The vitality of a publishing organization depends on its continuing acquisition of quality manuscripts. Horizon Publishers is actively seeking superior works to publish for discriminating readers. As an established or prospective author, you may have an idea or project that will fit Horizon Publishers' program. We hope you do! These guidelines will tell you how to prepare your manuscript for publication consideration.

Historical and Organizational Insights
Horizon Publishers & Distributors, Inc. was founded in 1971. The corporate and editorial offices and retail shipping warehouse of Horizon Publishers are located in beautiful Bountiful, Utah, overlooking the Great Salt Lake. Bountiful is ten miles north of Salt Lake City, in southern Davis County.

Duane and Jean Crowther, the owners of Horizon Publishers & Distributors, Inc., continue to function as the acquisitions editors for Horizon Publishers. Our objective is to publish from 24 to 30 high-quality new products each year.

What Does Horizon Publish?
Horizon Publishers is unique among book publishing firms because it operates effectively in several distinct markets. In addition to its religious and general book trade, Horizon Publishers sells to a number of specialty markets including outdoor life, family preparedness, crafts, family life, writing skills, and music. If the subject of your manuscript is in one of these general areas or others listed below, we would be interested in considering it for publication.

Subject Areas Horizon Is Currently Seeking
Specific subject needs shift periodically for publishers as they build and balance their publishing niches each year. At the present time, Horizon Publishers is looking for manuscripts on the following subjects to sell in the general trade marketplace:

1. Outdoor life, including Dutch oven and outdoor cooking, camping, backpacking, primitive skills, Indian and Mountain Man lore, and books of interest to Scouts and Scouters.
2. Emergency Preparedness, including disaster readiness and using food storage.
Our published books already cover the basics in these fields; we need new insights and techniques.
3. Family life, marriage, parenting, and family-related social issues.
4. Utah and Mountain West items suitable for the tourist trade.
5. How-to books on various subjects.

In the Latter-day Saint religious market, we are looking for books written on the following subjects:

1. Defense of the LDS faith books, including critiques and rebuttals of anti-Mormon
publications.
2. Proofs of the veracity of LDS scriptures, reading and study guides, and related faith-promoting materials.
3. Pre-mortal and life-after-death experiences and evidences.
4. In-depth coverage of specific doctrines.
5. Missionary skills and techniques.
6. Strong, believable fiction on LDS themes and with LDS values.
7. Collections of faith-promoting short stories.
8. Books for LDS youth, but not illustrated picture books.
9. Materials for teaching LDS children.
10. LDS music arrangements and music books.
11. Excellent talks and other materials suitable for cassette talk tapes and CDs.

Subject Areas Horizon Publishers Is Not Accepting at the Present Time
We receive many manuscripts each year which are beyond the limits of our current publishing guidelines. At present, we are not publishing: (1) poetry; (2) general adult fiction; (3) full-color illustrated picture story books for children, secular books for young children or teens, educational items and fiction; (4) foreign language books; (5) games (particularly those requiring special boards, boxes, and/or playing pieces); (6) books which would only be of interest to very limited groups; (7) books requiring extensive editing and revision, and (8) books written to the general Christian (non-LDS) Market.

Many people submit their personal histories or manuscripts based on a personal life-changing experience to us for publication consideration. While they often are very interesting, they very rarely would qualify for publication at a publisher's expense, and we are not interested in publishing them for the general marketplace. Such publications typically sell well only to family members and friends.

We are able (for a reasonable fee) to help you prepare your personal or family-history manuscript for publication by the printer of your choice, at your expense, for your own private distribution to family and friends, but it probably won't be acceptable for publication and distribution to the general marketplace.

How Does Horizon Publishers Select the Manuscripts It Publishes?
Since Horizon Publishers & Distributors, Inc. was organized in 1971, it has published more than eight hundred books on a wide variety of topics. Our present editorial plan calls for the release of twenty-four to thirty new books per year, depending on the size, complexity, and marketability of the works selected.

Horizon Publishers sometimes requests and invites established authors to write books on themes where a viable market is evident. Other books are written by staff authors and personnel. The balance of the books we publish are selected from the hundreds of unsolicited manuscripts sent to us each year.

