Submission Guide
When you are ready to submit, email the required files to admin@evorapress.com
In the Subject: Manuscript Submission - Author Name
Required Files
Please submit the following directly to our email, admin@evorapress.com, along with a 1 page cover letter.
Picture Books
Submit complete manuscript as a pdf. Include at minimum the first three pages of illustrations. Only illustrated manuscripts are being accepted at this time. Files over 25MB should be compressed in ZIP.
Early and Mid Grade Chapter Books
Submit the first three chapters as a double space Word document. Also submit cover and/or sample of illustrations from first three chapters as .pdf. If no illustrations are available, then provide a separate list of suggested illustrations for the first three chapters. Files over 25MB should be compressed in ZIP.
Submission Advice!
Before submitting, keep the following guidance in mind to help your manuscript shine and give it its best chance.
If your story explores a familiar theme such as the alphabet, colors, the first day of school, or a new sibling, spend time researching what is already out there. Common ideas can succeed, but only with a fresh and distinctive take.
Proofread carefully. Misspellings and grammatical errors signal a lack of care. While accepted manuscripts are edited before publication, submissions with frequent mistakes may not be read to the end.
Writing in rhyme? Read your manuscript aloud. If the rhythm feels bumpy or forced, it likely needs more work. Strong rhyme in picture books should feel natural and effortless, and an awkward rhyme can stop a parent from reading on. It will stop our editors from reading on, too.
Be clear about your intended age range. Word choice, sentence length, humor, and emotional depth should match the developmental stage of your reader.
Remember that picture books are a visual medium. Leave room for the illustrator to tell part of the story. Avoid over-describing what can be shown through images.
Children are your most important audience. They are perceptive and know when they are being talked down to. Treat young readers with respect and let any message emerge naturally through the story.
Mind the length. Many picture book manuscripts fall between 400 and 700 words, with a strong trend toward shorter, tighter texts.
Aim for emotional truth. Whether your story is quiet or playful, a child should be able to recognize themselves in it.
Give the ending care. A satisfying conclusion, whether tender, joyful, or humorous, should feel earned and complete.
Evora values human creativity. We do not accept AI generated text or illustrations. Submissions that appear to rely on AI will not be considered, and any misrepresentation of AI use will result in removal from the market and exclusion from future publication. Honesty and transparency matter to us.
Cover Letter Advice!
What goes in the letter
-
No more than 1 page max.
-
Include the title of your book, total word count, and total page count.
-
Target reader age group.
-
One paragraph about what makes this book engaging for children.
-
One paragraph about who you are as an author.
-
A statement attesting no AI was used to produce any part of the work.
-
A statement attesting the work is entirely your own, and you have full rights to all content, text and images.
How to stand out
1. Follow our advice
2. Manuscript is an imaginative, inspiring story that everyone will enjoy.
3. Prioritize emotional truth over direct lessons. Any message should emerge naturally from the character and story, not from explanation or moralizing.
4. Be humble.
How to to get rejected
1. Not following Evora's submission guidance and advice.
2. Using AI-generated text or images
3. Submitting an overdone or tired trope.
4. Tell us yours is the next best seller.
Rejection often has nothing to do with your manuscript. Some fantastic submissions have to be rejected. We wish we could publish them all.
FAQs
Are there fees to submit and/or publish with Evora?
No. Evora will never charge you for publishing. Our standard contract provides editing, formatting, publication, and a modest marketing budget. We also strive to provide an author advance, along with a generous royalty percentage, and follow industry standards.
Evora rejects vanity presses. We support our authors!
What if my book is already self-published?
Evora Press does not accept any previously published works, regardless of publication avenue (self, hybrid, vanity, or traditional).
Pitch us your new book!
Does my manuscript need to be finished to submit?
Your manuscript should be complete before you submit. It also should be reasonably edited (errors and mistakes can hurt chances of acceptance), however, Evora will have all accepted manuscripts edited prior to publication.
Will my manuscript be accepted?
Evora Press does not accept all manuscripts. In fact, we are very selective. We take on the financial risk to edit, format, publish and market our books. We are not a vanity press, and do not accept payments in return for acceptance. Due to the large number of submissions, we can accept only a subset of submissions.
How much of my own marketing will I have to do?
Our standard contract includes a modest marketing budget for the initial launch period. Evora shares on social media, and promotes our authors' books to podcasters, influencers, and book reviewers.
That said, as with even the large Presses, authors should be prepared to do their promotional activities to help their book sell at its best.
What happens if my manuscript
gets accepted?
Congratulations! You will receive a contract to sign, covering the grant of rights, the advance and royalty structure, and the delivery and acceptance of the final manuscript and illustrations. It also outlines editorial control, publication timelines, marketing and promotion expectations, author obligations, term and reversion of rights, subsidiary rights, accounting and payment, and termination or out-of-print clauses.
How much money will I make if I get published by Evora?
We wish we knew this answer! It is impossible to know how well a book will do.
Statistically, less than half of all self-published books sell more than 300 copies in their lifetime. With Evora, the chances are good you will sell many more copies than that. But there is no way to know.
As a micro-press, our advances are modest, but if you are offered an advance, it is yours to keep, whether or not you "earn out" the advance.
