Yes, that’s right—after a long hiatus, the Inanna team is getting ready to open the submissions mailbox once more. We’re so excited to see what you have been writing, just as soon as we get a littttle more organized. How can potential Inanna authors be getting ready in the meantime? Well, every writer and every project is different, but here are a few suggestions!
1. Get familiar with our list! Inanna is a feminist publisher that is continually open to new definitions of what a feminist book is. We welcome diverse voices telling their own stories or imagining wild new ones, and we are particularly interested in stories we haven’t heard before. We publish novels, short stories, creative non-fiction, poetry, and academic non-fiction. We do publish some young adult novels but not illustrated children’s books. We do not publish self-help, how-to, or cookbooks. Explore out publications and see where your work might align with—or expand—our vision.
2. Finish your book. With the exception of academic projects, which we do sometimes consider on
the basis of an extensive and well-referenced proposal, Inanna only considers complete manuscripts. We are curious to see your ideas play out start to finish, and how the whole project is executed.
3. Polish your project. While it is SO tempting to celebrate reaching the end by sending it off into the wider world, please give your project time to reach its best self—and please keep in mind that we don’t have staff to accommodate revised or rethought submissions mid-process. Take your time, ask a smart friend or fellow writer to offer feedback, and send us your best, most polished work.
4. Format your manuscript. Double space it and put it in a standard, easy-to-read font and point size (12 is a great size) and normal margins (1” is nice). Number the pages and put your name and the title in the header or footer so that it appears on every page. Please please please do this!
5. Introduce yourself. Every submission should come accompanied by a cover letter that has a short paragraph describing the project (genre, word count, and a summary), a short paragraph describing the author and their writing and publishing history, and all of their contact details. You really only need one page for this, maybe two max.
6. That’s it—pretty simple, really!
Hello, I’ve heard that poetry manuscripts should be formatted to 5″x7″. do you want that, or would you prefer the 1″ margins and double spaced. I play with form a lot so spacing is important for me. I also want the manuscript to be easy for your to read of course. please advise.
Hello Inanna … it is now June and you have not yet opened for submissions.
Would it be possible to get an update on when this will be happening… I am very excited about being able to send you my manuscript … hope is wonderful, but sure would like to accompany it with an actual proposal … been biting my nails in anticipation … 🙂
Hello Carol. We do not have a firm date yet, but our Managing Editor has said it will be in the next 2-3 months.
Thank you for following up!
🙂
Is it possible to be added to a notification list for newsletter, etc that will share information on when the deadline is for the submission process? Thank you!
Absolutely, Susan. I’ll add you to our newsletter list. You can always unsubscribe at the click of a button. Thank you!
Please, Renee, add me to that newletter notification as well!
Many thanks and have a good one.
please add me to the list too, Renee