Tu Publishing is pleased to announce that we will be officially open for submissions from writers on Jan. 1, 2010. We are a small press focusing on multicultural fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults. We are specifically looking for novels for readers ages 8 to 18. (Though we intend to expand to chapter books in the future, we are not looking for them at this time.)
By “multicultural,” we mean fantasy or science fiction inspired by non-Western folklore or culture. This could mean Asian or African cultures, South American or Central American, or non-majority U.S. cultures (such as Native American, African American, Latino, or other American-influenced minority cultures)., rather than Western European. There is a wide gamut of inspiration to be had, and we just ask that writers treat these cultures with respect and if they are not experts in a culture that inspires their story, to become one. (See, for example, Nisi Shawl’s excellent article on the SFWA site about Transracial Writing for the Sincere.)
For examples of the kinds of novels we’re looking for, check out this booklist of multicultural science fiction and fantasy on editorial director Stacy Whitman’s blog. Note that there is a wide gamut of historical, contemporary, futuristic, alternate-world, and other kinds of speculative fiction. We are primarily interested in well-told, exciting, adventurous stories that just happen to feature a main character of color or that are set in worlds inspired by non-Western folklore or culture. Our primary concern is that the story is good.
To submit your novel, please follow the following guidelines:
Please mail your cover letter, first three chapters, and a synopsis, double-spaced in 12-point type, to us at
Tu Publishing
Submissions Editor
P.O. Box 2422
Orem, UT 84059
AFTER Jan. 1, 2010.
You do not need to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope, but we do ask that you be sure that your manuscript have your full contact information on it. (Yes, we need to ask this—some people forget this!) The easiest way for us to be sure we can get a hold of you is for you to be sure that your name, address, phone number, and email address are on your cover letter and the first page of both your synopsis and sample. Every subsequent page should be numbered and include your name and the title of your work in the header.
Once we have had a chance to evaluate your sample, we will respond via email if we want to request the full manuscript; please make sure that your manuscript is in a .doc file and that you are able to see comments made in Track Changes in Word, even if you don’t use the Word program.
We are a small press with limited staff, so we ask your patience in response time. We do not mind simultaneous submissions, however—please just let us know if you get interest from another quarter if we haven’t responded yet.
These submission guidelines are subject to change as our needs change. Please check them periodically to be sure that you’re up to date.
Tu Publishing's editorial director Stacy Whitman has worked as an editor at a trade magazine, at Houghton Mifflin's school division, and at Mirrorstone, an imprint of Wizards of the Coast, where she worked on children's and young adult fantasy. In her current day job, she is the publication manager for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series. She holds a master's degree in children's literature from Simmons College. 
Will Tu publishing be releasing any books in 2010?
I am wondering: If a Fantasy story is based on non-English-speaking countries like France, Germany, Italy, Slowakia, Russia, Poland, and if the main character’s skin color is in no way mentioned, and if one of the more important secondary characters is of color would it qualify?
Doret, we’re hoping to release our first two books in 2010, but it does depend on the quality of submissions we get/how ready the chosen books are for publication. (The editorial process can take months.) We’re hoping for 2 books by fall 2010.
Katharina, it depends. As we said above, most fantasy is already based on Western European culture, and so we’re not looking for stories that do what other books are already doing well. Eastern Europe, however, might be interesting. There is a confluence of cultures in certain areas of Eastern Europe (Turkish influences, Muslim influences) that is interesting. With Eastern Europe, I’d take it on a case-by-case basis. Something set in western Russia, for example, might be more Western than something set in Siberia. Something set in (or inspired by) the former Czech Republics or Albania would be really interesting, I think, because these are cultures that we don’t see written about very often–and the characters featured there could also be people of color, depending on the character you choose. Gypsy culture might be another interesting culture, if it’s handled in a way that doesn’t resort to stereotypes.
However, if the race of the main character isn’t mentioned, yet the race of other characters is, you are then in the position where the reader assumes the “default” skin color is white. See this post by Bookavore about that: http://bookavore.com/2009/11/30/in-which-i-get-frustrated-and-plead-with-authors/. This is not what we’re looking for.
Would your company be at all interested in a YA historical fiction that meets your multi-cultural standards?
Hi Michal,
Please see our latest blog post, which will hopefully answer your questions in further detail, but we do like historical fiction and if it’s a time period that isn’t covered much, we’d be interested in seeing it, but we’d like our launch books to be science fiction/fantasy rather than realistic.
Congratulations on your getting started, while I was not able to contribute I was cheering from the sidelines. You have piqued my interest, I am by birth one quarter French Armenian Basque (gypsy). My grandmother was born in a gypsy wagon and left on the porch of the neighboring home. I will have to dabble and see if I can come up with something. I definately am not going to negatively stereotype my own heritage.
I hope for your wild success.
Hi, I believe my novel fits your project really well since it is cross-genre (scifi/fantasy) plus multicultural, I used non-Western folklore. The problem is that I am from overseas and it costs a fortune to mail. Will Tu Publishing not open up for email subs?
Thanks!
We’re working on it. We need to be sure that the emails don’t get lost first!
Hopefully by next month we’ll have an organizational system set up to handle e-submissions.
Gee thanks for replying!:)