Deadline: July 31st, 2024
Payment: 50% cut of net royalties
Themes: Traditional/classic/high fantasy stories

We are delighted to report that we will be opening for submissions on June 1st! The window for submissions will remain open until July 31st, and we will be reviewing all types of work from novels to flash fiction, or anything in between.

Please keep in mind what we at OMAM do, and do not, publish. We want traditional fantasy stories. By this, we are largely focused on classic fantasy settings, as in second-world and pre-modern. We don’t want anything with modern technology (electricity, cars, modern weapons, magical doors in the London Underground, lovestruck vampires brooding on the roofs of skyscrapers, etc). Also, we do not want stories set on Earth, whether historical or mythological. That being said, our focus on classic settings does not at all preclude the exploration of new ideas inside those settings. Issues of class, sex, gender, racism, mental health, education, economics, politics, war, trauma are all welcome.

Indeed, we find that pre-modern, second-world settings are often idea for exploring such topics without being bogged down by technology or earthbound inferences. That being said, your story does not need to have a heavy social moral. If you just want to write a story about a hero who does hero stuff, that’s fine by us. Just make sure you have a great character arc, since character is what drives traditional fantasy.

Now, let’s dive into the details.

What are we looking for? OMAM would like to pick up a limited number of full-length projects for publication in 2025. These can include novels, novellas, short story collections, or the like. The number of projects we accept will largely depend on the combined length. For this reason, among others, we have a slight preference for novella length works.

We are also accepting short stories for publication on a rolling basis throughout this and next year. If you are unaware, we publish most of our stories on our website here. We currently do not have plans to publish an anthology this year, but that could change.

Guidelines:

• Format using standard manuscript (Shunn) format. If you don’t know what that is, look here. This is your first test.
• Maximum wordcount for novels: 120,000 words — That’s a pretty hard limit, as we just don’t have the bandwidth to take on something larger. Regardless, 100k is almost standard as a starting point for fantasy novels from new authors today.
• No book series. We want stand-alone novels only (see above comment about bandwidth). That does not mean we would not work with you on a sequel in the future, only that what you send us should be complete in one volume.
• No previously published work. We only do a couple books a year, so we will be expecting first rights.
• Wordcount for short stories: 1000-8000 words. Anything over 5k is going to be a hard sell, but we’ll consider it.
• Do not attach your manuscript or any other file. Provide a cover letter that contains, at a minimum: story genre and audience, wordcount, brief synopsis, and your writing background. When we are ready, we will ask you to send the file.
• Submit your cover letter to us by using our submissions form here.

What to expect from us:

• We will make your story look beautiful, especially in paperback. If you doubt us, just check one out. We also create web covers for all our short stories, such as this one.
• For full length works, we have a standard contract providing authors with a 50% cut of net royalties. Our exclusive contract term is generally for 2 years after initial publication with enduring sales rights.
• We publish our books via Kindle Direct Publishing, in both ebook and paperback, and with expanded distribution. We also publish some of our works as audiobooks on Audible. Exclusivity to Amazon gives us access to Kindle Unlimited, sales and giveaways, along with other benefits.
• To that end, be aware that OMAM does not have a marketing department. We promote our work on our social media platforms and conduct sales on Amazon, but authors are largely responsible for marketing their books. This is somewhat typical for indie presses today. We strongly encourage our authors to hold live events and can provide wholesale author copies.
• For short stories, we offer token pay that generally ranges $5-20 based on length and quality. The more work we have to do fixing your manuscript, the more of that money goes back into our own pockets. But we always pay for content, no matter what. That being said, with shorts we are much more willing to work with new authors and help them polish a rough piece. Don’t self censor; send us your work! Our exclusive contract term for stories is generally 1 year from publication with enduring hosting rights.
• You will not be (and should never be) expected to pay for any production costs. As the publisher, OMAM will provide editing, formatting, cover design, and publication. If you plan to put money into your book, save it for marketing expenses. That we do not cover. We also do not generally pay for additional art for books, such as maps or character sketches. Though, we can assist in getting these made.

We hope this explains most of what you need and want to know about our submissions and publication process. If you have any questions that have not been answered here, feel free to reach out.

Via: Of Metal And Magic.