Brave Words Submissions

We are currently closed for all submissions at this time. We will re-open for submissions in February 2024.

Brave Words is our publishing program for your short work when a full-length book just won’t do.

Published in digital format, and priced at a reasonable 99¢, your work will still receive the same promotional support as we provide for any of the books we publish, and be distributed through the same online distribution marketplaces.

Your work may also be selected to be included in our annual anthology.

We are generally interested in inspirational & transformative non-fiction, including memoirs and short essays.

If your short work is:

  • literary fiction, mystery, or historical fiction, please submit your story to our main imprint at Paper Angel Press.
  • science fiction or fantasy, please submit your story to our Dragon Gems short fiction program through our sibling imprint, Water Dragon Publishing.

Submission Requirements

Your work:

  • should be approximately 2,000 – 10,000 words in length.
  • should be inspirational non-fiction.
  • should not contain erotica, or excessive violence or gore.
  • can be part of an ongoing series you might be writing.
  • can have been previously published (with proof that you hold the current publishing rights).
  • may be submitted simultaneously to other markets (but please let us know).

Please submit only one work per submission and only one work per month.

Payment

Payment will be $0.02 per word + access to ten (10) digital contributor copies upon publication.

Manuscript Formats

Send us your complete, finished manuscripts in digital (.DOCX, .RTF, or .ODT) format to bravewords (at) unrulyvoices.com. Please use a standard manuscript format. If you’re not sure what one is, here’s a good source.

Include the following in your cover letter/email:

  • Title of your work
  • Your legal name
  • Your preferred name (if different from your legal name)
  • Your preferred email address
  • Story genre
  • Approximate word count
  • Synopsis

If you’re not sure if your work is something that we’d be interested in publishing, please feel free to query us at bravewords (at) unrulyvoices.com in advance of submitting your manuscript.

Contacting Us

Please check out our general Submissions FAQ if you have additional questions before contacting us.

Please don’t contact us about the status of your manuscript unless at least 90 days have passed since we acknowledged receiving it. If you did not receive a acknowledgement within seven business days of submitting your manuscript to us, then please feel free to contact us.