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AUTHOR GUIDELINES
Renaissance E Books actively solicits books from first time and published authors. We publish many bestselling and award-winning authors. Through its PageTurner Editions division, Renaissance E Books issues books for general audiences, and through its Sizzler Editions division, publishes works of erotica for adult readers. Below you will find our requirements for both divisions, our general guidelines for preparing manuscripts for submission, and a sample of our standard ebook contract.
PAGETURNER EDITIONS REQUIREMENTS
PageTurner Editions is known for its award winning and nominee fiction and non-fiction for a broad spectrum of readers. PageTurner actively seeks imaginative, well-written novels, one-person collections, and anthologies in the following categories:
Non-Fiction
* Self-help
* Writing
* Humor
* Spiritual/New Age
* Magic/Occult
* Reference
* War
Fiction
* Romance
* Mystery
* Science Fiction
* Historical
* Fantasy
* Western
* Horror
* Adventure
PAGETURNER IS NOT SEEKING
Poetry, mainstream literature, children's books, illustrated works, or works based on the belief that one religion or creed is superior to others.
SIZZLER EDITIONS GUIDELINES
Sizzler Editions has been one of the leading publishers of erotica in ebook form since 1999. Over one hundred Sizzler titles have appeared on the ebook bestseller lists at Amazon.com, Fictionwise, and Mobipocket, and other leading ebook stores. Sizzler looks for books that are out of the ordinary, featuring strong plots, smooth writing, three-dimensional characters, and interesting backgrounds. In short, the sexuality in your story should be a consequence of the characters and circumstances, should not a mindless series of sexual encounters intended merely to arouse and titillate. As a result, Sizzler Editions actively seeks works that are original, off-trail, and whose authors "think outside the box."
Sizzler Editions accepts submissions in all the traditional categories of erotica:
* Sensual romance.
* Scorching tales of straight sexuality.
* Bondage and domination.
* Alternate lifestyles.
* Science fiction and fantasy.
* Lesbian.
* Gay male.
* Bisexual.
* Transgender.
* Non-fiction.
SIZZLER IS NOT SEEKING
The editors will not consider or publish works which include the portrayal of any of the following elements:
* Sexual encounters between adults and minors under the age of 18.
* The exposure of minors under the age of 18 to sexual acts of any kind.
* Sexual activity between minors under the age of 18 – even if consensual.
* Consensual or non-consensual sex of between adults that results in severe or life-threatening physical harm, such as broken bones, etc.
* Strangulation or suffocation even between consenting adults as part of the sex act.
* Incest.
* Bestiality.
* Necrophilia.
MANUSCRIPT FORMAT
Your book should be carefully prepared and proofread before submission. Renaissance E Books expects all submissions to be free of mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
* Renaissance E Books accepts submissions in Word RTF or DOC formats only.
* All ms. should be single spaced.
* Do not put an extra line or space between paragraphs – this is a no-no.
* Margins should be 1.5" (inch) all around - top, bottom, left, right.
* In Format set First Line to 0.2"
* Font should be Times New Roman, 14 point.
* Font color should be Black only!
* Use plain text only, no fancy styles or formatting.
* Do not imbed images, hyperlinks (even to other parts of your ms.) or other elements of any kind.
* Avoid the use of inserted symbols like Latin or the British symbol for Pound.
* Put a PageBreak (not a Section or Next Page break) at the end of every chapter. And at the ends of the
title page and any other introductory matter, like a Preface or Dedication.
* Chapter headings should be 18 pt bold, typed in all capital letters and centered. If there is a chapter title,
like "The Dream" it should be in all capital letters and on the same line as the chapter number, in this format:
CHAPTER III. THE DREAM
* Title page should have your name and address and email upper left.
* If you are using a pseudonym it should be typed below the title rather than your real name, so we are sure
to use it when the book is published.
* Title should be in 18 pt bold, all capital letters and centered.
