book titles in development - overview

We are working on many exciting ideas for future books in the Ultimate series and will post more information about additional new titles in development as they are scheduled.

Proposed Titles  

We have a long list of titles that may be of interest to readers. Proposed titles require market research after which we seek feedback from retailers on what they will support.

 

Titles with Deadlines Pending 

When a proposed title gets the green light, we open it to writers and photographers and set a deadline for submission of material.

 

Our Format Guidelines page has important information to review before sending work. Due to the volume of material we receive, anything that doesn’t conform to those guidelines will not be reviewed.

 

Our editors do not wait for the deadline to begin working with submissions. We receive thousands of photos and stories for a book so we start reading and evaluating content immediately.

 

By the time a deadline arrives our editors often have the majority of the content screened and have been working with contributors on editorial queries and ideas for story or photo development.

 

Please don’t procrastinate. Get your work in sooner rather than later for our editors to review.

 

Titles with Deadlines Closed 

When a deadline passes we close the title to submissions and our story and photo editors begin the process of selecting approximately 50−65 stories and 35-40 photos from the pool of submissions received. We call these our “finalists.”

 

Finalists are notified and sent publishing agreements. A signed publishing agreement is required before work can continue to be considered for publication.

 

The Book Titles in Development pages will be updated to reflect the progress on and status of a book title as new information becomes available.

 

If you see “finalists notified”  on a title for which you submitted work and we did not contact you, we're sorry but your submission is no longer under consideration. 

 

Many beautifully-crafted stories and photos do not get published. Our editors must weigh many variables when selecting material for publication; the balance of content overall, how material fits and flows together, and redundancy in themes or plots. Our not selecting your material for publication reflects those variables and is not a reflection of the quality of your work.

 

We encourage you to continue submitting material for books appropriate for your work regardless of the outcome of a particular submission you’ve made.

 

Finalists for Publication 

A manuscript containing all of the finalists' work is submitted to our publisher for approval.

 

At that point we begin working with page counts and sample layouts to determine the final 35-45 stories and 70-90 photos that will actually be published.

 

We notify all finalists of whether they will or will not be published in the book.

 

Schedules and Dates 

Check this website first when you have a question about the status or schedule for a book.

 

Dates can change. Many things that influence the schedule are beyond our control, but we will always do our best to meet the dates posted.

 

Staying in Contact 

It could be several weeks, if not months, before we need to reach you concerning your submission.

 

Once you register as a user there will be links available to keep us informed of changes in your contact information.