’s a real challenge even with 3 or more books, but it’s extremely difficult to do with just 1 book.

And so, you might be:

• • 1. A first-timer, one of those “aspiring authors” (hey, we all start there);
    2. An author who’s already self-published, but who’s disappointed with the results, and who’s willing to un-publish the current work(s), re-edit, re-brand, and re-publish with us. Just remember that this will mean reinvesting time and money in your work, so if you’re not prepared for that, please continue down your previously chosen path;
    3. An established author who has published previous works elsewhere, but who’s seeking a different path for your next project. Just remember that we expect our authors to be active team members, participating in group events – this may or may not be new to you, depending on where you’ve published previously.

Whichever of those three bullet points applies to you, you should also be:

• • 1. …Someone who has spent a fair amount of time developing your craft, and is prepared to continue that effort through our stringent editorial process, which, frankly, we think is second to none – indeed, we think this is one of our greatest strengths, and something that separates us from many who do what we do.
    2. …Engaged in the perpetual process of learning your profession – an education we’ll advance if we bring you on board.
    3. …A true professional, and not someone who thinks of this as a hobby or passing phase. Among other things, this means you have, or are developing, an author website (we can provide guidance if you need it) and social media pages to grow your author brand online.

Furthermore, you’re not only willing to participate in our dynamic (and fun) team approach, but enthusiastic about it, knowing what it will mean to your growth. You must be ready to connect with readers and build your personal brand. That doesn’t mean you must spend hours and hours every week on your website or social media pages (frankly, we’d rather your primary focus was on completing your next book), but it does mean you must not ignore completely those venues, or our EP Group venues. The time committment may be quite modest (perhaps mere minutes a day in most cases, and an hour or two during special events), but it is critical.

Ask any of the authors who are now a part of our team, and they’ll likely tell you that our team environment is not only one of our greatest strengths, but the thing they enjoy most about being with Evolved Publishing. As a publisher, we believe our single greatest asset is our people.

What sort of projects are we looking for?

• • 1. Book-length works for which you possess full, unencumbered publishing rights;
    2. Fiction in the one of the preferred genres listed above;
    3. Non-fiction if it compels and interests us, and for which we think there’s fair market potential;
    4. Completed manuscripts only, and no first drafts please; you’ve already self-edited, revised, and polished your manuscript, preferably with the help of beta readers and/or editors. If you’re looking for a 3-book deal, it’s okay if only the first book is completed, provided you’ve laid the groundwork for books two and three.
    5. NOTE: We will accept previously self-published works under the right circumstances, in which case we’ll require you to un-publish the piece everywhere upon acceptance of contract. We’re a bit tougher on these, but have done this on several occasions.

What are some pitfalls that may lead us to reject your work?

• • 1. Omniscient, head-hopping narration that constantly pulls the reader out of the moment, because we believe that “in the moment” are the three most important words in fiction;
    2. Excessive state-of-being verbs (those nasty SOBs) in lieu of strong, visual, action-centric verbs;
    3. Passive voice;
    4. Infinite verb phrases;
    5. Clunky dialogue tags laden with adverbs;
    6. Excessive adverbs;
    7. All “telling,” no “showing.”
    8. For help, you would do well to check out the articles on our Resources for Writers page.

What do we offer?

• • 1. Strong editorial guidelines, with an equally strong team of dedicated editors – this is really one of our great strengths;
    2. A team of talented artists to produce great covers, internal illustrations, etc.;
    3. An essential marketing strategy, in which the entire team participates – but be prepared to do a lot of the heavy lifting here on your own behalf;
    4. A strong group dynamic, with enthusiastic team members that actively support, encourage, and assist each other;
    5. And finally, a reputable brand that consumers trust for quality books, each of which carries our name and logo.

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Publication

Once we have an edited, highly polished manuscript, and a great book cover, we publish and distribute your books as follows:

eBOOKS
We have a number of options here, and we try to take advantage of them all. We distribute via a number of channels, designed to give us extended distribution into all the major retail venues, as well as some libraries and other subscription services. Sometimes (currently just a handful of our books) we’ll offer a specific eBook exclusively through Amazon to take advantage of their KindleUnlimited (KU) program offerings. That’s a difficult decision to make because of the exclusivity clause, but we weigh the options and discuss it with the author on a case-by-case basis.

