Submissions

Guidelines for Folk, Filk and other Music

We love helping the indie musician get their stuff out there, and we prefer to deal with indie artists directly. However, we have certain guidelines to make sure all parties involved keep smiling.
  1. If you have only one item such as only one (1) CD or one (1) vinyl album, we recommend putting it up for auction on eBay. If you have five or more items, then that’s where we come in.
  2. Once we’ve agreed to work together, you will ship them to us in good condition on your own dime. Set your price (try to make it reasonable!). We will then establish a base 70% commission price from what you have set.  Understand that an unreasonable price means the inability to sell your item. We recommend a base retail based on a commission of $12 for each CD (for example).
  3. Sometimes, we buy your item at 60% the retail price max. We prefer to buy your stock outright, actually, but our wallet apparently prefers to stay flat. We try.
  4. We sell your items at conventions, re-enactment events, EBay, this website, and wherever else we can manage.
  5. If selling through us with commission, you will be given an account in our store to manage. This is a must, as sales from the store will be paid to you through it. You will be able to upload audio files for direct download *if* you have sent us CDs or vinyl/cassette to sell. We *will* require your paypal mail address for it. If you feel we’re going to use your email to target you for a land strike using wasp drones and air to elf missiles, just let us know in advance so we can stop wasting each other’s time.
  6. We ask that the merchandise you send be in good condition. Sometimes we will replace the tray to an old CD, but that costs us personally so it won’t happen often. We recommend you check everything before you go through the motions.
  7. We reserve the right to terminate business with you for any reason (especially if you participate in cancel culture or virtue signaling), and send unsold CDs back to you at our cost. If you decide to terminate relations with us for any reason and request your unsold CDs, they will be sent at your cost. If you refuse to pay said costs, we can either keep your CDs and send you any money if they sell or throw them away at no cost to us. That will be your choice.
  8. Sometimes we help other hucksters and collectors move their stock, so feel free to contact us about your collection if it’s primarily filk in nature.

Email us at adminfox @ woksprint.com if you’re still interested after all that.

Guidelines for Prose and Comic Submissions

Submissions are open from October to December every year.

Submission Guidelines

We accept unsolicited submissions of science fiction and fantasy novels, alternative science and fringe subjects (alien abductions, etc), and complete Amer-manga that can stand alone. We are particularly interested in literature dealing with Native American issues or strong Native American characters.  Also, being as we are the Writers of the Apocalypse (WoTA), apocalypse or post-apocalypse material is ideal.

We do not publish short stories (unless part of an anthology), cookbooks, nor poetry. Documents promoting racial tension will be burned with prejudice. To be clear: In accordance with our rights outlined in the 1st Amendment, we do not accept promotions of unequal treatment under the law for *any* race, religion, or gender. Antiquated ideas in ancient texts we may reprint are one thing. Current divisive ideas are quite the other.

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Novels need to be stand alone works that entertain. If we are not entertained, we fear the rest of the world will not be entertained. We discourage the submission of a series unless it is completely written and previously unpublished. When considering if your sci-fi or fantasy novel will be accepted by us, ask yourself: Can I spell correctly? Do I make sure my sentences are punctuated properly? Did I care about quality at all? Do I have more plot holes than an aging slice of Swiss cheese? The proper answers you need to be able to give yourself are: yes, yes, yes, and no.

Fringe Matter

Alternative science, ‘conspiracy’, and history documents need to be cohesive, balanced, and not filled with baseless rhetoric. For example. Give us actual facts regarding the Sasquatch Genome Project: we want more than just gossip. If your manuscript is the memoir of your alternative life in the cloned body of a super soldier, make sure your language is coherent and you manage to avoid the ravings of a lunatic butterfly. Try backing your information up with facts if you can. We welcome various points of view, but if your work does not read well we will have to reject you.

Please do not send channeled works talking about how the universe is loved by the one true being ™. Or really, channeled works period.

Comics and Manga

We are looking for graphic novels that are complete, can stand alone, and tell a good story. You do not need to have been influenced by Japanese culture, but we trust you will be influenced by knowing how to make a good comic. We love comics of all genres – even super heroes – but remember the stories have to entertain. Try to be original. Pro tip: The head editor loves romantic comedy.  Good. Romantic comedy. GOOD. Romantic Comedy. Good. Not boring. Good.

