Updated March 2024

Brother Mockingbird Publishing is a small independent press that describes itself as “committed to the discovery of talented writers with original stories”.

They publish a wide range of genres including women’s fiction, historical fiction, romance, mystery (including thrillers and cozies), upmarket, thriller, suspense, science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural, picture books, and young adult fiction.

They are not interested in erotica, novellas, southern lit, coming of age stories, and middle grade fiction.

You can get a good feel of what they’ve published in the past by going here.

They have a detailed staff page, which is always a good sign, although none of the staff is particularly experienced.

The royalty rates they offer depend on the amount of editing the work requires but are generally within the 20-40% rate of net, not gross.

They have distribution with Ingram, which is not ideal, but they do advertise and offer incentives for bookstores to carry their books, which is a good start. They do not have a sales team or marketing department.

The submission guidelines ask that you submit a query letter, synopsis, first chapter, and an author biography that includes relevant social media links. Everything should be in the body of the email. No attachments.

Brother Mockingbird has a three month turnaround time in terms of reading submissions. If you have not heard from them at that point, you are encouraged to query.

All edits to manuscripts should be compliant with the Chicago Manual of Style.

At the time of this update they are closed to submissions but plan to reopen in the spring of 2024. To learn more or to submit, go here.