The eBook channel is the one in which we expect to make a significant percentage of our royalties, for most of our categories.

PRINT BOOKS
The market is changing, and technology is advancing, and we believe the days of pre-printing and warehousing books, then shipping them out and crossing our fingers that 75% don’t get returned, are waning. And of course, we’ve all seen retail shelf space for books cut rather significantly. Thus, we create all of our print books through the POD (Print-on-Demand) process, where we’re able to be competitive both with retail pricing and with author royalties.

We produce paperbacks for all our books, and some hardcovers, if the genre and market economics make sense for it, via Lightning Source. We utilize all the extended distribution channels Lightning Source provides, primary among them being Ingram and Baker & Taylor.

We make efforts to get your book into as many extended channels as possible, but can offer no guarantees that a particular channel will choose to pick it up. Oftentimes, authors are their own best salespeople, going into local bookstores and libraries, attending conferences and book fairs, and making those personal contacts. We’re always on the lookout for cost-effective and efficient ways to facilitate new print distribution opportunities.

We expect most of our print book sales to come through online retailers. We also expect, as we’ve made clear about our industry expectations, that print books will represent a diminishing portion of the market. We offer them because we must provide a well-rounded, professional catalog, and because some consumers will always want the print edition, but we remain convinced this is a shrinking market segment. Frankly, we just don’t expect to make much money here.

AUDIOBOOKS
We now produce audiobooks for most of our titles, utilizing one of two primary venues (author’s choice) for production and distribution:

• • 1. Amazon’s ACX arm only when no alternative is available, and only for Royalty Share Only productions, which requires no up-front investment, and which gets the audiobooks into distribution at Amazon, Audible, and iTunes;
    2. Findaway Voices (FV) for many Royalty Share Only productions, or those that require some up-front investment. FV gets the audiobooks into much broader distribution (more than 45 channels as of March 2023), including all those offered by ACX, but many more retailers, subscription services, and library services. Additionally, their royalty terms, pricing controls and flexibility, and promotional offerings are considerably better that what ACX allows.

Although we can never guarantee that a producer/narrator will pick up your book at your preferred terms, we do our best, and we’ve been quite successful.

We think this will be a growing channel as what we call the “Star Trek-ification” of the world continues to spread. Already, some of our audiobooks do as well as (or better than) their eBook counterpart.

AUTHOR CONTROL
We allow the author greater latitude in all the decisions that drive our process. This is a bit of a double-edged sword: as we occasionally joke, “We’ll give you just enough rope to hang yourself.” This means that when we disagree on specifics, we’ll often defer to the author. However, we are the publisher, and we’ve been doing this for several years and learned a few things, and we expect our authors to have a little faith and trust in what we do. Nonetheless, we are accessible and open to discussions at all times.

We’ll coordinate pricing and promotional strategies with the author, as well as publication schedules, editorial needs, etc. All books go through our rigorous editorial process, during which we attempt not only to make your book a better piece, but also to make you a better writer. We want readers to finish your book and say, “Wow.” We want your words to snap, your structure to entice, your characters to become old friends for the readers. Yet we never forget that it’s your book, not ours.

Every step of the way, you will have input into the project that is so near and dear to your heart. It’s simple, really: happy authors make for happy publishers. Thus, we really want you, Dear Author, to be happy. We want to help you.

PUBLICATION RIGHTS
We have a straightforward philosophy here: it’s the author’s work, not ours. We contract the rights — the privilege — to publish the book for a limited time. That timeframe is typically 8-10 years, depending on a few factors, though we make it easy and attractive for the author to extend their project with us at the end of the initial contract term. If the author chooses not to extend the contract term, all rights revert to the author when the initial contract expires.

We contract for rights in all versions and to all channels where we expect to sell your books. We may modify the rights slightly for Foriegn Translation Rights, Stage and Screen Rights, and for Gaming Rights, so that authors have a reasonable “out” in cases where they’re able to place their book, but we’re not.