When manuscripts are received, they are screened by our readers and editors for suitability. Those deemed inappropriate for additional consideration are returned after the initial screening. Manuscripts retained for further consideration may be passed to a series of several readers who rate them on quality, saleability, potential for continuing sales in Horizon Publishers' established markets, the amount of editorial supervision and editing required, and probable production costs. Final publication decisions are made by the editorial board. The selection process usually takes about twelve to sixteen weeks, though books in the final review process may sometimes take longer.

What Does Horizon Publishers Look for When Selecting a Manuscript for Publication?
We suggest that you write to a broad market, if possible. Don't adopt a slant or perspective that may exclude potential readers unnecessarily. Try to write a book that will comfortably meet the interests and needs of people from a broad spectrum of economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. Fresh new ideas and perspectives, thorough in-depth research, and crisp, powerful writing will excite our editorial board in all our publishing areas. Horizon Publishers' editors look for manuscripts with:

1. Suitability. Horizon Publishers seeks to publish only works of good quality—books with
outstanding potential to uplift, inspire, teach, inform, motivate and entertain. They should be books of real value to the readers. Since we strive to publish works that are uplifting in nature, manuscripts containing lewd or harshly violent scenes, foul language, or other negative materials are not appropriate for submission to our firm.

2. Uniqueness of message and/or approach. The book must significantly differ from other books on the same subject and make a substantial contribution to knowledge or literature not found elsewhere! This is an important and essential requirement.

3. Writing quality. We are seeking manuscripts in which the author's knowledge of the subject, thorough research, creativity, language skills and ability to communicate effectively are clearly evident. Our readers can tell almost immediately if an author is unacquainted with the basic rules of punctuation, capitalization, and documentation because they unknowingly make several errors on almost every page. These rules are typically summarized in about a 25-page Handbook of Style synopsis at the end of most English dictionaries. If you haven't reviewed them within the past year, please do so before submitting your manuscript. Then, please critique and correct your work, using those rules as your guide. Editors shouldn't be expected to correct the same errors 500 or 600 times in a manuscript!

4. Profit potential. When an author submits a book to a publisher, he is proposing that the publisher make a substantial investment. Since a large financial outlay on the publisher’s part is required, every book published must yield its appropriate share of return on the capital invested. We often have dozens of manuscripts of publishing quality available, but have to make publishing choices based on profitability potential. If we feel a manuscript lacks adequate profit potential, we have no alternative but to reject it even though it may be of relatively good quality.

5. Potential marketability. We sell certain types of books well because our established dealers handle that type of material. Manuscripts that don't realistically fit our niches or established distribution areas will usually be rejected.

6. Book length. Experience has shown that books in the intermediate price range are most frequently purchased by our customers. We sometimes receive manuscripts so long that their publication would not be cost effective. A manuscript length over 100,000 words is usually too long for us to consider.

Some manuscripts are so short that they really are not books; they are pamphlets. We occasionally purchase such manuscripts outright to avoid the continuing costs of royalty computations and processing. Payment is comparable to typical magazine word-count rates on these items. We consider an item to be a pamphlet, rather than a book, when it will contain 64 typeset pages or less in finished format.

Manuscripts Directed to the Religious Market
About half of Horizon Publishers' publications are in the general area of religion. Though our firm is a privately owned corporation with no official ecclesiastical ties, our major readership of theologically-oriented books is Latter-day Saint (Mormon). Any religious works Horizon publishes will be compatible with that basic doctrinal perspective. We publish a wide variety of subjects within that range: books on church history, books in defense of the faith, penetrating doctrinal studies, children's religious teaching stories, uplifting (but not "preachy") fiction, religious humor, faith-promoting experiences, biographies of well-known leaders, religious piano and organ preludes, and choral music. We also produce a line of inspirational and doctrinal cassette tapes and CDs.

We prefer doctrinal works that have a scholarly approach, with careful source identification and solid research. As the author of a book of this type, you'll need to prepare a bibliography and a suitable index. You'll be responsible for securing permission for the use of copyrighted materials. In recent years, the LDS Church Copyright Office has become quite restrictive about releasing permission on copyrighted materials, particularly the words of living General Authorities. Don't assume those materials will be available without obtaining prior permission, except for brief quotes that clearly fall into the category of "fair use."

