Submissions
Thank you for your interest in Freehand Books. Before submitting, please read our submission guidelines carefully.
JANUARY 14, 2022 UPDATE: We now accept your submissions online. Please see our submissions process below. Thank you!
Freehand publishes innovative and literary novels, short story collections, graphic literature, and works of creative non-fiction. We are not currently reviewing submissions of poetry, young adult fiction, or children’s books. We only publish Canadian authors.
Freehand Books supports and is deeply interested in diversity, and we welcome and encourage submissions from Indigenous writers, writers of colour, writers from the LGBTQ2S community, writers with disabilities, and women. We are especially open to work that challenges expectations and expands readers’—and our own—empathy and knowledge. We are also interested in publishing Western Canadian writers, as we are proudly based in Calgary. Most of all, we look for well-crafted work of exceptional literary merit.
In your query package, please include:
- A cover letter that describes your work and explains how your book would complement our publishing program
- An author bio that includes your publication history
- Your manuscript, typed in a standard 12-point font, double-spaced
- Your contact information, including your email address
Please do not submit more than once. Revised or updated manuscripts will not be read, so please ensure that you are happy with your submission before you send it.
We accept simultaneous submissions, but request that you advise us if this is the case and contact us if you receive a publishing offer from another press. We do not, however, accept more than one manuscript at a time – please send us your best work.
We try to respond to submissions within six months. We will communicate with authors by email, so please include an email address where you can be reached.
We do not accept disks or USB sticks. We do not discuss queries over the phone.
Please send us your submissions online via CanSubmit: cansubmit.com.
Thank you! We look forward to receiving your submission!