AUTHOR ROYALTIES
Every author is unique, and every project is unique. Of course, we have standard contract terms that apply to most projects, but we negotiate each project contract on its own merits. We truly dislike the assembly-line, one-size-fits-all approach to contracts. Every author has their own expectations, goals, resources, etc., and we do not presume to pigeon-hole you into a contract that makes perfect sense for another author, but which does not make sense to you.

We’ll talk through all the options, and discuss all your desires and needs, and we’ll custom-tailor a contract that works for you. Yes, we’ll have to take care of some basic business needs for ourselves, but really, you’ll have some options and some flexibility that you may not find elsewhere.

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Okay, so we’ve laid it all out because we believe in open, honest communication from start to finish, but we know you still have questions. Fear not! If we progress through the submission process to the point that we’re interested in your work, we’ll be talking one-on-one with you and providing all the in-depth details you need to make an informed decision, of course. The next step is the big one.

Please email us with “Book Inquiry – [your book title]” in the Subject line. Include an MS Word attachment (no PDF, EPUB, or MOBI files, please) with at least the first 3 chapters of your book (you may include the full manuscript, if you wish). Additionally, include in the body of your email information you’d like to share about yourself, and particularly links to your various online activities: website/blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Goodreads, LinkedIn, etc.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please format your submission in accordance with our Manuscript Formatting Guidelines.

RESPONSE TIME: We’ll do our best to respond within 4 weeks, but workloads vary, and sometimes it takes us a little longer. If you haven’t heard from us within 8 weeks, please feel free to send a follow-up email. However, if you do not follow our submission guidelines, we may not respond at all, as it makes our job too inefficient. Please help us to help you.

EDITORS:

We’re looking for professionals and freelancers who are experienced performing full content (developmental) and line (copy) edits. We’re happy to review your references, but ultimately, the quality of your work will seal the deal. Therefore, please send us at least one (preferably two) example of your editing (we will keep all information, including author name and title, strictly confidential), containing no more than 3,000 words, and with your “edits” and comments clearly visible.

We may, in certain instances, also ask you to perform a sample (test) edit of 1,500-2,500 words. In such a case, we’ll provide the sample, and ask that you perform the edit using the MS Word Track Changes process, inserting comments wherever you think they’ll be helpful. Different editors have different styles, and we want you to be you. We’re not looking for clones of our existing editors, because… well, that’d be scary. Nonetheless, we have extremely high standards, which are reflected in our editorial guidelines. For guidance, you would do well to check out the articles on our Resources for Writers page. Indeed, if we bring you on board, those articles will be mandatory reading as part of your in-house training.

We offer our authors options, and give our editors an opportunity to engage in a little friendly competition. We also welcome the opportunity for editors to share a project, if they (and the author) so choose.

In the end, we must have a professional product, a book that everyone on the Evolved Publishing team will be happy to recommend and promote–a book that will meet the standards our readers have come to expect from our reputable brand.

We coordinate with authors and pay editors for their services in one of three ways:

• • 1. An appropriate up-front fee, plus a small commission on royalties, paid quarterly or semi-annually. Currently, about 25% of our projects take this approach.
    2. A smaller, modest up-front fee, plus a larger commission on royalties, paid quarterly or semi-annually. Currently, about 50% of our projects take this approach.
    3. No up-front fee, with an attractive straight commission on royalties, paid quarterly or semi-annually. Currently, about 25% of our projects take this approach. This “option” for our authors is a must, and critical to our “everyone has skin in the game” philosophy, so editors unwilling to work on commission may not want to apply, or at the very least, should expect to get fewer projects.

Please email to Publisher@EvolvedPub.com your sample as indicated above, and add to the Subject line (following “Editor Application:”) your name. Also, please include in the body of your email, along with a brief introduction, links to your various online activities, including website/blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.

We’ll do our best to respond within 2-3 weeks, but please give us 6 weeks before following up.

GRAPHIC ARTISTS & ILLUSTRATORS:

Evolved Publishing is always interested in adding to the team talented artists who can produce quality book covers, whether using a blend of stock images or fully illustrating it, for all of our preferred genres.

