Submission Policy

I haven't needed a written policy before, but I've been getting more and more requests recently, so I now want something to point people to. Slightly updated July 27, 2014.

Guest Posts

Antick Musings has never had any guest posts, co-written posts, or sponsored posts.

I do not intend to ever have any posts in those categories, or any other kind of posts other than the ones that come out of my own fingers.

Do not query in these areas; I'll just ignore you.

Book Reviews

Antick Musings is, at least in part, a book-review blog. And I do take submissions, and at least a few of those eventually turn into reviews here. But I don't review even as much as 10% of the books I see, and I read and/or review a lot of books that aren't sent as submissions.

If you're a publisher, please feel free to send me a query at gbhhornswoggler (at) gmail (dot) com. If you're at a large publisher, my address is probably in your publicity system already, so you could just send me stuff. I do list all of the books I receive in the Monday-morning Reviewing the Mail posts, so anything sent to me will at least get mentioned that once.

I will also admit here that I am very bad at replying to queries. One of my favorite writers once asked me to be a beta-reader for a novel, and I didn't manage to get that done.

Self-Published Books

I work in Big Publishing, and still have (utterly impossible) hopes to get back into the fiction end of that business. For that and other reasons -- sixteen years of dealing with submissions at the Science Fiction Book Club strongly among them -- I'm temperamentally disinclined to like self-published books. You can definitely query me about your book, but I'm really not that likely to ask for it. I like the system we have, and want to strengthen that to the point where I can work for a SFF publisher again.

I apologize in advance for standing in the way of your glorious revolution.

Formats

I can read e-books -- I've got a device with lots of things on it -- but I generally don't. Personally, piles of actual physical books are what spur me to read them, and e-books are easily forgotten since they don't take up space. So I am happy to take submissions in digital formats, but that means that I'm very likely to forget about them.

I prefer physical books, even when they cause me storage problems.

Again, I apologize in advance for standing in the way of your glorious revolution.

Genres

I don't read as much SFF as I used to, and I try to avoid fairly generic work in those areas these days. (I know that no author considers her book "fairly generic," but if you're writing about a small band of heroes battling the Evil Emperor, the spunky redheaded demon-hunter with a complicated love life, or the tough-as-nails Space Marine planet-hopping to defeat The Bugs, you're who I'm talking about.)

I also read mysteries/thrillers/spy stories -- again, I prefer smart and sneaky and intricate to James Patterson-level single-page chapters -- as well as a fair bit of narrative nonfiction and humor/columns, with the same caveats. (I don't see nearly as much in these areas as I'd like to.)

I am a marketer by day, but I'm generally not looking to review books on marketing, or most categories of business books. If you have just scanned this post and glommed onto the words "business books," I will ignore your query.

Responses

Again, I am very bad at replying to e-mail, especially if I have to say no to someone. I apologize in advance for dodging your e-mail. If you don't hear from me, it means I'm not interested but can't muster the energy to tell you that.

Exceptions

If your name is Matt Hughes or Harry Connolly, these rules don't apply to you.

There are other exceptions, I'm sure. If you think you might be one (hint: have we ever met?), ask me.

If I've said nice things about your work in the past -- here or at ComicMix or back in the SFBC days -- please do ask.

If I ignore you, see above.