Doctrinal works that don't make a significant contribution of new knowledge and insight are usually rejected; the market is weary of rephrased materials in this area.

Different religions have such varied terminology and perspectives that it's very difficult for a non-Mormon author to write a theological treatise that will be accepted and published in the Latter-day Saint market. Conversely, that same limitation makes it difficult for a Latter-day Saint to write a theological work with the expectation that it will be widely read in an evangelical marketplace. Since we service relatively few non-LDS Christian bookstores, we are not an appropriate publisher for works addressed to non-LDS general Christian readers about Mormonism.

Religious fiction requires especially strong writing skills. It shouldn't be overly didactic or "preachy." A strong plot, believable dialogue, and effective character development are essential. If you are not an experienced author, we strongly encourage you to read several good books on fiction writing and many good fiction books before you write your novel; it will save you time and effort. Be aware of five basic principles of good fiction writing: (1) dramatic conflict: if there is no conflict, there is no story; (2) goals: the reader must discover what the main character is trying to accomplish early in the book; (3) obstacles: the challenges the major character must overcome to reach his/her goal must be evident; (4) threats: the main character must repeatedly struggle to reach his/her goal; and (5) climax: the conflict must reach a point where everything depends on the actions of the central character, and then the book's plot is quickly resolved.

In religious fiction we hope to see a process of moral, spiritual, or emotional growth presented. Some type of conflict is definitely essential for good plot development (man/woman against man/woman, man/woman against nature, or man/woman against self). Watch your vocabulary—use appropriate words for the age group for which you are writing. Please avoid trite themes of LDS fiction such as conversion stories and struggling courtships that always end in temple marriage. While these themes are important, they have been used too often for the book to have a major appeal to the public.

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Submitting Your Manuscript
Your thoughtful consideration of the following questions will help you prepare your manuscript as effectively as possible and increase the possibility of it being chosen for publication:

1. Am I adequately qualified to write a book on this subject?
2. Have I clearly identified the correct audience for the book, and is my material written to satisfy that audience's needs?
3. Does my book offer something that is truly new, significant and unique?
4. Will my book be relevant to its audience at the time it is published (usually six months to a year after manuscripts are accepted)? Will it soon become outdated?
5. Is my book well-written? Has it gone through several drafts and revisions?
6. Has my book been read and critiqued by others, outside my family and friend circles, who are willing and qualified to point out its weaknesses? Have I accepted their suggestions and adjusted my manuscript accordingly?
7. Are all my footnotes/endnotes and bibliography complete, with all references prepared in the same format throughout the book, following an accepted style guide?
8. Has my manuscript been thoroughly proofread and corrected?
9. Has my manuscript been prepared on computer in a major word-processing program (Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect), with each chapter in a separate file?
If you can answer yes to all of these questions, it's time to submit your manuscript!

Should You Send a Query Letter?
If you are contemplating a writing project and want to know if the subject would be considered for publication by Horizon Publishers, you may send us a short (1-2 page) query letter. Briefly tell us about your proposal. Tell us your tentative title and subtitle. Summarize or briefly outline the book. Tell us when the manuscript will be available, its projected length (an approximate word count), and the market to whom the book will be directed. Tell us about yourself and your qualifications. Be sure to include your street address, your e-mail address, and your daytime and evening telephone numbers, since we may want to contact you by phone and discuss the project with you.

Produce your query letter carefully, using your computer, since we will pre-judge the quality of your writing skills based on your letter. A handwritten query letter presents your proposal in a poor light and works to your disadvantage. Proofread your letter carefully, and spell-check it on your computer. If you don’t enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope, we won’t respond to your query.

Submitting your manuscript to two or more publishers at the same time is considered an inappropriate approach by many publishers. Horizon Publishers shares that feeling, but will still evaluate the manuscript. Your cover letter should clearly indicate if it is a multiple submission.

E-mail queries are accepted, and answered, but we do not open attachments.

The Mechanics of Manuscript Submission
The Cover Letter: This is your letter of introduction so we can get acquainted with you. Enclose your letter with your manuscript. In it please tell us of your writing experience and your qualifications for presenting your material. If you are using a pseudonym, say so in your cover letter. Be sure you include your address and both your home and work telephone numbers. This cover letter is your real introduction to our firm, so take time to prepare it carefully and present yourself well.

