Submission Guidelines

Sunset of the Oregon Coast

Before submitting your book to Hellebore, take a look at these guidelines. See the FAQs below for more info.

  • You are a self-published author or a small/micro press.

  • Your book has had a sizable number of sales/readers.

  • Your book matches one of these categories:

    • YA or new adult romance, fantasy, romantasy, sci-fi, thriller, or horror

    • Middle grade fantasy, sci-fi, thriller, or horror

    • Board book or picture book

  • You have a digital version of your book and a query letter to send us.

  • Having an agent is acceptable but not necessary.


How To Submit

You can submit to Hellebore by emailing a query letter telling us about you and your book, along with your full novel to

info [at] helleborelit [dot] com.

If you have a series you would like to submit, please include in your query letter the information of all books, and book one of the series.

FAQs

  • We are interested in representing children’s fiction—specifically, YA and new adult romance, fantasy, romantasy, sci fi, thriller, and horror; middle grade fantasy, sci-fi, thriller, and horror; and picture and board books. If you aren’t sure about your manuscript’s genre, or if it could be listed under multiple genres, go ahead and submit just in case!

    Do note that we do not accept adult-level, nonfiction, literary fiction, erotica, graphic novels, comics, manga, or poetry at this time.

  • “Self-published” to us means that you have gone through a non-traditional process to publish your manuscript. That could mean that you have used a program such as KDP or Apple Books. Maybe you have garnered thousands of readers on a platform like Wattpad or Inkitt. Or maybe you have started your own press for the sole purpose of publishing your books. Those all count!

  • Great (and tricky) question! Success is relative, but from a foreign publisher’s standpoint, your book needs to have a sizable number of sales and/or readers to speak for its viability in the marketplace. We’re not talking NYT Bestseller levels; if you have a small but dedicated fanbase of at least a few thousand people, that’s what we’re looking for.

  • We have written a handy-dandy guide to help you write a successful query letter. Check out this link to our blog post: The Query Letter: How to Submit Your Book to Hellebore.