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Manuscript Queries

Manuscript Queries and Submissions


Our editorial focus

Thank you for your interest in ICS Publications. We are a small, independent Roman Catholic book publisher serving the spiritual and educational needs of individuals, groups, and the church as a whole. Our primary interest is English-language books on Carmelite spirituality and Carmelite saints/historic figures, both for a general audience as well as more specialized scholarship.


What we do not accept

Because of our specific publishing niche, there are some areas in which we do not accept unsolicited manuscripts: fiction, children’s books, poetry, and accounts of personal conversion or private revelation/religious experience. If your manuscript falls in one of these categories, we advise you to seek a publisher active in your area of interest. We regret we are unable to acknowledge receipt of manuscripts in these categories, nor to return them if sent by postal mail.

We do not usually accept translations unless we or the translator have requested and obtained the rights to the source publication in advance. Our usual practice for translations is to engage a professional translator for books we wish to publish in English. But we are open to accepting queries on books translators have in mind.


Our submission and review process

We receive dozens of manuscripts each year. Very few are accepted for publication. If you wish to submit a proposal that you think is appropriate to our interest, please do so.

We ask that you send the following:


1
) A query letter that explains what your book is about, your intended audience, what sets it apart from other books currently available on the subject, the book’s length (word count or number of double-spaced single-side pages), and what your qualifications are for writing the book. Please do not send us submissions currently under consideration with or being submitted to another publisher.

2) A prospectus, table of contents, an introduction, and one or two sample chapters. Please do not send the entire manuscript until we have replied to your query. If we want to see the entire manuscript, we will provide you with instructions for sending it.

All manuscripts should be typed out, double-spaced, on one side of the paper, using a standard serif typefont (e.g. Times 12 pt) and one-inch margins. Please include any notes as footnotes on the bottom of the page.

If your manuscript includes illustrations, photographs, or charts, please be sure that you have requested and obtained permission for them if from other sources. There is no need to send them with your query, but please do indicate that the manuscript will include artwork, photos, and/or charts and tell us how many (approximately) the book would include.

Please submit your query and the above information by email to the address below.

You may send the materials as separate files. Indicate in the subject line your name and how many transmissions/sends you will be making; for example: Smith_SEND 1 of 3.

If your files are large and unable to be sent by e-mail, you may prefer to send them by Dropbox, Hightail, or another free large file transmission program.

All materials should be prepared and sent as Word documents by e-mail, or a link to Dropbox, in your e-mail cover letter.

ICS Publications is unable to return any unsolicited manuscripts sent by mail unless these are accompanied by a return, postage-paid mailer. Please keep a copy of your manuscript for yourself.

If convenient for you to do so, please use the Project Summary Form here to provide us with information about you and your book in a single easy to compile document format.

Please e-mail your query and submission materials to:

Rev. Marc Foley, OCD, Editor-in-Chief at:

marcfoleyics@gmail.com

Once we have received and evaluated your initial information and sample chapters, we will request the full manuscript if we wish to consider it more closely for publication. We aim to respond to queries within 6 to 8 weeks, though sometimes it takes longer.

Please understand that manuscripts review requires as long as several months, particularly if we are backlogged or if we ask an outside reader’s/specialist’s opinion. There is no fee for evaluating your manuscript. However, time constraints do not permit us to offer detailed evaluations.

If you do not hear from our Editorial office within 6 weeks, feel free to e-mail to inquire.

However, please do not phone or send multiple inquiries. We will be replying to you as quickly as is reasonably possible for us.