Welcome to VerbNoire
Submission Guidelines
We are looking for original works of genre fiction (science fiction/fantasy/mystery/romance) that feature a person of color and/or LGBT as the central character. We are tentatively accepting stories featuring characters with disabilities, but that is subject to the character not magically being healed. Book-length manuscripts must be at least 250 pages, and short stories cannot be over 100 pages. All manuscripts must be double-spaced, in 12-point font (Times New Roman, Courier, etc.) in black text, and must be a Word/OpenOffice-compatible document. We ask that you insert a header with your name and the first two words of the title at the top of each page. Please do not send them as read-only files, as that will make any editing more difficult.
We are also accepting poems in traditional and experimental styles with a maximum of 10 pages. The same formatting rules will apply.
Personal and critical essays are also welcome as long as they are within the aforementioned themes. Poetry, essays and short stories may be subject to inclusion in anthologies depending upon the number of submissions fitting a specific theme.
There will be (approximately) a 6-8 week turnaround time in which submissions will be reviewed and a decision will be made as to whether or not we will be publishing your manuscript. Payment will be dependent upon sales, as each published author will receive a percentage of the sales price.
There is no need to submit a query letter, nor do we require you to have an agent, but we do want a brief synopsis of the plot for longer manuscripts. Please send all submissions to verb.noire@gmail.com.
We will accept works from white authors as long as the central characters are of color and/or LGBT.
We are especially looking for your best young adult and independent reader submissions. Don't be afraid to be different. It doesn't have to be vampires, werewolves, witches, wizards, or about rich spoiled teens. In fact, we'd prefer it if you avoid those tropes unless you're doing something totally new with them. Don't be afraid to create new tropes or utilize ones that have no European connections. We're doing something totally new here, so don't be afraid to branch out and do something totally new in your writing.