SUBMISSIONS  

  Submissions Are Currently OPEN.  

Submissions are now OPEN! It's our aim to begin publishing approximately six or seven books per year to start. Because of that, we have limited spaces available and only the very best mysteries (i.e. books that wow us) will find their places among our catalog. We wish everyone who submits could find a place here, but it's just not possible. We hope to be able to answer every single submission that comes to us in a timely manner, whether we accept your manuscript or not.​

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  What is our Submissions process?  

Charade Media has a team of acquisitions reviewers (AR). Once queries have captured the attention of the editorial staff, and they ask for a full manuscript, it will be given to the members of the AR team. The team will be given some time to read it, then answer questions for the editorial staff to determine marketability, readability, enjoyment level, and various other elements that will be a rubric for selection. A vote among editorial staff and the AR team is then made, and the book will be accepted or rejected based upon that vote. One final note: all submissions sent to the AR Team will be anonymous to avoid any bias each team member might have for the sake of true fairness.

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​  What We ARE Looking For...  

The main thing we're looking for are traditional and cozy mysteries. Whodunnits. Lighthearted. Mostly clean (i.e. limited on cussing, sex, and excessive gore. Nothing controversial). And hopefully a little quirky. Although we have a soft spot for cozy mysteries, we're hoping for a little more than the next bakery/crochet/gardening mystery. We want something a bit different. Outside the box. But quirky is an excellent term here. Also, we love paranormal cozies! Books like those in The Haunted Guesthouse series by E.J. Copperman would be perfect. The main thing is to entertain us. Make us laugh. Throw in a few thrills. Vex our minds with brain-teasers. If you do these things, you'll be a shoo-in. 

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  Outside-the-Box  

We'd LOVE to see some outside-the-box whodunnits. A murder in a seedy space port. An orc in a fantasy realm who is accused of a crime and must solve it to clear his name. We'd love to see Agatha Christie in Narnia and Sherlock Holmes in Mos Eisley Cantina (not literally, but you get the idea). Wow us with your outside-the-box ideas! 

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 PAY ATTENTION!  

Here's where we're going to sound kind of mean, but we don't intend to. This is for your good as much as ours. Pay attention to the subtopic "What We Are Looking For..." and understand that this is what we're looking for. Respect that. It's the professional thing to do. We are not interested in thrillers of any kind. We're not interested in crime thrillers especially. If you have a police procedural, it should be relatively lighthearted (think TV's Castle) and understand that at least two editors on staff have extensive experience with real law enforcement and crime scene investigation. That means if you choose to write a procedural, you've better done your research. 

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But the hard truth is, we love cozies. We love traditional mysteries.

We're not interested in political statements either. Don't weigh your great story down with political commentary (in either direction). Our readers read to escape things like politics. They read to escape the news. They read to escape. Period. And that's exactly what we want to give them. An escape. 

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So pay careful attention to what we're looking for. You're not going to change our minds about this. You could have written the best thriller in the history of thrillers and it won't matter. We just want cozies and traditional mysteries. Fun. Lighthearted. Maybe a few laughs along the way. 

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  Word Length  

We'll be looking for manuscripts between 55k to 85k words. Naturally, those are rough numbers. We're not sticklers about word count, but that's the sweet spot for word count for us!

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  Compensation  

We pay a small advance plus 30% royalties on net sales, paid MONTHLY. Each author gets five complimentary copies of their book and a discounted rate of 50% off retail price (plus shipping) for any books they wish to purchase.

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 SUBMISSION FORMAT 

When you hit our submission button below to email your query letter to us, be sure to tell us about yourself and your other books, and give us a good synopsis of your book (including title and possible series title). Tell us the word count as well. Then, copy and paste the first three chapters into the email. If we're interested, we will ask for the full manuscript later. But so you know, we DO plan on notifying you of our decision one way or another.

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