Submission Guidelines

Pemberley Press is dedicated to publishing escape fiction for readers with eager minds— readers who like to learn through fiction. Due to our small staff, at present we only publish mystery novels. We will only consider manuscripts that deliver on our promise by enriching the reader’s entertainment experience through a well-researched setting, profession, or time-period. Since we only publish hardcover and trade paper mysteries, our books should be longer, more complex, and richer in content than is typically found in a paperback on the newsstand, but should still deliver an entertaining, escapist read. The audience we seek is the reader who wants a happy or just resolution to a crime novel, but also an intellectual challenge, a fresh or unusual setting, or a "novel" reading experience.

Unfortunately, we are not reading new submissions at the moment. Feel free to read the following guidelines and check back with us later in the year:

Guidelines

Completed, novel-length manuscripts of 75,000 words or longer.

Our focus for now is limited to mystery novels, preferably historical mysteries (By its very nature, historical fiction has the potential to educate, but it must be accurately researched.) No other fiction genres, non-fiction, poetry, children’s books, men’s adventure or horror, please. We are also unlikely to accept a novel that portrays extreme cruelty or violence, unless it is an accurate and necessary reflection of the setting or time-period. With respect to contemporary settings, the market for extreme criminal violence is amply filled by other publishers.

Foreign settings are preferable, although unusual American settings will be given a fair read.

We do not seek to compete with the major publishers by producing books with the same popular settings and "hot topics" that have already been amply exploited, unless they are done with more depth. This means that the setting should be an integral part of the plot and characterization--in other words, that the story could not have taken place in exactly the same way anywhere else.

Cross-over novels—novels containing elements of other genres, such as romance and fantasy— are welcome, as long as they have a mystery as the main plot and they satisfy our promise to educate as well as entertain. This means, for instance, that a fantasy would have to take place in an actual setting, such as Medieval France—no purely fictional worlds. Romance as a subplot or even co-plot is always acceptable, as long as the main story is more intellectually challenging than is typically found in a romance novel, since the market niche for pure romance is already well served by the major publishers.

Character-driven stories with thoroughly developed, unforgettable characters— we are not in the market for strictly plot-driven stories in the vein of men’s adventure tales.

The following are examples of books we would have loved to publish.

• Historical novels by Dorothy Dunnett
• The Navajo Mystery Series by Tony Hillerman
• The Regency and Georgian romances of Georgette Heyer
• The historical novels of Sharon Kay Penman
• The Art History Mysteries by Iain Pears
• Historical mysteries by Rosemary Stevens, Carola Dunn, Judith Cook, Peter Tremayne, among others.

Instructions

Query first with brief description of your novel, including length of manuscript in number of words. Either by email to editor@pemberleypress.com or to our physical address. Email is preferable.

Please do not waste our time or your postage by querying or sending manuscripts for books that do not satisfy our publishing niche. We will not make exceptions and, with little time to waste, may not bother to reply. Our list will remain very small for the foreseeable future, and with little capital to risk, we will be extremely selective.

Note

Pemberley Press is a member of The Authors Studio. Any author published by us will be given the opportunity to participate fully in the design of his or her book. In exchange, the author will be expected to assist in the formation of a marketing plan and to actively promote the novel.