Authors Wanted

NORTHERN EYE BOOKS LIMITED is a small, independent publishing house that publishes as few as six titles a year. We’re always on the lookout for cleverly conceived and well-written books from authors we can work with. If you’d like to submit an idea for a book, please follow the guidelines below carefully. We receive lots of proposals, and this will help us evaluate yours more easily and respond faster. We look forward to hearing from you.

What We Publish

Northern Eye Books specialises in outdoor, walking, climbing and leisure titles that cover North Wales, Anglesey, Lleyn, Snowdonia, the Welsh borders, Cheshire, Wirral, and Northwest England.

Potential titles must be clearly thought out, logically structured, and appealing. Our walking and outdoor books have strong themes designed to appeal to specific target groups; authors should have a firm picture of who their intended audience are, and write with them in mind.

Our books are carefully structured and use specific house styles. Good design and high production values are of the essence. Images are key, too, and the number and quality of the photographs - both colour and black and white - illustrations and maps makes a real difference to the final product, which in turn greatly affects sales.

We are also happy to consider out-of-print and classic walking, landscape, natural history and mountaineering titles that we think are worthy of being reissued – with updated covers, new designs, new photographs and new layouts. Copyright holders can talk to us in complete confidence.

What We DON’T Publish

We don’t publish fiction, children’s books, text books, poetry, reminiscences, memoirs or biography. Sorry.

Submitting a Book Idea

We’re always pleased to see new ideas for relevant books. In the first instance, please read some of our current titles to get a better idea of what we’re looking for. Then send us, either by post or email (send attached Word documents, please):

* A brief letter and outline CV, detailing anything you have previously had published including magazine and newspaper articles.
* Examples or photocopies of published articles or other relevant work.
* The provisional title and any subtitle of the proposed book.
* A short synopsis of your book.
* Draft contents list with brief outline of each chapter.
* Suggested text for the ‘blurb’ on the back cover.
* A sample chapter, double-spaced and printed (if a hard copy) on one side only.
* Examples of any photographs (if relevant).
* A large stamped self-addressed envelope with adequate postage for the return of your work.

Don’t send full manuscripts. We don’t have time to read them.

Remember to include your name, address, daytime telephone number and email address so we can get in touch with you.

If you submit by post please include your email address.

Submissions should be addressed to:

The Commissioning Editor
Northern Eye Books
Castleview
High Street
Tattenhall
Cheshire
CH3 9PX

Or via email to: The Commissioning Editor

Criteria for Success

We reply to all submissions as soon as we can. Potential titles must fit in with the rest of our catalogue and be eminently saleable. In each case, we must ask ourselves whether we love a book enough for us to invest around £10,000 and several months of our time in it. If we feel a book idea or sample manuscript meets our criteria, we will contact you for an informal discussion about the book in more detail.

Royalties

We offer a basic royalty of 10% of the book’s retail cover price (as opposed to the more usual 10% of the wholesale price). Authors receive a contract outlining their and the publisher’s respective rights and responsibilities. Royalties are paid quarterly.

Authors receive 10 free voucher copies of their book on publication, and can purchase further copies to keep or for resale, at the standard wholesale price. We also offer authors generous discounts on all our other titles.

Recommended Sites for Writers

The Bookseller www.thebookseller.com
Publishing News www.publishingnews.co.uk
Writer’s Magazine www.writermag.com
Booktrust www.booktrust.org.uk
Firstwriter.com www.firstwriter.com

Thank you for your interest in Northern Eye Books.