* Below that should be the word "By" in 18 pt, with a capital and lower case letter, centered.
* Below that, should be the name you want the book published under should also be in 18 pt bold and all
capital letters and centered.
Please include the following:
1. The complete manuscript, as an attachment if it is finished.
2. A one page description of the book.
3. A short cover letter telling us something about yourself, the book, and its word count.
Where to submit your book:
submissions at renebooks.com
Thank you for considering Renaissance E Books as your publisher.
We look forward to reading your book!
Jean Marie Stine
Associate Publisher, REB
* * * *
TERMS OF PUBLICATION
Below you will find a sample contract explaining such issues as copyright, royalties, payment, which rights we license, etc. Please read it carefully, and if you have questions, feel free to contact us about them.
RENAISSANCE E BOOKS PUBLISHING AGREEMENT
This agreement, dated ______, is made between Renaissance E Books, Inc., herein called Publisher and _____________, of ____________, herein called Author, as respects the book currently entitled ________, herein called the Work.
I. Publishing Rights: Author agrees to grant to Publisher exclusive worldwide English language rights to publish and sell the Work in: Readable (text) digital format (electronic download, disk, CD/CD-ROM, E-Book reader or similar media of presentation).
All rights in the Work not specifically granted to Publisher in this agreement are reserved by the author.
II. Author Warrantees. Author warrants that s/he is the author and sole owner of the Work or has been assigned the rights delineated above; that it is original and contains no matter unlawful in its content, nor does it violate the rights of any third party; that the Work is not in the public domain. Author also warrants that these rights are owned or controlled by him without encumbrance and that Author has full power to grant the listed rights to Publisher.
If this work has been previously published in any form, Author warrants that the rights granted herein have reverted to him/her. As an addendum to this agreement, Author shall present some written memorandum documenting the reversion of the rights granted by any publishing company that may still own proprietary rights to the Work.
If a judgment is obtained against Publisher for usurping rights still controlled by a publisher or other entity than Publisher or Author, the Author agrees to hold Publisher harmless and to indemnify Publisher for reasonable damages and costs. If Publisher prevails against a suing party or resolves the matter by out of court settlement, Author will not be liable to indemnify Publisher for defense and settlement costs.
III. Copyright: In the United States, every creative work is automatically copyrighted to the author the moment it is written. The copyright remains with the Author at all times and notice to that effect will be posted with the Author's published Work. The Author is free to copyright the Work formally at his/her own expense, registering the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office, including payment of any fees and the costs of preparing printed and/or electronic documentation of the work as required by the U.S. Copyright office. Author will provide a photocopy or facsimile copy of the Copyright certificate to Publisher within 45 days of receipt. Publisher shall be listed as the publisher of the work in all formats indicated in Section I.
Author understands that if s/he chooses not to register the copyright with the U.S. Copyright office, s/he may be limited in the damages that could be awarded in court if there is a copyright violation.
Notwithstanding the above, Publisher shill place a copyright notice in the author's name or the author's pseudonym, if a pseudonym is used, on all versions of the Work, said notice shall be dated the year of first release if no other information is available.
IV. ISBN: Publisher will obtain and assign ISBN (International Standard Book Numbers) for the Work. Publisher will use the assigned ISBN(s) as part of the formal identification, and will notify Book in Print or other equivalent service(s) of the ISBN(s) of the Work.
V. Selling Price: Publisher will set the selling price of the Work, based on length, comparable works and format. Publisher reserves the right to raise or reduce the price as needed to stimulate sales.
VI. Royalties: For each readable digital format downloaded, Publisher will pay Author a royalty, in U.S. dollars, of forty percent (40%) of the selling price, for sales of the Work at the publisher's website. For digital books sold through other outlets requiring distribution discounts, Publisher will pay Author a royalty, in U.S. dollars, of twenty-seven percent (27%) of the selling price at said outlets.