Please mail in your manuscript to us as a hard copy paper submission. We do not need the electronic disks or CD's with your first submission. We also do not accept manuscripts as an e-mail attachment. Include the following items with your submission:

The Cover Page: This page will help us keep track of you and your manuscript. Include your name, address and telephone number(s), and your proposed title and subtitle for the book.

The Estimated Word Count: You should include on the cover page an estimated word count for the entire manuscript. This count enables a potential publisher to project the approximate length and probable publishing costs for the book. A notation such as "approximately 73,500 words" is appropriate; it does not have to be an exact count, but should be correct within several hundred words. (To estimate, count every word on at least four pages, average the number of words per page, and multiply that figure by total manuscript pages. Adjust that total word count for incomplete pages, single-spaced copy, charts, or other deviations from normal word-count pages.) You can also use the "word count" feature on most word-processing programs.

The manuscript: If your book is worth writing, it's worth writing well, and it's also worth submitting it neatly in a very readable form. If you want your manuscript to be carefully considered, prepare it with care. Here are a few suggestions for a sharp-looking, legible manuscript:

1. Almost every manuscript is now produced on a computer. It is definitely to your advantage, and necessary, to use a computer in preparing and submitting your manuscript.

2. Use good 8.5 by 11-inch 20-pound white paper. Make sure you leave a one-inch margin on all sides of the paper, including the bottom. Do not change your margin widths within the manuscript. Good-quality photocopies of your manuscript are acceptable for submission.

3. Use a fresh toner cartridge in your computer's printer, one that will print a clear, legible copy from page one to the last page of your book. Never submit a poorly printed manuscript to anyone! Use the medium or highest level of print quality on your computer's printer. Manuscripts printed by computer should have an unjustified right margin.

4. Double-space your entire manuscript. Double-spacing your material has two definite advantages beyond the obviously increased readability: (1) it simplifies the publisher’s word-count process, and (2) it allows some manuscripts to be processed for typesetting with an optical scanner. Short quotations in the body copy should be placed in quotation marks. Lengthy quotations should be indented five spaces from the left margin and typed double-spaced, without quotation marks. Be sure to thoroughly proofread your typing of quoted materials against the original documents to be certain you have typed them accurately, including the punctuation.

5. Don’t send computer disks until requested by the publisher. Never send just a computer disk without a printout of the book. Publishers will not print out your book for you, nor expect their acquisitions editors to read a whole book on a computer monitor.

6. Number each page in the upper-right corner and include an identifying word such as your last name. This helps readers keep the pages of your manuscript in order and readily identifies any stray pages. Number all pages consecutively from the title page to the end; do not begin a new numbering system for each chapter.

7. Endnotes for each chapter should be placed at the end of the book, not at the end of the chapter, and they should be double-spaced like the rest of the manuscript, with locations identified in the text by superscript (raised) numbers. All endnotes should be numbered in consecutive order for an entire chapter. The endnote numbering system should begin again with the next chapter. Do not send in your manuscript with computer-generated links between source pages and end-note pages.

8. Manuscripts should be submitted unbound, as loose sheets of paper. Do not spiral bind it or submit it in a loose-leaf binder, or use any other binding formats. Be sure to keep a copy of your manuscript for yourself. Horizon Publishers is not responsible for the possible loss or damage of your manuscript.

9. If your manuscript contains photos, charts, diagrams or line drawings, you may submit samples, but be sure to retain copies of all the photos you send. (Be aware that if your manuscript is accepted for publication, all photos and other drawings will need to be computer-scanned before your manuscript can be typeset. This will require special instructions from the publisher.) Prepare photo captions to accompany your photographs. Remember, many photos and drawings will substantially increase the production cost, and hence the retail price, of the book. Be aware that the author typically pays photographers' and artists' fees for the photos and internal artwork used in the book. All final arrangements concerning photos and artwork will need to be made in connection with acceptance of the manuscript.

