Submissions Guidelines 

Note: August House accepts proposals and editorial inquiries by mail only. Our editorial mission focuses on world folktales and the art and uses of storytelling. Please review the following guidelines before contacting us about publishing your work.

1. Please address all materials to:
   Editorial Department
   August House
   3500 Piedmont Road, NE
   Suite 310
   Atlanta, GA 30305.
2. Please submit proposals by mail. No phone calls or e-mails, please.
3. Although we review every submission that arrives by mail, unfortunately, you will not receive a response from us unless we are interested in pursuing publication. Due to the large number of submissions, we do not have the staff or resources to respond to queries that we elect not to publish.
4. We will acknowledge receipt of manuscripts immediately by postcard if a self-addressed stamped postcard is enclosed with the submission. (We cannot without great difficulty acknowledge a previously submitted manuscript by phone, as manuscripts are stored in more than one location). If we are interested in pursuing the project, you will hear from us within five months.
5. Please retain your original manuscript/proposal and send us a copy only. Your materials will not be returned.
6. August House Editorial Needs
   1. For our general trade line, we are interested in acquiring books pertaining to folklore, folktales, and the art and application of storytelling.
   2. For our children's picture-book line, we are seeking single-story manuscripts that feature traditional folktales. We are not looking for original stories written in fable or fairy-tale style.
   3. For our audio line, we are not soliciting proposals, nor do we distribute recordings released privately or under other labels.
7. We publish storytelling resources in four formats:
   1. picture books (see paragraph 5 below);
   2. folktale collections;
   3. instructional/how-to books; and
   4. personal story collections.
      Proposals for storytelling projects may be accompanied by audiocassettes, though the material will be judged first and foremost as literature rather than listening material. For multi-chapter or multi-story books, please send a query letter or proposal with sample chapters (at least 40 pages in length) rather than a complete manuscript. Proposals should be accompanied by a descriptive outline or table of contents. (Do indicate whether or not your manuscript is currently complete, along with some estimate of a final manuscript page or word count and future completion date.)
      
      For folktale collections, we are particularly interested in how stories are sourced, whether your sources are literary or oral. Please be sure your sample tales include annotations about the story, it sources and variants.
8. Picture book manuscripts (Please see 6(b) for the types of stories we are looking for.)
   1. If submitted without illustrations, manuscripts should be typewritten on 8½ x 11" paper. Please be sure your name and address appear on the title page as well as on your cover letter, and do enclose a list of sources and variants for the folktale. Bear in mind that our ideal age range is 4 to 8, and the maximum word count for such titles is 1100, unless there is some mitigating circumstance (such as cumulative text or a repeated refrain.)
   2. If submitted with illustrations, submit text in typescript as described in paragraph 8(a) as well as with dummied layout. Submit at least one illustration in full color.
9. All manuscripts and proposals should be typewritten, double-spaced, on 8½ x 11" paper, with pages numbered. Please be sure your name and address appear on the title page as well as on your cover letter.
10. Biographical data is especially helpful to us in considering proposals and manuscripts. We're not necessarily looking for authors with strings of degrees and credentials, but anything that helps establish a link between author and manuscript is useful to us. Please list any previous publication history also.
11. August House will read manuscripts being simultaneously submitted to other publishing houses.
12. Terms of Publication: For volumes accepted for publication on our trade list, we underwrite publication costs and compensate authors by paying a royalty based on gross sales. Advances are occasionally, but not always, paid. Unless the author is working through a rights agent, August House usually retains subsidiary rights (book club, film, paperback, etc.) and pays the author 50% on income earned from subsidiary use. We reserve the right to determine binding (hardcover v. paper), print run, publication date, retail price, and book design.

For Artists and Illustrators

1. August House considers of submissions of artwork separately from submissions of text, even if proposed for the same work.
2. Freelance illustrators may submit portfolio samples to our art department.
   (Send to attention of Art Director
   August House
   3500 Piedmont Road, NE
   Suite 310
   Atlanta, GA 30305.)
   
   Please note that we do not open unsolicited samples sent as e-mail attachments-they are deleted. Furthermore, we have a strong preference for hard copy samples (they are also far more likely to be filed for future reference), but if you still wish to submit samples electronically, you may send an e-mail containing a link or URL to a website at which we might view your work. (Send to ahinfo@augusthouse.com with "Attn: Art Director" in the subject line.)
3. Never send an original work or irreplaceable copy as a submission. Send duplicate slides, photocopies (either color of B/W), postcards, or other such samples as are replaceable at minimal expense. Your materials will not be returned but will be filed for future reference.
4. For prompt notification of receipt, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard with a place for our initials and date.
5. We do not customarily reply to the sender if we anticipate no immediate need for artwork of the type submitted. This should not be interpreted as a lack of possible future interest.
6. August House cannot discuss terms of compensation for artwork except when a specific use is foreseen.