We also feel that manga art does not have to imitate everyone else’s style. Manga-influenced comics are a natural evolution of the sequential art world, and we look forward to giving a home to each and every well-written book that never felt like it fit in anywhere else. If there’s one thing we know, it’s the sting of rejection because your art style is neither mainstream American nor 100% an imitation of outside influences, especially that of Japanese manga. Manga was influenced by us, we are influenced by them, and so the cultural exchange goes on and on.

No porn. No unnecessary sex of any kind. No gratuitous violence, excessive foul language, etc. You’ve come here as an intelligent individual. We expect your work to reflect your brain.

Explicit Content

Speaking of unnecessary sex, it’s a safe bet that if your book contains a lot of sexual content we will have to reject it. It isn’t that we’re prudes – if it weren’t for sex we wouldn’t be here. It’s because a good portion of the rest of the literary engine is made up of prudes, and explicit content makes it incredibly difficult to get your book the exposure it deserves.

Ethnic

We are particularly interested in promoting Native American literature of various genres, but we do not limit ourselves to that. We want our way of supporting all our relations to be a positive one, so we absolutely will not accept works that promote hatred – or are affiliated with ideologies that promote hatred or are widely known to commit current acts of hatred. This is an opportunity for us to let our passions shine in a positive way that will teach our children to grow. We’re not particularly interested in messing things up, no matter how much you may hate your ex.

Virtue signaling or participating in cancel culture will get you rejected before you know it or may get your contract cancelled without negotiation. So don’t do it.

More Information

We only open submissions when all previously submitted works have been read and processed. If you submit to us, expect us to take our time in getting back to you. We want to give each and every submission our full attention, and that’s not a process to rush.

We prefer submissions by post, but you can contact us to inquire about sending an electronic submission. (Note: we may not be able to respond to any emails right away.) If by post submission package should include the following:

  1. A cover letter. Do not be afraid to tell us about your previous publications in this cover letter. Tell us who you are without boring us.
  2. A single page with your book’s tagline and synopsis. This is kind of important, because we like to know what we’re reading.
  3. Your entire manuscript. So we can read it.
  4. A self addressed return envelope (SASE). So we can tell you what we thought.

Do not submit handwritten material. The manuscript should be on 8 1/2″ x 11″ white paper, double-spaced, with at least .5″ margins. It’s okay for your manuscript to be double-sided, but only if the words don’t bleed through to the other side of the page. Number your pages consecutively, and put the title of your work at the top of each page. Do not staple the work together. Your name, address, phone number, and word count should be in the upper right hand corner of the first page of your manuscript.

Make sure the manuscript you send to us is a disposable copy. Do not send us your only copy!!

If you want us to send you a postcard to let you know the document arrived safely, also send a self addressed stamped postcard.

Just a quick note: you don’t have to register or copyright your documents before publication. The law protects you as long as it’s not been published. If published, your book will be available for distribution worldwide – or at least in whatever territories we get the rights to. Keep the latter in mind if your work has been published before.

Promotions

Your work will be available to various stores around the world. We are not a marketing firm. We will of course advertise your book to some extent, but it will be up to you as the author to show pride in your work, and arrange things such as book signings.

We cannot emphasize enough how important it is for the author to be engaged with their fans in this day and age, especially if they want their work to be read by the masses. Promote on your social media. Let your local TV station know you’ve been published. And more. There are so many things only you can do that we can’t to make your book a success. We highly encourage you do to them, because if our efforts aren’t enough and you do nothing we cannot take the blame for that lack.

We are a very small publishing house, and our marketing efforts are usually not enough. Make an effort if you want to succeed.

Your Cover

Upon accepting your book, you are welcome to give us your ideas on possible covers but keep in mind our main goal with your cover is for it to help make your book a success. If you wish to hire a professional to create your cover, we can talk about it when the time comes.

With comics, it will be up to you to make a cover that will sell your work. If we feel your cover will not sell your book, we are going to reject it or ask for revisions.

We also reserve the right to cancel any contract based on work relationships and attitude.

Advances

WoTA is tiny, so we can’t afford to offer advances. It’s our dream to be able to upgrade to offering a small advance someday. We hope you, as a potential author, will be willing to help that along.

Please send manuscripts to:

Katrina Joyner
c/o The Writers of the Apocalypse
18 Peachtree Place
Harrisburg, IL  62946

or email: somecallmetim @ apocalypsewriters.com (You know what to do with the spaces.)