Welcome and a BIG hello to everyone

[museitupeditor@yahoo.ca]

I'll be around all day to answer any questions you may have about MuseItUp Publishing. And don't be shy.

MuseItUp Publishing, our mainstream division hosts various genres:

mystery, fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, dark fiction, romance, historical fiction, thrillers

MuseItYoung is our tween imprint targeting the 10-14 age group

MuseItHOT is our erotica romance imprint and all of its sub-genres.

You can discover our mainstream and erotica websites within our Muse bookstore (https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/) on the left side.

There are no hidden costs whatsoever.

We follow our motto: Building the team to achieve the dream! because we know without the author and publishing teams standing together as one the dream may never happen.

Looking forward to your questions today.

[Margaret Fieland]

What kinds of content do you find unacceptable?

[museitupeditor@yahoo.ca]

Margaret, we do state no rape and abuse, however, let me explain that we do accept these two elements in books if writers don't use them as sensationalism to get a rise in readers. They need to be crucial to the development of the story and character, and the scenes do not need to be graphically portrayed. There are ways to show this without actually going in with detailed account of what was done, but leave the impression as the story moves forward and the character shows his or her emotional state.

In erotica, the usual stuff like bestiality, under-age sex, once again rape and abuse.

We also do not accept anthologies of short stories. Those that we have contracted were stories that could stand on their own and we split them up into their own short story series.

Does this answer your question?

[Margaret Fieland]

Yes, thanks -- and here's another : what kinds of content (or whatever) move a story for you from YA to adult? Some of the YA I've read lately would definitely have been classified as adult fiction when I was growing up.

[Jenna Storm]

Hi Lea,

It's so nice of you to take time to answer our questions.

I have a 115k paranormal romance and I was wondering if you accept that word length? It's the first in a series and longer because it sets up the series. The second book is shy of 100k.

Thanks,
Jen

[museitupeditor@yahoo.ca]

Margaret, there's YA for the younger age group then YA for the older teens.

I really can't say there's any one particular thing that moves me in either genre other than a twist ending. I love to read books that surprise me in their outcomes. But for YA I would say the fully fleshed character portrayal, an author differentiating them from others, their goal to attain and the journey to win at all odds.

For the tween chapter books we're looking at not only an entertaining and fun read but also one that possibly can be used in schools or placed in their libraries.

YA sweet romances are ones that we lack of so if you have one penned, shoot it on over. LOL

[Julia Mozingo]

Hi Lea,

Thanks for doing the Q&A.

Great question, Margaret. Inquiring minds want to know. I'm also writing a YA currently.


My question: Are you open for submissions year round or only during certain times of the year?

[museitupeditor@yahoo.ca]

Hi Jennifer, yes we do accept that word length and have received even higher than that but our amazing editors always manage to dissect tons of nasty passive words and able to cut down the word count. I believe we had one at 130,000 words and once the content edits were done we looked at a tighter 112,000 word manuscript. It's now in the line editing stage. All authors go through two editors mandatory because what one misses the next editor might catch. There's also been instances that I've caught a word here or there during the final galley that's emailed to the author to take a last look with a fine-toothed comb before a book is released.

It's not true what they say that most small publishers only want books, books, books to build up their bookstores, and don't bother as much with the books contents to spruce it up as much as possible and present it and the author in the best form possible. We strive to work like the biggies, giving detail to everything from context to cover art work.

This answer your question?

[museitupeditor@yahoo.ca]

Julia, only during certain times.

Our closing periods are: July 1st and reopening October 1st.
then closing doors once again December 1st until Feb 1st.

We close December 1st because writers have a tendency to submit their NaNo works before they've finetuned them so that short closing period gives them time to go over their final books. Plus it's the holidays. LOL

So currently we are open to submissions.

[Julia Mozingo]

Lea,

I thought of another question. In your chat the other night you mentioned you "get tons of good stories but nothing really to differentiate them from other manuscripts we've read". Not to categorize you with other editors, because I know you're quite unique, but editors always say they'll know it when they see it, but are unable to explain further. Can you give some specific examples of the type of different you're looking for? Or it is us writers who need to come up with the "different"?

Thanks for any insights.

[museitupeditor@yahoo.ca]

hehe you made me giggle with that last question because it's a given the writer needs to come up with that so-called 'different' flavor in their book.

Let me put it this way:

how many times have you seen a movie come out and then immediately following this movie release you have carbon copies of movies with the same theme, only different characters and settings? Nothing really that catches you off guard at the end to say you weren't expecting that finale.

That's the same with books. We've received books that were very good but had the same vampire theme, one clan against another vamp clan, a human girl who fell in love with the vamp leader. So what in there is different? If we were to contract all of these good books that basically read the same how would we promote them differently to stand apart from each other? If the endings were all the same conclusion then after a while we would risk readers not looking at these paranormal books again. This is where the writer needs to come up with unique angles.

Let's take YA. I love the Twilight series, then bought the Vampire Diaries...both books were set in a high school but both also offered different conflicts with characters you either sympathized with, wanted to kill, or tell them to go get a life. LOL

It's that bonding factor you can achieve with a reader and character that we're also looking for, so we would excuse the fact the ending was typical and predictable if you can make us fall in love with your character from the start by stepping into your character's shoes and allowing them to move us, the reader, emotionally.

Does this help?

[Jenna Storm]

Thank you Lea! I agree the work has to be well edited to create a readership and promote the publisher. I would bet my manuscript can be trimmed by a few thousand and I'm all for it. I believe I am pitching to you during your pitch session. I look forward to it!

Jen

[Julia Mozingo]

Yes, this helps, because that's why I haven't yet submitted to you. I don't think my stories are "different" enough. They don't yet have the special difference or different twist to them, but I will keep working to achieve that difference.

I understand what you're saying, because when I judge contests I can tell when a manuscript "sings". Yet it's difficult to explain to contestants who ask what that means, especially when they have a grammatically perfect entry, but they've edited the life out of the story.

Thank you!

[museitupeditor@yahoo.ca]

Jennifer,let me make a comment to your statement "Promote the publisher"--my authors know I am a different bird of a publisher. My main concern is not as much to 'promote the Muse' but the authors works because as each author begins to get a following, regardless of where they are published, their readers will follow them and seek out their books. So my partner and I device various blog themes to get the word out on the author and their books without that annoying BUY BUY BUY slogan you see so many times splattered across the net.

We work on establishing the Muse by offering excellent customer service and quality works.

So promoting the author and getting the word out about the Muse do go together but also require a different type of promo, which we're doing.

In our readers groups our authors are invited to share new releases no matter who published them because the purpose of the readers group is for readers to get to know the authors and their works, not have the authors there as our ambassador selling agents. This is how I view things out of the box.

[Maritza Espinoza]

Hi, Lea!

Thanks for taking our questions!

I would like to know if you accept submissions for memoirs. I'm a "newbie" but I would descibe it as a memoir with a "chick lit feel". Hope that makes sense.:D