Written by May 11th, 2023

Cemetery Gates Media: Seeking Debut Authors of Horror Novel Series’

Cemetery Gates Media was founded in 2015 by longtime friends John Brhel and Joe Sullivan and focuses on publishing fantasy and supernatural fiction. Cemetery Gates Media is based in Binghamton, New York.

They have published a number of anthologies that seemed to do well, and they have paid all contributors. The anthologies reflect a wide range of work.

At first they were solely focused on publishing their own work outside of anthologies, but that changed in late 2020 when they launched the Debut Horror Novel Series.

Cemetery Gates Media has excellent covers but they do not mention a print distributor, which usually means they do not have one.

They are currently seeking submissions for 40k+ word manuscripts from authors who’ve never published a novel. Unfortunately they do not list a deadline for submissions, but they opened to submissions on May 1st. They say that they will continue to read submissions till they sign a contract.

Their goal is to release one novel per year in this series. So far they have mostly met this goal. The first two books in the series are as follows.

#1 – Beulah by Christi Nogle (Published Jan 25, 2022)

#2 The Briars by Stephanie Parent (Coming in May 2023)

It is worth learning more about these books if you are serious about submitting, because the editors are seeking something along the same lines.

Authors can not submit if they have published a full length manuscript in the past but are still eligible if they have published novellas and short story collections. The manuscript must be previously published. 

They are offering a $500 signing bonus + $500 advance upon publication. As for the royalties, 60% go to the author on physical and electronic editions of the book.

In earlier editions of this call they stressed that all authors must have two paid writing credits. It is still mentioned that you must have two writing credits (no mention of payment), but only briefly. Please do not submit to them unless you have two writing credits.

To learn more about their formatting requests go here or to learn more about this particular call for submission, go here.


Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript SubmissionsSubmit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2022 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.

 

Are you ready to submit?

Please fill out this short form before continuing.

Why this form is required.

Have you revised your manuscript at least 3 times?


 

We Send You Publishers Seeking Submissions.

Sign up for our free e-magazine and we will send you reviews of publishers seeking short stories, poetry, essays, and books.

Subscribe now and we'll send you a free copy of our book Submit, Publish, Repeat

Inkubator Books

Inkubator Books

This Dublin, Ireland-based press focuses on publishing crime fiction, mystery, and thrillers. They do not publish work outside of this genre, and they do not publish work outside of Amazon. Most of the work they publish do very well on Amazon through Kindle Unlimited. The books they publish are not just available digitally, they also…

Watertower Hill Publishing

Watertower Hill Publishing

A small press founded in 2020 by Joshua L. Daughrity, who publishes his work under the pen name Joshua Loyd Fox. It started out as a self-publishing operation, but expanded from there into anthologies. Watertower Hill held their first open reading period for manuscripts in 2023. They are transparent about how many authors they signed…

Subtle Body Press

Subtle Body Press

Subtle Body Press is a small press that publishes a schizo-philosophical / countercultural journal series called Seven Story Hotel and a short fiction focused literary journal called Body Shots, both of which are currently open to submissions. They are also seeking a novella-length work of fiction or creative nonfiction to publish this year.  This is…

Windhorse Publications

Windhorse Publications

Windhorse Publications is an independent publisher of English-language nonfiction books on Buddhism, meditation and mindfulness. The work they publish is for Buddhist practitioners of all stages as well as for non-Buddhist readership. They also say, “We are also interested in books exploring new directions in Buddhist scholarship.” Like most faith-based publications, they are only interested…