10. Package your manuscript securely in a box or envelope, but not so tightly that it cannot be opened easily or returned to the same container. When you submit your manuscript, include a stamped, self-addressed envelope large enough to hold and protect it, or a check for an amount sufficient to cover return packaging and postage. This will get your manuscript promptly back to you after it has been reviewed. If desired, please indicate that your materials, if not accepted for publication, should be destroyed after our review rather than being returned to you at your expense. Manuscripts submitted without a return postage SASE will not be returned.

Preparing Your Manuscript for Computerized Typesetting
One of the most expensive aspects of preparing a book for publication is typesetting. Manuscripts available on computer disks, which can be processed by our computer-automated typesetting procedures, will receive favorable treatment if the decision whether or not to publish them hangs in the balance.

If your book has been written on a computer program compatible with our systems, you will be asked to supply us with read-write disks on which the book manuscript has been corrected, is error-free, and the chapter-long files are numbered in consecutive order. We can process disks in most current word-processing programs for either IBM or Macintosh computers, but we prefer them to be in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, QuarkXpress, or In Design.

In most instances, after a book manuscript has been tentatively accepted for publication, our copy editors will critique and/or edit the written printout of your book and then return the edited manuscript to you so you can prepare your disks in error-free form. Our typesetter will then copy your disks onto our disks, and enter additional computer commands to typeset the book.

Typed manuscripts should be error-free, and completely double-spaced, in a very basic type font such as 12-point Times New Roman. All the lines, including quoted materials, should be double-spaced. Leave all your pages unjustified on the right-hand side. Don't hyphenate at the ends of lines nor underline words.

Be sure to very carefully check your disks with a spell-check program before submitting them to us, and be particularly careful to standardize spacing at the ends of sentences, leaving just one space after the period. Computerized typesetting places increased responsibility on the author to be sure that his or her copy truly is error-free. Check your manuscript carefully, chapter by chapter, to be sure that the format and style used in one part of the book is used throughout the manuscript.

Horizon Publishers' Manuscript Acceptance Process
If your manuscript is selected for publication by Horizon Publishers, a contract will be prepared which will list in detail the arrangements to be made concerning the book's publication, the payments you'll receive for the copies sold, and further relationships and responsibilities you and Horizon Publishers will have. If you live nearby, you'll be invited to visit our offices to finalize the contract, or if you live further away those details will be handled by mail and telephone. This will give you the opportunity to have many of your questions answered.

Responses to a few typical questions are provided here for your convenience:
1. How long after acceptance will it be before your book will be published? Book publishing and marketing requires long-range planning, scheduling, budgeting, and many hours of editing, typesetting, design and production. The tasks performed for your book must be combined with other projects to produce an effective, integrated sales campaign as new books are released. Because forthcoming publications are typically scheduled a year or more in advance, it will probably be between nine and eighteen months after your contract is signed before your book is on the store shelves.

2. How are royalties paid? Royalties are paid based on a percentage of the wholesale proceeds for your book, as agreed in your contract. Horizon Publishers does not pay an advance against royalties.

3. What will be done to promote your book? The marketing and sales staff will begin promoting your book several months before it appears in print. New book notices, order forms, and other descriptive materials will be sent to hundreds of book dealers across the country. Your book will be included in catalogs, brochures, and other direct mail pieces. In many instances, in-store promotional materials will be prepared and provided to appropriate stores. The sales force will present your book to hundreds of store book buyers.

A publisher's role is to advertise its books to stores and attempt to motivate those retail stores, in turn, to advertise the book to the general public through co-op advertising programs. Most media and print ads, such as newspaper ads, are typically in the domain of the retail store rather than the publisher.

4. What information from me will be needed for you to publish my book? Information we will need from you in order to publish your book includes your qualifications and biographical information, your future writing plans, a professional-quality photo of yourself, and a suggested title and subtitle. Horizon Publishers, however, makes the final decision on the book's title and subtitle, style, and on its cover design and artwork.

Now you know the basics of manuscript submission to Horizon Publishers. If you have any questions, feel free to call or write:

Manuscript Acquisitions Editor
Horizon Publishers & Distributors, Inc.
191 N. 650 East
Bountiful, Utah 84010-3628
Telephone: (801) 295-9451
Fax: (801) 298-1305
E-mail: HPService09@Hotmail.com

We hope to see your best work very soon!