Publish Your Book with HandCart Press
At HandCart Press we understand that for an author, seeing your book in print is the culmination of much hard work and sacrifice. We're here to help you not only get your book published, but to make it the best selling book that it can be.
We accept submissions from both new and published authors.
What We Look For
HandCart Press is not a vanity or subsidy press. We pay the costs of printing, marketing and distributing the books we publish, and we don't charge authors for our services. We do pay our authors royalties based on sales. As such, we can only accept a certain number of manuscripts for publication each year.
We primarily look for books that appeal to children, teenagers or adults with traditional, family-based values. This means we're looking for G, PG or PG13 rated content. Submissions with sexual or violent content will not be accepted for publication. We know there are plenty of talented writers who can produce compelling books without such content.
We accept both fiction and non-fiction works.
We judge submissions based on:
Appeal of the subject matter to our audience
Style and quality of writing
Market potential based on competing titles
Submitting Manuscripts and Proposals
Proposals/Queries: You may submit a query letter which describes your book, and include a table of contents or an outline. Please also let us know a little about yourself, and whether or not you've published a book before.
Partial Manuscripts/Sample Chapters: You may submit a few chapters of your manuscript for review. Generally we prefer to see somewhere between 3 and 5 chapters. Please also submit an outline or table of contents for the rest of the book as well.
Complete Manuscript: You may submit the entire manuscript, if you prefer.
You may send your submission via email to
submissions@handcartpress.com - please use only Microsoft Word (.doc) or Text (.txt) file attachments. Please also scan your files for viruses before submitting them via email.
You may also send your submissions to HandCart Press, Attn: Bill Brightman, PO Box 74884, Phoenix, AZ 85087.
Submissions should:
Be printed or typed on 8.5 x 11-inch paper.
Include your title, name, and page number on each page - preferably in the header,
like this: My Story/Smith/96
Not be your original or only copy of a manuscript - things sometimes get lost in the mail.
We'll return your manuscript to you if send a stamped, self-addressed enveloped with enough return postage to cover the cost.
A reply on your submission may take up to 8 weeks, so please be patient. We strive to reply sooner, but sometimes take longer than we'd like due to the number of submissions we receive and our production schedule.
Questions? Don't hesitate to ask!
Click here to submit your question via email.