Publisher will provide the Author with monthly sales figures by email and will pay Author royalties quarterly in the third week of March, June, Sept., and Dec., so long as there is a minimum of $10.00 (ten dollars) in royalties due to Author. If there is less than $10.00 (ten dollars) due to Author, the amount due may be held over until such time as there is an amount of $10.00 (ten dollars) or greater due to Author. Payments may be made by either physical check or electronic funds transfer at the Author's discretion. If Author is unable to accept electronic funds transfer, payment will be by check in United States dollars.
Author understands that sales through other outlets will be reported in the month for which payment is actually received by Publisher and that other terms and conditions not withstanding, Publisher is in no way obligated to pay royalties from said outlets until and unless it receives such payment.
If sales in any calendar year are $600.00 or higher, Publisher will provide a 1099 statement of royalty earnings. If sales in any calendar year are under $600.00, the Publisher may issue a 1099 at its discretion. Payment of taxes on royalties is the sole responsibility of the Author whether or not a 1099 is issued.
If the author should die before all royalties due under this Agreement have been paid, Publisher will pay royalties to Author's heirs, assigns or beneficiaries.
It is the Author's responsibility to communicate via email with the Publisher any change in Taxpayer Identification Number or Social Security Number, Postal Mailing Address, telephone number(s), Electronic Mail address or bank routing number if royalties are paid by Electronic Funds Transfer. If the Author fails to advise Publisher of any changes in the above that prevent the timely payment of royalties, the Publisher is authorized to hold, without penalty, payment of royalties until current information is received. If a check sent by regular post is returned by the post office or express delivery service as undeliverable or an Electronic Funds transfer is rejected for an invalid number, the Publisher shall first attempt to contact Author by all existing contact information before unilaterally withholding payment of royalties.
VII: Term of Agreement: The term of this Agreement shall be for three (3) years. The Agreement may be extended at the end of those three (3) years, by mutual consent of Author and Publisher. Upon cancellation, Publisher shall have thirty (30) days to remove all copies from sale at all outlets, and shall be responsible for paying Author all royalties on sales received during this period. All rights to the Work under this agreement shall immediately revert to the Author immediately if for any reason the Work is not available on the publisher's website for a period of ninety (90) days.
Publisher may, at its discretion, remove the Work from publication or distribution due to poor sales or any other reason deemed by the Publisher to be injurious to the Publisher's or Author's best interests. Publisher shall give notice to Author of such removal from distribution and the reasons for the withdrawal.
When this agreement terminates, all rights granted hereinunder shall automatically revert to the Author.
Agreement may be terminated by either the author or publisher with a 90-day written, certified mail notice or other receipted or traceable delivery service, and all rights granted the publisher will revert to Author at the time of the termination. Upon this termination, Publisher will remove listing of the Work from its website and all download-based distributors and advise Books in Print that that particular ISBN is no longer in print. The exception to this termination of Agreement is that Publisher may continue to sell existing stock of physical formats (diskettes, CD's, cassette tapes, print books) but may not create new physical copies upon depletion of its existing stock.
VIII: Editing, Cover Art and Back Blurb, Preparation of Manuscript, Title, Formatting: Editing: Publisher has the right of final approval of Author's manuscript. Publisher may assign an editor to work with Author in making revisions. The Author will be notified prior to any and all substantial changes, which will be made only with the Author's approval and participation. The author will not be required to pay for the services of any editor assigned by Publisher. If substantial changes are made, Publisher will provide a proofing copy of the Work, which Author must correct and return within forty-eight (48) hours. Publisher may make corrections of typographical errors without Author's consent.
Cover Art and Blurb: Publisher shall provide cover art at its own expense. Author may be be asked to produce proposed blurb text. If Author wishes to provide his/her own cover art, this cover art may be at Author's expense. If Author engages an artist other than him/herself to produce an alternative cover, Author must present documentation that s/he has permission to reproduce the proposed cover art from the copyright owner, or warrants that the cover art is in the public domain. If Author provides his/her own cover art, s/he is responsible for formatting it in an appropriate graphics format of suitable reproduction quality. Publisher will give credit in the published Work to the cover artist. Publisher has final approval of any cover art and blurb material.
