Everyone has a favorite genre or story, but comfort isn’t always the key to selecting a desirable manuscript. A publisher should be aware of systemic issues and internal bias. There are fine lines between genre expectations, tropes, and stereotypes. A publisher should consider how these expectations function in the manuscript before rejecting a piece or prescribing edits.
As a kid, I remember asking a librarian to show me where I could find “books about magic”… I remember the horror—and slight amusement—on the librarian’s face as she turned to my dad and I and proclaimed, “Oh, we don’t have those here. Those types of books are banned.”
In a previous blog post, I introduced myself as the DEI Publisher’s Assistant for Ooligan Press and gave a brief overview of my position; here, I’m back to walk you through my involvement with each book as it makes its way through the publishing process.
So, you wrote a killer query letter and submitted a proper proposal. You won over Acquisitions and we pitched your project to the press successfully, then we offered to publish your book: now what? For the sake of transparency and in an effort to demystify this crazy little thing called publishing, I humbly offer you an inside look at what you can expect when working with Ooligan Press.
For instance, there are many people who utilize multiple sets of pronouns for different reasons, whether that’s because of who they are with, the situation they are in, or simply because one pronoun doesn’t fully encapsulate how one experiences their gender. . . . So what are some books where characters are genderfluid and/or utilize multiple sets of pronouns?
Each of the titles we get to work on is exciting, but there is always room for other exciting books to come our way! Here are some manuscripts we’d love to see come through Ooligan’s submissions.