From the Publisher: My Manuscript Wish List (Part 1)

 Written by Justine, Publisher at GBP

In an earlier blog post, we shared that submissions will be reopening later this year (hopefully), and I thought now would be a good time to talk about my manuscript wish list for Grace Bell Publishing.

This first post is simply to cover the overall vision and direction of Grace Bell Publishing. In future blog posts, I’ll go into more specific details about the kinds of stories and genres that I’m particularly looking for.

Grace Bell Publishing aims to publish wholesome, fun, and hope-filled fiction for kids, teens, and families. 

One of the goals of GBP is to publish distinctive books with a clear sense of warmth and purpose. Gentle faith elements are often present in GBP titles, but they are not a requirement. The GBP catalogue focuses on engaging stories with positive values that are enjoyable and have broad family appeal.

Personally, I want to publish stories that readers will genuinely love while remaining age-appropriate and uplifting. I also REALLY enjoy books that weave gentle morals or values naturally into the story. Whether it is kindness, generosity, perseverance, gratitude, forgiveness, friendship, and other positive values. I appreciate stories where the message is shown through the characters' choices, actions, and interactions rather than being stated outright. I love comfort reads. I especially enjoy stories with humour, warmth, heart, and hope, and I tend to shy away from anything overly gritty or scary. I'm also not overly concerned about hitting an exact word count. While industry guidelines are important, I'm generally more interested in whether the story feels complete and well-paced. I would also say that GBP generally suits lower-stakes or middle/moderate-stakes stories rather than extremely high-stakes stories. For example, we are more likely to suit stories focused on friendships, family, community, humour, character growth, adventure, or everyday challenges rather than stories that feel intensely dark, graphic, or violent.

GBP titles generally lean towards commercial fiction rather than literary fiction.

These are some words that describe GBP books:

• Hopeful
• Kind
• Warm
• Encouraging
• Uplifting
• Age-appropriate
• Fun

I'll be sharing more detailed manuscript wish lists for specific categories and age groups in this five part blog series (links below). If you're planning to submit to Grace Bell Publishing, I hope these posts help you determine whether your manuscript might be a good fit. As always, this wish list is intended as a guide rather than a definitive checklist, and a manuscript does not need to match the preferences listed here to be considered.

MSWL Blog Series Links:

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