If you’re an experienced artist looking to expand your freelance business, we have an excellent opportunity. Our authors publish their books and stories through Evolved Publishing, and they need professional covers to help their pieces stand out. We have a few key things to keep in mind when considering us:

• • 1. Each project requires artwork. The number of pieces needed vary, and our artists’ pay reflects those needs. At the very least, each piece needs a cover, but some require additional images for the interior—illustrations, maps, chapter or section headings, etc.
    2. Images may be originals by the artist, or they may be photographs or pictures that the artist enhances (lighting, shading, cropping, adding text, combining images, etc.).
    3. Artists must be able to create images to an author’s specifications, or to lead that creative process by reading part of the author’s piece, or discussing the piece personally with the author, and proposing suitable images.
    4. We coordinate with authors and pay artists for their services in one of three ways:
       1. An up-front fee, plus a small commission on royalties, paid quarterly or semi-annually.
       2. A smaller up-front fee, plus a slightly larger commission on royalties, paid quarterly or semi-annually. This is our most common approach, critical to our “everyone has skin in the game” philosophy, so artists unwilling to work on partial or full commission should not apply.
       3. A larger, straight commission on royalties, paid quarterly or semi-annually. This is our second-most common approach.

We want artists who will not just sell their work, but who will actively participate in our marketing efforts through their own websites, blogs, social media sites, etc. That’s the reason for commissions: all our members have skin in the game, including artists. We want you to take pride of ownership for the work you do for us.

Please email to Publisher@EvolvedPub.com samples of your work as .JPG attachments, and add to the Subject line (following “Artist Application:”) your name. Also, please include a brief introduction in the body of your email, along with links to your various online activities, including website/blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.

We’ll do our best to respond within 2-3 weeks, but please give us 6 weeks before following up.

NARRATORS:

Since the summer of 2020, we’ve been working with more narrators directly, contracting with them directly (outside of ACX or other venues), and uploading the audiobook ourselves through Findaway Voices and whatever other venues make sense, including directly through our own website starting the spring of 2021.

So if you do quality audiobook narration, and you find a book at our website that’s of interest to you – and which does not yet have an audiobook – please reach out to us via email at Publisher@EvolvedPub.com. In your email, kindly include a little about your experience, your genre preferences, general vocal style(s), and links to your website and online profiles.

TRANSLATORS:

We’re looking for linguists who are experienced performing literary translation. The ideal candidate will reside in the target country, and will be involved in reading groups, book communities, and generally enjoy reading. We’re happy to review your references, but ultimately, the quality of your work will seal the deal. Therefore, please send us an example of a translation you did (we will keep all information, including author name and title, strictly confidential), containing 1,500 to 3,000 words.

We may also ask you to perform a sample (test) translation of 500-1,000 words. In such a case, we’ll provide the sample, and ask that you perform the translation working in the original file we sent you, keeping the original format/layout, and inserting comments or questions wherever you need to clarify something from your end or ask the author.

Translators will be paired with specific authors in order to establish a relationship and develop insight on their work, to ensure an accurate representation of the author’s voice, while achieving cultural and linguistic adaptation.

In the end, we must have a professional product, a book that everyone on the Evolved Publishing team will be happy to recommend and promote–including you. Ultimately, we will rely on you, as the person who knows your language and local venues, to guide the “soft” marketing of the books you translate: social media, book review sites/blogs, promotional sites, etc. If this is not something you’re comfortable doing, then we’re not the right publisher for you.

Evolved Publishing will pay translators for their services as follows: No up-front fee, with an attractive straight commission equal to 20% of author royalties for the translated piece, paid quarterly or semi-annually. Translators unwilling to work on commission should not apply.

We are currently accepting applications to translate English into the following languages:

• • 1. French – Worldwide
    2. German – Worldwide
    3. Italian – Worldwide
    4. Japanese – Worldwide
    5. Portuguese – Brazil
    6. Russian – Worldwide
    7. Spanish – North America (Mexico and the US)

We will be accepting applications for other languages soon, so keep checking!

Please email to Publisher@EvolvedPub.com your sample as indicated above, and add to the Subject line (following “Translator Application:”) your name and target language. Also, please include in the body of your email, along with a brief introduction, links to your various online activities, including website/blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.

We’ll do our best to respond within 2 weeks, but please give us 4 weeks before following up.