SUBMISSIONS
Submissions Are Currently Closed.
Submissions are now CLOSED to unsolicited or non-agented submissions. Be sure to Like our Facebook page, join our Facebook Group, or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok to be kept up to date about when he will begin accepting submissions again. Understand that if you still send us a query during this period, it will not be read. Unless someone with Charade has specifically requested it or unless sent by an agent, it will be discarded.
As a small press, Charade Media publishes around six or eight books per year. At least, for the first few years. Because of that, we have limited spaces available and only the very best mysteries and thrillers (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, it will be passed onto 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. If a member of the staff personally knows the submitting author, for fairness sake, they must remove themselves from the 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...
Basically, we are looking for mysteries and crime fiction/thrillers in general (whodunnit, crime thrillers, procedurals, paranormal or supernatural mysteries, noir, etc. We're even open to mild horror, as long as it's not too dark or gory). We have a special love for Whodunnits (whether cozy or traditional), but we recently opened the doors to the other sub-genres of mystery fiction as well. As long as it has a crime of some kind, we're interested. That being said, if you submit a crime/suspense thriller or a police procedural or whatever else, there are some stipulations. We want to be uplifted, not depressed after reading it. We want a lighter tone. Something that doesn't take itself too seriously. Think the TV show Castle as an example.
We prefer relatively clean (i.e. Limit your profanity, sex, and excessive gore to PG-13 or very soft R. And nothing too controversial, political, or polarizing. We're here to entertain people, not preach at or offend them). We also love stories that are 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 mysteries and crime fiction! Books such as The Haunted Guesthouse series by E.J. Copperman or the paranormal thrillers of Heather Graham 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.
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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.
Word Length
We'll be looking for manuscripts between 55k to 90k 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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