WritersReadersDirect accepts all completed, previously unpublished novels, short stories and non-fiction work on condition each submission meets our standards of presentation, literacy and decency. See Terms and Conditions.
We intend to provide an open arena for original writing while maintaining standards as far as possible.
The more carefully you check your work before sending it in, the more likely is your chance of success.
Submissions will pass through a vetting process before being uploaded onto the site.
These guidelines are set out to help you present your work in the best possible way. Please read them carefully before you follow the 'How to submit' section at the bottom of this page.
Spelling, punctuation, grammar
These are the essential tools which make your work readable. If you are at all uncertain, it would be wise to employ a copy editor. See Links.
Layout
Please follow these guidelines as best you can for consistency of appearance as an ebook.
a) An indent of 1.27 cm first line of each paragraph
b) Rest of paragraph left justified
c) Single line spacing (advisable for novels) or 1.5.
d) No blank lines between paragraphs. No more than four returns for breaks between sections. Better to use * * * instead. No page breaks - you want your text to run on. Big gaps on a small screen don't work.
e) Chapters numbered and centred.
Classifying your work
On submission you will be asked to classify your work by category and age rating. Check on the home page which category your work suits best. 'Literary' refers to fiction that does not belong to any particular genre; it is more likely to deal with ideas, issues, human nature and predicaments. There is a category for single short stories as well as for short story collections.
Non-fiction covers most subjects, particularly memoir, autobiography, biography, self-help, travel, history and natural history.
As a general rule, fiction is classified according to word count roughly on these lines:
Flash fiction up to 350 words; Micro up to 1500 words; short story up to 25,000 words; novella up to 50,000 words; young adult novel 30,000 - 70,000; novel 70,000 - 120,000 and over
Several short stories can be submitted as a collection to be priced at £3. A single short story is priced at £1.
Micro fiction is best submitted in bundles of five.
Age Ratings
To guide readers in their choice of appropriate ebook, every title carries an initial indicating its age rating. If your work is suitable for all ages, please choose the rating that is most likely to attract the appropriate readership.
U suitable for children
PG parents must vet their child’s choice
YA (Young Adult) may contain strong language, some violence and mild sexual content
A suitable only for adults
Images
If you need help with providing a virtual book cover, see Links for graphic designers.
How to submit your work
1. Log In/Register
Register with WritersReadersDirect and open an account if you haven't already done so.
2. Go to My Account
Click on New Submissions and fill in the form, giving the title of your work; category; age rating (U, PG, YA or A) and the following five elements you have previously prepared with file names that will identify your work.
- A biography (max 200 words)
- A JPEG image (600 x 800 px) to appear like a book jacket (optional)
- A description of the work (max 500 words; a couple of lines in the case of short fiction)
- An extract (from a few lines up to 5 consecutive pages from any part of the work)
- The work as a single file in Word doc format
Please name each file as in the example below:
If Thomas Hardy submitted Far from the Madding Crowd, his five file names would be
- FMC by TH bio
- FMC by TH image
- FMC by TH description
- FMC by TH extract
- FMC by TH complete
The site converts Word docs to PDF and ePUB so that your readers have a choice of formats which cannot be tampered with.
If you have any difficulty, please contact editor@writersreadersdirect.com.
3. Payment
Please complete payment of the non-refundable submission fee of £5 per title.
We will acknowledge receipt and consider your work. If the submission fails to meet any of our criteria, we will let you know. However, we hope to welcome you on to WritersReadersDirect and wish you lots of downloads.