Submissions

We get many submissions from those that aspire to be published. Please read the following guidance carefully before contacting us.

Genre
We are a 'traditional' independent publisher specialising in local history. We have an open submission policy and like to hear from authors who have not been published before. To be considered your work must offer some new research or analysis on a topic and be broad enough to appeal to our readership—those interested in finding out more about an aspect of local history.

We do not publish 'faction' (fiction based on known facts), autobiography, poetry or 'local interest' (walking guides, myth or tradition stories or tales).

Typically we publish books of between 40,000 and 80,000 words. Books over this number of words we will consider if commercially viable. If your work is under 40,000, it's very unlikely we would take it on.

Poppyland Publishing
The Poppyland Publishing imprint publishes researched local history covering the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk only.

Bridge Publishing
The Bridge Publishing imprint also publishes researched local history but has the wider remit of the Eastern region eg. books that include Norfolk and Suffolk but stray into the wider region. Bridge, however, does not consider books that are purely based in other counties within the region such as Essex or Cambridgeshire.

We ask for submissions to be in the following format:

1) a contents page
2) a short synopsis of the book, including likely word count total.
3) a sample chapter (this does not need to be the first chapter and please choose one that is not too long).
4) a statement regarding the target market, noting we are a local history publisher (this again need be no more than 1 side of A4).

Submissions should be emailed to publisher@poppyland.co.uk.

Author services
There are a number of companies that offer 'author services' in which an author can pay to have their work printed and published. Many are legitimate and will do a good job while some, unfortunately, are scams. Poppyland will never ask prospective authors for payment for any service or publish a book on behalf of an author. Enquiries regarding help with self-publishing should be directed elsewhere.