MAIN STREET RAG
BOOK PUBLISHING OPTIONS
BACK ALLEY / BOOKSTORE / CONTESTS / EDITOR'S COMMENTS / EVENTS / SUBMISSIONS
* * * MAILING ADDRESS * * *
Main Street Rag, PO BOX 690100, Charlotte, NC 28227-7001
704-573-2516, contact us
PURPOSE
As with most publishers, we are often approached by authors offering unsolicited manuscripts--especially now that many people know we have our own bindery operation. Our standard answer has been that we choose our manuscripts almost exclusively from our contests.The purpose of this page is to make it easier for authors to know whether we are a good fit for each other without wasting our time or theirs.
TYPES OF PUBLICATIONS / IMPRINTS
Most of our titles are either poetry or creative short fiction because those are genres we know best. Details for the policies and formats we prefer to publish are listed below. Among the areas featured are Novels, Poetry, Short Fiction and our newest venue Novellas.
We also publish textbooks, essay collections, memoirs, anthologies and magazines for other publishers. Because we are a small company we cannot take on every worthy project under our own production umbrella. The issue is: who pays for production. Some of our projects have been financed by grants, some by other publishers (since we are a production house with both printing and binding capabilities), and some are author-financed through our self-publishing label, Pure Heart Press. We can produce anything, but there are some things that we do not have the distribution or marketing staff to justify financing.
PURE HEART PRESS is our self-publishing imprint. As such, we will publish anything the author or editor is willing to pay for. We can do everything from set up to shipping on these projects. The difference between these and our primary imprints is that the author is responsible for the content and the cost of production.
MAIN STREET RAG. This imprint is not open to general submission except through the General Submission Options menu below. It's primary focus is poetry books selected through the MSR Poetry Book Award contest and MSR Chapbook Contest; books recommended for the Authors' Choice Chapbook Series, and books selected through solicitation by MSR editors.
MINT HILL BOOKS. This imprint is for all prose projects including essay collections, memoirs, novellas, novels and short fiction anthologies. This label is also not open to general submission except through the General Submission Options menu below. We prefer to have a relationship with an author either through our magazine or one of our short fiction anthologies before we will consider publishing a novel, novella or short fiction collection.
There are some genres we will not publish under any imprint besides the PURE HEART PRESS. Chief among them are Children's Books. We will not publish them through the Main Street Rag or Mint Hill Books labels unless they are paid for with grant money.
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SHORT FICTION
Main Street Rag will publish as many as 5 short fiction anthologies annually. From these we will select authors to submit complete collections for publication consideration. Authors who have not been published in our magazine or in one of our anthologies are less likely to be considered for book publication and are considered unsolicited manuscripts. All unsolicited manuscripts are subject to a reading fee as outlined in the section directly above.We also have the Novella Series.
Those are the only ways we will consider fiction for book publication at this time.
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We produce some of the most high quality poetry books and chapbooks that are being produced anywhere in the U.S. for sale at some of the most reasonable prices anywhere. Sample and see for yourself from the MSR Bookstore.
There are several ways to get a book of poetry published by Main Street Rag Publishing Company:
(1) Self-publish (using our Pure Heart Press imprint). Information is available on our bindery page.
(2) Enter one of our contests. (In addition to the winners, we published 5 poets who entered our 2002 Chapbook Contest (the Editor's Choice Chapbook Series). Poetry Book Award Contest (the Editor's Select Poetry Book Series). We select one winner from each of these poetry contests, but as many as 15 finalists/runners up from an individual contest have also be offered publication as a result of entering one of these contests. (We generally publish a combined 15-20 manuscripts from entries to these contests and 10-20 others that are selected outside of these contests.)
(3) Be invited to submit a manuscript for publication. This option is restricted almost exclusively to those who have a long-term relationship with our literary magazine or have had a book previously published by Main Street Rag.
(4) Be recommended for publication by one of our authors. This option has recently been expanded (January 1, 2010). A new poetry series, the Authors' Choice Poetry Series, will start selecting and publishing manuscripts in 2010. Details: Author's Choice Chapbook Series.
-Back to Top- We do publish novels, but we prefer to have a relationship with an author either through our magazine or one of our short fiction anthologies before we will consider publishing a novel. Our novels are published for limited runs and regional distribution in the region where the author lives. While they are available online and to national distribution, but, while we are not POD, we are not far removed from it and it is against our policies to overprint and ship all over the countryside carrying the risk of bookstore sales and heavy returns. That is old school publishing and if that's what you are seeking, then we are probably not the right publisher for your novel. If you would like Main Street Rag to consider your unsolicited manuscript, please do not mail or email samples. Read the General Submission Options first.
NOVELLAS * * * NEW for 2010 * * *
A Novella Series. This is a new area for Main Street Rag, but we hope to publish as many as one novella per month starting in 2011. We define a novella as a piece of literary fiction too long to be considered a short story and not long enough to be a novel. It is not a collection of associated short stories, but a single story with definitive characters and progressive storyline throughout. We have a specific reading period for novellas (May 1-August 1) and will not consider them outside of that timeframe unless the author is invited to submit a manuscript by the managing editor of Main Street Rag. Details for novella submission: MSR Novella Series.
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Since some writers prefer to NOT enter contests--the process we prefer to use for selection of manuscripts--but the process of evaluating manuscripts still involves time (and we are severely under-staffed), we do provide an alternative to our contests. Main Street Rag will review and evaluate manuscripts for publication under the Main Street Rag label for a FEE.
Fee schedule as follows:
Poetry Chapbooks (up to 36 pages of poetry, on an 8.5 X 11 sheet, 40 lines to a sheet): $20
Poetry Books (on an 8.5 X 11 sheet, 40 lines to a sheet): $35 for up to 70 pages, $1/page for every page thereafter.
Short Fiction Collections: $50 for up to 150 double-spaced 8.5 X 11 pages.
Essay/Creative Non-fiction Collections: $50 for up to 150 double-spaced 8.5 X 11 pages.
Novels: $50 for first 3 chapters or 10,000 words--whichever comes first.Authors must provide proper return postage if they want their manuscripts back. It is our intention to give feedback on each manuscript, but evaluation may be limited to a simple yes/no on whether we would be interested in publishing. Depending on time of year, this process could take up to 3 months for a response.
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These are the ways Main Street Rag Publishing Company selects manuscripts. We wish we could accommodate everyone, but we are a very small publishing company with limited resources. Because we are also a bindery and printhouse and contract for other publishers, much of our staff's time is dedicated to the process of book production. We don't have a lot of manpower to spare for manuscript selection, so we must limit how many manuscripts we consider, how and when they are selected. Respecting our guidelines will ensure an author the best opportunity for publication that we have to offer. We thank you for your cooperation.
Home BACK ALLEY / BOOKSTORE / CONTESTS / EDITOR'S COMMENTS / EVENTS / SUBMISSIONS Main Street Rag, PO BOX 690100, Charlotte, NC 28227-7001
704-573-2516, contact us