Deep Hearts YA, an imprint of Deep Desires Press, is launching a new sub-imprint called Deep Hearts Jr.
Deep Hearts Jr. will focus on publishing middle grade (or MG) books for readers between the ages of 8-12.
They will be focusing mostly on publishing LGBTQ+ middle grade fiction, in all genres and sub-genres. The other imprints of the same publisher all focus more on romance. The focus on romance is not necessary for readers of this age. The publishers stress that. “The queer element of a Deep Hearts Jr. book should be present in the main character’s immediate life, which could be an identity they are coming to terms with, they may be in a queer family, or there may be other opportunities for queerness in the character’s life. (Having queer friends is too “distant”; queerness must be immediately present in the character’s life.) Some themes we enjoy are self-empowerment, self-acceptance, or other related messages.”
They want diverse stories with diverse characters that explore real issues that queer youth face, and have a happy ending. They don’t want main characters older than 20 or unhappy endings. I personally have never read an MG novel with a main character older then 13.
They send kind of a mixed message in terms of author expectations from the publisher. They say: ” Authors will receive full editing, cover art, and marketing support from Deep Hearts YA. Submissions are expected to be well-written, well-edited, and reasonably error-free.” I think this means that work will receive one round of editing rather then in-depth editing, which they expect the writers to already have done. I could always be wrong. I do know that historically, based on feedback from a few authors from the other imprints, that marketing support was very limited, although that could have changed. The sales based on their Amazon pages do not look great.
They are seeking work between 50,000 and 80,000 words, with some wiggle room on both ends. If the manuscript reads as a complete novel and is less then 50,000 words, that’s ok. If it’s longer then 80,000 words they will consider it as long as it fits the sub-genre, like science-fiction. They expect the complete manuscript to be submitted alongside a query letter and synopsis.
Their full submission guidelines are here. At the time of writing, this imprint has no previous publications or back catalogue of any kind.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2024 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