Preparation of Manuscript: If revisions are required, Author shall provide an acceptable, final revision of the manuscript in some electronic format acceptable to Publisher within the time agreed upon and within reasonable limits. Electronic format used will be a major commercial word processing program or Rich Text Format as mutually agreed upon. Specific margin, header, font, line spacing and other particulars of manuscript format will be provided in a separate document stating Publisher's guidelines. The Work shall be transmitted to Publisher as an attachment to electronic mail or other electronic delivery service. It is the responsibility of the author to keep a complete copy of the manuscript available in digital form in the event of computer failure at the Publisher.
Title: Publisher has final approval of release title of the Work. Every attempt will be made to use the title suggested by the Author, but Publisher has the option to change the release title if the Author's suggested title is too similar to any books already in release by Publisher or recent releases from any other publisher or if Publisher deems that a more appropriate title is necessary to the book's sales success. In the event of a title change, Author will be given an opportunity to suggest alternative titles.
Formatting: Publisher will be responsible, at its own expense, to prepare the Work for release for all formats outlined in Section I. Publisher will make the Work available in all its regularly marketed electronic/digital formats. If a particular formatting type is controlled by the distributor/vendor, Publisher will prepare the Work in a manner acceptable to that distributor/vendor and submit it to them for formatting. Publisher may not be able to control when the distributor/vendor completes the formatting and places the Work in the stream of commerce.
IX. Author's name or Pseudonym: The Author has the exclusive right to the use of his/her name or pseudonym listed as the author in connection with this Work. Publisher cannot prevent Author from using the same name or pseudonym for any other publisher or for any other book genre. Publisher will have a non-exclusive right to use Author's name or pseudonym, and any biographical material supplied to Publisher for the purposes of advertising, publishing and promoting the Work itself.
X. Ownership of Characters: Except as allowed under the sections of this agreement governing promotion of the work, Author owns the characters and controls their use in sequels or series books, whether published by Publisher or another publisher. Publisher will have a non-exclusive right to use the title, and all material, including characters in the Work, for the purpose of advertising, publishing and promoting the Work.
If the author writes another Work that is a sequel to the Work covered in this agreement, using an identical theme and/or major characters from the contracted Work, Publisher retains a right of first refusal for the subsequent work. If Publisher does not accept for publication this additional Work within ninety (90) days of submission, it will be considered refused and the Author will be free to market rights to the new work without encumbrance.
Notwithstanding the above paragraph, nothing in this agreement shall be construed obligate the Author to submit any additional, unrelated works to Publisher.
XI. Publisher's Name and Trademark. The Author may, with Publisher's permission, have limited use of Publisher's name, website address, trademarks, etc., for promotional purposes in behalf of the Work. Author may use the cover art in his/her promotional material. Publisher's provided and/or copyrighted cover art may not be used by other publishers at any time without express permission from Publisher. Any remuneration for the use of this cover art will be separately negotiated between publishers.
XII. Promotion and Promotional Materials: Author's biographical information. Author will provide Publisher with a publicity biography and suggested blurb(s) for use on book cover, website and promotional literature. A photograph, in digital format is optional. Publisher reserves the right to edit or rewrite blurb(s) as necessary for length or content.
Author's copies. The Publisher will provide the Author with one (1) copy of the ebook version of the Work in any format issued by Publisher of the Author's choosing. No royalty shall be paid on free author's copies. Publisher has permission from the author to duplicate, at no cost and no royalty, exact text copies in digital or print formats for the purpose of obtaining book reviews or entering competitions or contests.
Reviews: Publisher and Author agree to supply each other with digital copies of any professional reviews. Neither Author nor Publisher is required to provide the other with copies of "Reader Reviews" voluntarily posted by consumers at any online vendor.
