Ruadán Books 2025 Novel and Novella Reading Period

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Submission Window: June 1st – August 31st, 2025
Payment: Professional rates. An advance may be paid at the discretion of the editors. Royalties percentages will be negotiated upon acceptance
Themes: Speculative fiction and dark thrillers

Ruadán Books will be opening for novel and novella submissions on June 1! We are looking for speculative fiction stories, dark thriller stories, and genre-bending tales that explore the darkness in all of us. If you have a complete manuscript in the dark speculative fiction, horror, mystery, or thriller genres, we want to hear from you.

We accept submissions through Moksha – check below for our submission guidelines. And don’t forget to mark the date!

About Ruadán Books

Ruadán (pronounced ROO-ah-dawn) Books is an Independent Publisher focusing on dark thrillers and speculative fiction. We have a passion for raising up new talent as well as working with experienced authors. We especially welcome writers from marginalized demographics.

Submission Guidelines for Ruadán Books

Read the following submission guidelines carefully. We expect professional submissions  in order to allow our editors to review work promptly. Please note that the system will only allow you to upload ONE document, so please include ALL the required items in one .doc or .docx file. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will automatically be rejected unread.

What we are looking for:

Ruadán editors want speculative fiction stories, dark thriller stories, and genre-bending tales that explore the darkness in all of us. We expect deeply flawed characters, sweeping settings, and gritty detective work. If your novel is the beginning of a series, let us know that in your cover letter.

PLEASE remember that we are primarily an Entertainment Business, and that messages embedded in your work should be balanced when presented, and that deeper meanings are handled in a thoughtful manner.

An abbreviated list of authors whose work we like:

  • Horror: Stephen King (earlier work), Stephen Graham Jones, Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, Cynthia Pelayo, Josh Malerman, and Victor LaValle
  • Sci-fi: Nnedi Okorafor, Cormac McCarthy, Margaret Atwood, Octavia Butler, China Miéville, Cixin Liu, Anne McCaffrey, and Blake Crouch
  • Fantasy: Sir Terry Pratchett, N. K. Jemisin, Fonda Lee, Tanith Lee, and Seanan McGuire
  • Dark Thriller: Sara Gran, Raymond Chandler, Walter Mosley, John le Carré, James Ellroy, Patricia Highsmith, and Laird Barron

What to submit:

  1. A cover letter introducing yourself and your novel/novella concept.
  2. Your author bio is written in the third person.
  3. A two-page synopsis of your story. Do NOT leave anything out. If you have a line to the effect of “you’ll have to read the book to see what happens next,” your novel submission will be rejected.
  4. 50 pages of your novel manuscript or 25 pages of your novella. Please do not include a complete manuscript at this time, although we expect that you are submitting a portion of a completed novel/novella.
  5. All of the above must be submitted in one complete .doc or .docx file.

How to format your manuscript:

  1. Use a 12-point type.
  2. Use a serif font; the most common choice is Times New Roman.
  3. Double-space your manuscript.
  4. Do not include extra space between paragraphs.
  5. Include only one space between sentences.
  6. Indent each paragraph half an inch (PLEASE set a TAB using your writing application software.)
  7. Text should be flush left and ragged right, not justified.
  8. Please add a line with a centered typographical dingbat (for example: ***) between paragraphs to indicate where there is a change of location or passage of time.
  9. We only accept black text on a white background.
  10. Format with one-inch margins (the default in Microsoft Word).
  11. Only the page number and title of the book/story should appear in any headers in your submitted manuscript. The header should appear on each page after the title page.

Timing: Notice regarding Open Calls will be announced via our website and social media accounts. We encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter, as newsletter subscribers will be the first to know about open calls.

Simultaneous Submissions: We welcome simultaneous submissions! Our philosophy is that it’s unreasonable to expect writers to give a publishing house an exclusive look at a work unless we can respond quickly. Since this is not always the case, we are willing to risk losing out on a story if another publisher has made an offer before we have. Our mission is to support writers, help them succeed, and cheer them on even when we lose out on publishing a piece.

Response Time: Our response time varies from four to twelve weeks.

Submission Fees: There are NO fees for submitting work.

Payment to Authors: We pay professional rates. An advance may be paid at the discretion of the editors. Royalties percentages will be negotiated upon acceptance.

Definitions: Novels are considered longer works of between 50,000 words and 110,000 words with the “sweet spot” coming in at 90,000. Novellas are in the 20,000 to 40,000 word range.

Technical Difficulties: Contact us if you have questions or encounter technical difficulties.

Word Count Guidelines:

  • SHORT SHORT STORY manuscripts must be at least 3,000 and no more than 7,500 words in length. We will ask to see the complete manuscript if we think the work is suitable for Ruadán Books.
  • NOVELLAS and other long works that are less than book length may run between 15,000 and 40,000 words. For works of this length, please submit the first 5,000 words with a synopsis. Based on our reading of the first 5,000 words, we will ask to see the complete manuscript if we think the work is suitable for Ruadán Books.
  • NOVEL-LENGTH WORKS. Novels are considered longer works of between 50,000 words and 110,000 words with the “sweet spot” coming in at 90,000. Please submit the first THREE chapters and a synopsis (not to exceed two pages) of the work. Based on our reading of the first three chapters, we will ask to see the complete manuscript if we think the work is suitable for Ruadán Books.

Additional types of work may be called for. Sign up for our newsletter, or follow our social accounts for up-to-date submission information

Submit at Moksha

Via: Ruadán Books submission guidelines and their Facebook post.

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