FRENCH QUARTER PUBLISHING HOUSE

Morgana Press was initially formed in August 2005 as a signature local and regional publisher specializing in a select number of adult high-quality titles; in the aftermath of Katrina, within a short period of time the company gained significant status as a groundbreaking national publisher. However, although reaching national readership we still specialize in the extraordinary voices, visions and stories of the people and places of New Orleans.

With our focus on Louisiana-based authors, themes and/or subject matter, the writer from Maine may submit a book about our region, or a writer from New Orleans may submit a story about Venice. However, we are far less enthusiastic about a writer from elsewhere submitting a story about elsewhere. Whether one still resides in the Crescent City or has been displaced into relocation, every effort will be made to give priority to the New Orleanian writer. Any type of a present or former connection to the city, or time spent here, invariably grabs our attention.

Morgana Press, continuing the age-old American tradition and commitment of having a social conscience, is extraordinarily proud of its debut landmark standout narrative and pictorial, Orleans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré commemorative edition — a French Quarter fundraising and New Orleans awareness and conscious-building project with 100% publisher profits earmarked for French Quarter preservation.

For consideration, please send a query letter and SASE along with an interesting and non-formula overview of your project. Tell us what makes you and your project different. Describe the project in detail, including the book's content, anticipated length, intended audience, author's bio, promotional ideas, etc. You have but one opportunity to make a first impression and sell us on your talent and ideas, so make it count.

A synopsis, outline and sample chapter may be included. The inclusion of a self-portrait photograph is not necessary but helpful. Email correspondence will not be considered. Please do not telephone or drop off materials at our French Quarter office. Please remember, unsolicited manuscripts, illustrations, artwork, videos or discs are not accepted and will not be returned.

We will respond within 4-6 weeks.

If Morgana Press requests the submission of a manuscript, we only accept material for committee consideration and review on an exclusive basis for a commitment period of 12 weeks.

If a three-month period for solicited manuscripts passes without the author being informed of a decision, a polite note of reminder from the author is not out of order. Phone calls or emails on the status of manuscripts are very strongly discouraged. Never badger the publisher for an instant decision or make demands or threats; this can only hurt the author's chances of acceptance. Authors who feel dissatisfied with our procedures may withdraw their work from the submission process.

Manuscript materials and/or illustrations should not be an original and only a copy, since we do not assume responsibility for loss; again, please include a SASE with sufficient postage.

Please submit double-spaced, single-sided material with appropriate margins, and numbered pages. The more professional the editing prior to submission the greater the odds of acceptance. Unlike most publishers, we prefer that sample materials be bound.

If acceptance of the material for publication is recommended, a Morgana Press publishing contract will be offered.

We are a hands-on, devoted and dedicated royalty-based publisher with the rare ability to structure and personalize phenomenally unusual offerings, depending on the specific contributor and project at hand.

As a niche publisher, naturally we are highly selective and prefer to work with earnest and gifted authors, who harbor a certain zest, style, personality, stamina, charismatic and "X-factor" appeal. Possessing a moody, sad or sorrowful writer's personality and persona is OK; however, egomaniacs, curmudgeons, complainers, prima donnas and those with an overall bad attitude, sense of entitlement and a reluctance to promote one's own work are strongly discouraged from making submissions to Morgana Press.

Submissions are currently closed, except by prior invitation. New unsolicited submissions will not be accepted until after November 15, 2008; please review our guidelines and save your query letters until that time.

Please only submit materials that are available in Microsoft Word file format (.doc); WordPerfect files and handwritten manuscripts are not acceptable.