Submission Guidelines for Colourpoint Books




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Submission Guidelines

Before approaching any publisher with a proposal, be sure that you are sending it to the right company. Publishing houses have their own personalities and specialisms and much time can be saved - including yours - by not submitting to a totally unsuitable publisher.

Colourpoint does not publish fiction, poetry or plays. Our specialisms are educational textbooks and transport subjects - mainly trains and buses.

If you would like to consider taking the self-publishing route, our sister company April Sky Design, may be able to help you, regardless of your subject matter.

Always enclose return postage. It is good practice to enclose return postage. If you would like your whole typescript returned, enclose enough postage for this. However, in the event of your submission not being accepted, it may be that you are happy for us to dispose of it. In that case, please make this clear in your covering letter and enclose an sae for a reply by letter only, unless you are happy to receive a reply by e-mail.

Be patient. A lot goes on in a publishing office and only some of the time can be allocated to assessing submissions. We will try to get back to you within two months. If you haven’t heard anything by then, drop us an e-mail (preferably) or query by phone.

E-mail queries. It is OK to send an initial short query by e-mail. Do not send attachments without prior arrangement as they will be deleted. For a fuller submission package, please use ordinary post.

The submission
Your submission should contain:
> a covering letter explaining your idea and saying why you are equipped to write on this topic; listing any other publications on this topic and why your idea is different; your own previous publications and writing experience (if any)
> your full contact details, including an e-mail address if possible
> about 20 sample pages of your proposed book plus an outline of the rest
> returned postage, if necessary, as detailed above

Short queries by e-mail
For educational submissions contact: Sheila Johnston - sheila@colourpoint.co.uk
For transport and general submissions contact: Norman Johnston - norman@colourpoint.co.uk
NB Please put "Submission query" in the subject line.

Submissions by post
Address to the same people as above. For our address, click here.

For self-publishing projects, please see April Sky Design