Promotion: Publisher will publicize the Work through its website, such Internet avenues of promotion as it deems fit, including but not limited to, review sites, ezines, mailing lists, etc. For ebooks provided at no cost by the Publisher for purposes of promotion and publicity, no royalties will be paid.
XIII. Author/Publisher Indemnification: Author shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless Publisher and its owners and affiliates, editors, shareholders, officers, directors, partners, associates, agents and representatives and the Publisher shall indemnity, defend and hold harmless the Author from any and all claims, debts, demands, suits, actions, liens, proceedings and/or prosecutions ("Claims") based on allegations which, if true, could constitute a breach of any of the foregoing warranties, and any and all liabilities, losses, damages and expenses including, but not limited to, attorney's fees and court costs. Each party to this Agreement shall give prompt notice to the other party of any Claims. No compromise or settlement of any Claim shall be made or entered into without the prior written approval of the Author and Publisher. If a Claim if filed, Publisher shall have the right to suspend payments otherwise due to Author under the terms of this Agreement as security for Author's obligations under this section.
XIV. Insolvency of Publisher, Sale of Publisher, Reversion of Rights: Insolvency: If the Publisher files for protection under the Bankruptcy Laws, all rights delineated in Section I shall immediately revert to the Author. If the bankruptcy filing involves a reorganization and Publisher continues to operate during the reorganization, Author and Publisher may agree in writing to continue this agreement under the same or revised terms.
If the Publisher suspends operations, other than a temporary suspension for technical difficulties such as a loss of Web Server, all rights delineated in Section I shall immediately revert to the Author. If the Publisher's operations are ordered suspended by any governmental or police entity, or by Injunction or Restraining Order, all rights shall immediately revert to the author. If the suspension is lifted and operations resume, Author and Publisher may agree in writing to continue this agreement under the same or revised terms.
If the Publisher sells its assets to another publisher who does or plans to market and promote books of the type and genre of the Work, the successor publisher will be bound, as a minimum, to the same terms delineated in this agreement. If the successor publisher does not or does not plan to market and promote books of the type and genre of the Work, all rights delineated in Section I shall revert to the Author not more than thirty days after the sale of Publisher.
General Reversion of Rights: Upon expiration of the of this agreement, all rights delineated in Section I immediately revert to the Author unless an agreement to renew or extend this agreement is reached.
If, within one hundred twenty (120) days of receipt of the final manuscript of the book, Publisher has taken no action toward issuing said book (such action may include but not be limited to assigning an ISBN, copyediting, assigning a cover, mat/layout preparations, setting an estimated release date), the Author may withdraw all rights to the book from the publisher. Reversion of withdrawn rights shall come into effect 30 days after Publisher receives the notice of withdrawal unless satisfactory proof of action execution of those rights is presented to the Author by Publisher.
XV. Copyright Infringement: Publisher is not obligated to initiate legal proceedings should a Claim arise regarding a third party infringing the Author's or Publisher's rights. If such a Claim arises, Author and Publisher may sue either jointly or severally. Publisher shall not be held liable for failing to take action upon a Claim.
XVI. Disputes: Any disputes or disagreements which the parties hereto are unable to resolve between themselves shall be settled via arbitration in accordance with the guidelines of the American Arbitration Association.
XVII. Signatures: IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Author and Publisher have executed this agreement on the day and year below, to be effective immediately if the dates are the same, or on the date of the later signature if the dates are not the same. If either Author or Publisher have electronic signature capabilities and both agree to accept an electronic signature as valid, that electronic signature will be considered of identical weight to a handwritten signature.
XVIII. The foregoing constitutes our sole and complete agreement, and may not be altered except by mutual consent in writing.
AGREED:________________________________________,
Assoc. Publisher, JEAN MARIE STINE
AGREED:________________________________________, Author
SSN/TAX ID:_______________. (U.S. authors only.)
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