Snout out this lair for fantasy
Tiny Fox Press is an independent publisher, primarily of speculative fiction.
‘We mainly have a strong scifi/fantasy bend to all our works, but we do dabble in other genres occasionally (fun mysteries and historical fiction for example),’ said editor-in-chief Galen Surlak-Ramsey.
Tiny Fox Press is approaching its firth birthday. ‘We first came together in the summer of 2016 when we thought amongst ourselves, “Hey… what if we started up a small press?”,’ said Galen.
‘The first mention was more daydreaming than anything, but after a few days of tossing it around between us all, we decided to go for it. We spent the next couple of months outlining all we needed to do; settled on a name and logo; got our legal ducks in a row, etc. On 1 January 2017 we opened our doors to the public and started accepting submissions, and from there, things took off.’
At the moment TFP is averaging about six titles a year right now. ‘We’ll likely increase that a little come 2022/3, but above all else, we want to give each work and author all the attention deserved, and so we’re very mindful we don’t spread ourselves too thin. We’ll slowly be expanding in terms of our general productivity and staff on hand. In the four years we’ve been at this, we’ve come a long way, so I’m excited to see where we’ll be in another four. Not sure what that’ll look like, but expect it’ll be nothing but great given our history thus far.’
A good book for Tiny Fox Press, says Galen, ‘is one that of course we can’t put down, but it’s also one that would match our library. An author might have the next best early reader or chicklit out there, and that’s great, but that book isn’t for us. Our general wants are on our submissions page which we update as time goes on. Like any other house, editor, or agent, we’re looking for stories we can’t put down. We want books that energise us talking about to our own friends and family, and ones we can’t wait to see a Tiny Fox logo stamped on its cover. What does that boil down to? Great characters and a compelling story.’
The main genres Tiny Fox Press is looking for are fantasy (including Norse mythology, gaslamp and humorous); scifi (steam punk, space opera and humorous) and YA (fun, adventurous, magical).
‘In terms of submissions to us: read our guidelines,’ said Galen. ‘Really. You’d think that’s a no brainer, but everyday our slush pile is filled with queries by authors who don’t bother to read our submissions page and end up submitting things that are clearly not for us whatsoever. Aside from genres we don’t take (like chick lit, early readers, etc), we don’t consider short stories or previously pubbed material, yet people still query us about them. Or we get queries for unfinished manuscripts. Definitely have your book finished before you send us a letter. And by finished, we don’t mean the first draft (though some people still write us while chapter three’s ink is still drying). We mean it’s been polished to perfection, read by others, polished some more, etc.’
Tiny Fox Press publishes in print and electronic formats and pays advances (in the semi-pro range according to Duotrope) and royalties.
Submit by email ‘Snail mail if you must, but we’d prefer you save a tree,’ said Galen.
Details: email: submissions@tinyfoxpress.com; website: www.tinyfoxpress.com