Looking for a publisher that understands your story?
Blackside Publishing always seeks new books from new authors. While books from all genres are welcome, we focus on authors who are active or former military or their family members. Unlike major publishing houses, our small dedicated staff understands your background and can help you tell your story like none other.
Men and women died to protect our freedom of speech. Blackside Publishing honors that tradition paid in blood and precious lives to publish books that entertain, educate, offer hope and healing, and also challenge our readers with stories from different points of view that are raw . . . real . . . and transparent.
We accept and review unsolicited, completed manuscripts. We will not accept or review a project based on a query only. If you’re interested in being published by Blackside Publishing, please email your submissions to: blacksidepublishing@gmail.com. After submitting your manuscript, please do not bombard us with emails. We'll respond as soon as we can. Thank you.
Anthologies: If you have one or two great stories to submit or a poem or two, we'd like to see them. Blackside Publishing will be publishing anthologies on different topics and veteran and Gold Star family issues. Below are our current topics that we're seeking stories for.
Parenting with PTSD: What have you learned through the lens of one who struggles with PTSD and parenting, both uncharted territories. Here's the story that convinced our editors that other parents can learn from each other.
Hidden Heroes: Caring for Your Wounded Warrior: Caring for your wounded warrior was never Plan A and Plan B is tough. Military caregivers experience more health problems, face greater strains in family relationships, and have more workplace issues than non-caregivers. 5.5 million spouses, parents, siblings and friends struggle hidden in the shadows to provide care and assistance for veterans with a disabling physical and/or mental injury or illness. Nearly 20 percent of those 5.5 million care for someone who served since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. We encourage caregivers to share what they've learned to encourage or help other isolated hidden heroes.
The Lonely Road: Navigating the War Home: Difficult. Demanding. Dangerous. The life that was all-things-military. Navigating the transition from active duty status to civilian can also be difficult and demanding. What challenges did you face in your post-military life as you assimilated back into the civilian population, and what can you share from your experiences to help others overcome their challenges?
Fiction: We will consider nearly all styles and genres of fiction.
Children/Youth/Adult Nonfiction and Anthologies: We will consider all types of well-planned and developed nonfiction books.
Children, Middle Grade Readers (ages 8-13) and Teen Books (ages 12 and up): We will consider picture books, story books, middle grade chapter books, and young adult titles. For middle grade and YA titles, you must submit a completed manuscript as well as a one-page synopsis of the book. If you submit a children’s book you’ve illustrated, please include copies of your illustrations, but keep in mind that if we accept your manuscript, we may decide to choose our own illustrator. Fiction manuscripts for preteens and teens should contain believable characters with real-life appeal; contemporary issues woven into a strong plot; and circumstances with which tweens and teens identify.
Timing: Submissions may be sent to us at any time, year-round.
Response Time: Our response time varies from three weeks to three months.
Simultaneous Submissions: We accept multiple submissions. We feel it’s unreasonable to expect writers to give one publisher an exclusive look at a work. We want writers to pursue every possible opportunity for success, so we’re willing to risk losing a story or book if someone at another publisher may have done their reading before we can respond. And in that case we’ll be sorry to lose the work, but we’ll be happy for the writer.
Email: blacksidepublishing@gmail.com, ATTN: Acquisitions Editor