Submissions are now open for True Crime and Music books to be published no earlier than January 2026. We are not open to Fiction submissions at this time. (Revision December 7, 2024)
Why publish with Genius Books?
Why submit your book to us? After all, there are thousands upon thousands of independent presses who can publish your book, not to mention the Big 5. What makes Genius Books special?
You should consider publishing with us because we take your work and career as a writer as seriously as you do. Not only do we edit and produce your book with a quality that rivals the Big 5 houses, we pay high royalties (up to 40% of the net), and we have an active, growing publicity department which is building partnerships with media outlets that you as an author may not be able to access without paying an outside publicist thousands of dollars per month. In today's publishing environment where every author must promote himself, we make it simpler than most publishers do, because we're working with you to get your name in front of the readers via media interviews, speaking engagements, and other promotion and publicity opportunities. If you're willing to put the work into building a broader audience to get to know you and your book, we're here with you every step of the way.
Good Storytelling is Key
Nonfiction: If your work is well told, well researched, and follows the truth, we're interested in publishing it. We share your passion for the truth, and for going into humanity's darkest places to find it. When we are preparing your book for publication, we are going to edit it to bring out the clarity of your thoughts and your commitment for telling the world about the story you have chosen to follow. We want more than just the facts, however; we want a story told well, without compromising the truth. If we feel your book needs to be reviewed by a subject matter expert (e.g., a psychologist, law enforcement officer, sociologist, or anthropologist, etc.), we will make every effort to connect those resources with your work. We work as a team, and we all want the same thing—a successful book in terms of both sales and impact on society. If you're ready to take the next step, we're here to go the distance with you.
Fiction: Genius Book Publishing looks for three things in a fiction book. 1) Is it compelling? 2) Is it clear? 3) Does it “land” properly. By landing, think of reading the book like an aircraft ride. As a passenger on an airplane, you want a good take-off, a good flight, and a good landing. A mediocre take-off and a boring flight can be forgiven if the landing is good. But even if the take-off was heart pumping and the flight exhilarating, if the landing is bad, the flight was bad. If you can't land the book, we probably won’t be publishing it, even if the flight was amazing. Just so you know.
Our publisher, Steven, has a similar analogy about reading a book being like sex, but he’s not about to put that online. Just add a cuddle at the end, and you'll get the point.
Submission Requirements
Genius Book Publishing is seeking nonfiction and fiction projects of almost any length written in English (we do not have the resources to support foreign language projects at this time).
Please make sure your manuscript has been fully copy edited by someone other than yourself and provide the name and contact information of your editor (email is fine) for verification. The manuscript doesn't need to be fully proofread, but excessive typos will not work in your favor. We accept edited manuscripts only. *All self-edited works will be rejected without consideration*
No, we don’t expect you to run out and spend $7,000 or more on an edit. While that may improve your book immeasurably, the absolute minimum we can accept is a manuscript that has been edited by someone “outside your head.” Hopefully, this editor knows what they’re doing. If you didn’t take this small step, we’re not the right publisher for you.
We do accept pitches on incomplete projects, but only from authors who have published at least two other books through a traditional publisher. We will verify your publishing record and determine whether we feel you can "land" a new book based on your previous works.
Your query/submission should consist of:
- A cover letter with your contact information and the word count (if known) of the complete work
- A full synopsis of the manuscript
- A complete chapter or chapters at least 20 pages in length
- A brief description of your professional or personal experience that gives you the credentials to tell your story with authority (only applies to nonfiction)
Forward your submission to:
leya@geniusbooksinc.com attn: Submissions
You should receive an acknowledgment of your query within a few days. However, it may take up to a week to review your query and determine whether we want to proceed. If we ask for your manuscript, please send it as an MS Word DOC or DOCX, Pages, or RTF file. If you have something more exotic, let us know first. Please no PDFs.
Genius Books is not offering ANY advances. Our royalty rates are between 25% and 40% of the net.