Every Press Turns Away Books it Wishes it Could Keep
A novel comes in that reads beautifully and fits nowhere on the list.
Our mainline wants human monsters.
Honeythief wants the strange made real.
Sweetrot wants love that lasts.
Some books want none of that and are still too good to lose.
One Shots is where we publish them.
There is no lane here and no checklist.
We are asking one question: is this book good enough that the category stops mattering?
If a manuscript makes us stop caring what shelf it goes on, it belongs.
Send us the novel you could not place anywhere else.
Horror adjacent, genre-bent, hard to describe at parties.
What we care about is the writing.
What We Don't Want
If another Edge & Busby imprint already declined your manuscript, One Shots is not the second door.
This call is for books that were never aiming at our lanes,
not a court of appeals for the ones that missed.
Open to anything does not mean finished by nobody. We expect the same polish here that every imprint on this site expects: a complete, revised, proofread manuscript in standard format.
"No rules" describes the genre, not the craft.
Guidelines
Word count:
Novels and Novellas: 20,000 to 120,000 words.
Story collections: 45,000 to 90,000 words total.
What to send:
The complete manuscript.
Formatting requirements:
- 12pt Times New Roman
- Double-spaced throughout
- First line of each paragraph indented
- Story title and page number in the top-right header of every page
- Submitted as a .docx file
Include a brief cover letter in the form field that introduces you and your book.
Stories containing sexual assault require a content warning at submission.
Submissions without one will be declined.
Simultaneous submissions:
Yes. If your manuscript is accepted elsewhere, withdraw it through Subfolio.
Multiple submissions:
One manuscript at a time. If we pass on your submission, you're welcome to send something else.
Previously published work:
We do not consider manuscripts that have been published in full, in print or digitally.
Individual stories from a collection that appeared in journals are fine and should be acknowledged in the cover letter.
Submission fee:
Submissions are free.
Subfolio offers an optional tip at checkout if you'd like to support the press.
Tips are not considered in editorial decisions.
How to Submit
Submissions are handled through Subfolio.
Please allow 3-4 months for us to review your manuscript. We will respond to every submission.
We pay advances and royalties on every book we acquire.
Contest contributors are paid honoraria.
Questions about your submission can go to submissions@edgeandbusby.com.
Please don't email manuscripts directly. We only read what comes through Subfolio.
