Last Updated April 15th, 2016
Five Star is an imprint of the publisher Gale which is a part of the large academic company Cengage Learning. Cengage Learning, Five Star, and Gale, are all respected publishers, with established track records, good distribution and many ties to schools, colleges, universities, and libraries.
They are a large company and they do not focus on online sales for their Five Star imprint, so the website is a little unwieldy and it can be difficult to navigate. If you did not know in advance that they were open to unsolicited submissions, it would be hard to find that out from their website.
Fortunately, Five Star is open to unsolicited submissions of Western and Frontier Fiction. Unfortunately their current submission guidelines on their website are out of date and mostly focus in great detail on the sub-genres of romance, a genre they are currently not accepting. So keep that in mind.
Make sure to list the sub-genre in your query email. Additional guidelines for all genre submissions are outlined on their introduction to submission guidelines PDF (link available below). It is important to note that if you have never been published by them before and do not have an agent, you have to query first, to a non-genre specific editor.
Five Star will consider manuscripts from 65,000 to 120,000 words in length, with some exceptions made for work that is a little longer or shorter. Do not submit your manuscript to them until they request it, but make sure it is completed and falls within their guidelines.
All queries should be made via email. In the query letter, request their full Five Star submission guidelines and make sure to include your name, address, and the genre guideline (Mystery or Expressions) you would like to receive. Then one of the editors will send you all the information and forms that will allow you to submit your manuscript properly.
They do not accept simultaneous submissions but respond to all manuscripts as promptly as possible.
You should first visit their main catalog page here, to get a better feel for what they have published in the past. If you are interested in submitting a PDF that includes an introduction to their guidelines is available here. Also their Facebook page is a good indicator of what they are currently looking for. Also to learn more you can email them directly at fivestar@cengage.com.
Bio: Emily Harstone is the pen name of an author whose work has been published internationally by a number of respected journals. She is a professional submissions adviser. You can follow her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/emilyharstone/
