Pen Women Press Begins Accepting Submissions

 

By Lucy Arnold, Publications Chair

Pen Women Press publishes works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and memoir by NLAPW members. PWP is not a vanity press, as we carefully select books for publication. Neither is it a traditional publisher since the author pays for publication. However, authors retain all net profits and royalties from the sale of their books. As a curated press, we seek to publish books of the highest quality.

Why Publish with Pen Women Press?

  • Pen Women Press has high standards of excellence.
  • The prestige and reputation of NLAPW will enhance your title’s standing.
  • PWP is highly responsive and offers expert support and guidance by professional Pen Women.
  • Your title will be announced on the NLAPW website, in The Pen Woman, and on NLAPW social media platforms.
  • Your title will be listed in the PWP online bookstore with a link to your sales platform.
  • You have the option of print on demand, ebook, print run, and audiobook editions.
  • Publishing with PWP helps support NLAPW.
  • You retain all net profits and royalties from sales.

Submissions

Members who wish to publish with Pen Women Press should complete an author questionnaire, available on the NLAPW website. If your project is potentially a good match for PWP, we will request a $35 submission fee to review your table of contents (if you have one) and the first three chapters or 20 pages of your manuscript.

If it’s a poetry book, please select five poems. The Review Committee may request the full manuscript before reaching a decision.

Publication Process

Initial assessment: Pen Women Press editors read your manuscript to determine if it is ready for publication, and what types of editing may still be needed.

Developmental editing: The editor will carefully read the entire manuscript, making suggestions to amend problems or clarify issues in structure, setting, characters, dialogue, and style. This is the stage of the process for your rewrites, additions, and deletions of material.

Line editing/copyediting: The editor will go over the manuscript line-by-line to help make the writing consistent, smooth, and compelling. Omissions, duplications, and errors in grammar and mechanics will be corrected.

Author’s proof and proofreading: Before printing, the edited text of the manuscript is sent via email to you so you can make any clarifications or final, small changes. Final proofreading, which you must approve before printing, is done after formatting and all changes are incorporated.

A hardcopy proof will be available for an extra fee.

Cover design and artwork: Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, a PWP art editor will work with you to determine front and back cover art.

Beyond words: Once your book is ready to publish, PWP will help with marketing and promotion by providing an online press kit and camera-ready art files; listing your book in the NLAPW online bookstore with a link to your sales platform; and placing announcements in The Pen Woman, the NLAPW blog and NLAPW social media sites.

Costs and choices: Each book is unique, and so is each group of services best suited to an author’s needs. A basic publishing package includes an extraordinary number of services* at a very reasonable cost. Pricing will vary by book length, levels of editing needed, etc., but may start as low as $2,500. There are also many optional services* available for additional fees, such as in-depth manuscript critique and book coaching. Both basic and optional service fees will vary for each project, depending on book details, how much editing is needed, etc.

*All services are listed on the Pen Woman Press page.