Submit Your Book to Savage Ink

Most writers have a “trunked” book — a story that, for whatever reason, didn’t make it past all the gatekeepers in the way of being published traditionally.

The process of traditional publishing is frustrating. Some writers have done it, and they want to try something else.

Then there are other writers who don’t want to deal with traditional publishing at all.

That’s where we come in.

Why Submit to Savage Ink?

Serializing books is a fun way to interact with readers. They read one chapter at a time (preferably two a week) and eagerly wait for the next installment. They can make comments on each chapter to discuss it with you and other readers. This can build a following for your next book.

We also encourage writers to submit supplemental material that relates to the book, such as how you came up with the idea, your research, your creative methods, and book club discussion points.

Unlike a traditional publisher, we take on no financial risk. That means we don’t care about the market. We’re happy to take a chance on anything exciting.

You Retain the Rights to Your Work

Your book is still yours after you publish with Savage Ink. You can still self-publish or distribute it on Patreon, with newsletters, or on another website.

We only ask that you don’t publish it in any other Medium publication. That’s a standard rule all across Medium.

Please, please keep in mind that once you post a novel online, it can be difficult — even impossible — to get it traditionally published. Only submit to us if you are sure that traditional publishing is not right for this project.

We Only Take the Highest Quality

We wish we could give a platform to every writer who submits to us. Unfortunately, even though we don’t have to worry about funding your book, we do have to worry about our reputation.

If a reader doesn’t like a book on Savage Ink, that reader will not return to our publication. Taste is subjective. Quality is not. It is in everyone’s best interest for us to be selective.

There are no bad books: only unfinished books. A rejection from us does not mean you are a bad writer or that your work doesn’t have a chance. It means your project needs work.

What We’re Looking For

Book length: We don’t care.

Genre: We don’t care.

Marketability: We don’t care.

Author Platform: We don’t care.

Quality: The book needs to be good.

How to Submit

• You book must be finished.
• Your book must be polished. We expect your book to have gone through more than one round of self-editing.
• Consider having a critique partner (or many critique partners) review your book.
• You must have a book cover. The cover will be the image for every chapter we post.
• Each chapter should be a fifteen minute read, or around 3,000 to 4,000 words. This gives readers enough time to get invested in the story without deterring them.

Please send us the following:

• Query. This is a short letter describing your book. Generally, a query should follow this format: Paragraph One: What the character wants. Paragraph Two: Why the Character Can’t Have it. Paragraph Three: What the Character Must Do to Get It.
• Author Bio
• Synopsis. We do not have time to read every book in its entirety. Your synopsis must be so thorough that we feel like we’ve read it. A synopsis should be two single-spaced pages.
• Publication History. Did you query agents? Did any of them request the book? Did you have an agent, but couldn’t find a publisher? Did you find a publisher, but things still didn’t work out?
• Your entire book as an attachment. We need to know that the book is finished.

If your book meets all these qualifications, send and email to teralynpilgrim@gmail.com. We can’t wait to read your work!