Manuscript Submissions

Guidelines for Hum Dinger Press

We’re glad you are thinking about A Humdinger Press as a potential publisher for your new book. To help you determine how well your material fits our publishing program, please read the following information and browse our web site. Hum Dinger’s goal is to offer adventurous fun fiction that showcase the main characters living successful lives with learning differences such as Dyslexia, Down syndrome, A.D.D. or A.D.H.D., Autism, Hearing Impaired, Visually Impaired, or any type of physical handicaps. Our books are a springboard into new attitudes concerning the abilities of children and adults living with a disability.

Submissions Department

Due to the large amount of unsolicited material we receive, it can take up to eight weeks for a reply. Please enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope if you would like the material returned. A Hum Dinger Press accepts no responsibility for proposals sent to us. If you would like an acknowledgement that your submission arrived, please include a stamped self-addressed postcard that we will return to you upon receipt of the manuscript. We do not charge to read submissions. We do not accept e-mail book proposals.

Publishing Guidelines

Suitable submissions for A Hum Dinger Press

• Fiction/Fantasy for any age
• Children all levels
• Books with animals as main characters
• Fairy tales
• Historical fiction
• Science fiction
• Christian fiction
• Graphic Novels
• Mysteries/Thrillers

What We Do Not Publish

There is a vast array of books that might be judged suitable and practical for parents and children, however A Hum Dinger Press does not publish all of them. Please refer to our web site, which shows the books we have published, to get a better idea of the suitability of your manuscript for A Hum Dinger Press.

This is a general list of material not suitable:

• Nonfiction for any age
• Children’s picture or chapter stories without a lesson embedded
• Books with dark supernatural characters represented as heroes
• Autobiographies, biographies, or memoirs
• Religious nonfiction books
• Parenting books based on an author’s experience
• Academic or theoretical works
• Craft or activity books, workbooks, music
• Self help
• Cookbooks, gardening, sports, travel, or special interest
• Horror

How To Submit A Manuscript

Please tell us about you:

• What uniquely qualifies you to write on your subject?
• What would you like to accomplish by having this material published?
• What experience do you have writing? Sales history?
• What kinds of book promotion are you ready to undertake?

Tell us about your idea:

• Who is the primary audience for your material? Secondary?
• In what ways will your material be helpful to the audiences you identified?
• Comparing your manuscript to the competition among published books, how and why is your idea different and better?
• What kinds of promotion do you think will be particularly effective for you and your book?

What we need to see in writing:

• Send a letter of inquiry to us in which you respond to the questions above and relate any other information you think will help us make a decision about the suitability of your manuscript.
• Send a paper copy, double spaced, of all or as much of the manuscript as you have ready with your letter. At a minimum, we need a detailed outline showing the organization of the manuscript, contents, an introduction, and two chapters showing your best and truest writing style.
• If you would like your material returned to you in the event it is not suitable for A Hum Dinger Press send a postage-paid reply envelope large enough to hold it.

What we will do after receiving your material:

• We will read your material carefully and may show it to our select group of parents, teachers and Liberians to get their reactions.
• If the manuscript interests us and is suitably written, we will write or call with comments and questions that may allow us to go to the next step: a contract. If your idea is interesting, but you need help writing the material, we will suggest a professional writer with whom you can work on the manuscript, preparing it for resubmission.
• If the manuscript does not fit our publishing program, we will return all material you sent in the postage-paid envelope you have provided, within six months of receipt.

How We Develop A Book

Once we are convinced your material is appropriate for A Hum Dinger Press and has a sufficiently large and obtainable market, we will offer you a contract, provide you with specific instructions on how to submit your full manuscript, and give you a schedule. The schedule will cover editing, field testing, revisions, final title development, illustrating (if any), design, proofreading, and printing. As a project moves through the editorial and production processes, we will also set up a schedule for marketing and promoting the book. It is extremely important that you understand that your enthusiastic, active, cooperative participation is crucial if your book is to be as successful as possible.

Compensation

A Humdinger Press pays a royalty on net receipts from most sources of sales. If there is more than one author, or if there is an illustrator equally involved, the royalty is split between or among all the parties. Modest royalty advances are also possible. When appropriate, A Hum Dinger Press actively seeks special sales and foreign translation rights sales for the books, and authors receive income from these sales, too. AHDP published books are intended to be “unique classics” which will withstand the test of time. When authors are actively involved in promoting their work, sales are greater than otherwise, directly affecting royalties.

Mailing Address for Queries and/or Manuscripts
Attn. Sheryl Miller, Acquisitions
A Humdinger Press, llc.
8519 Ferndale
Dallas, Texas 75238
877.449.READ (7323)
Follow-up inquiries: E-mail our editorial department.