Elva Resa Publishing is a traditional independent publisher based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Our mission is to make a positive difference in people’s lives. We specialize in quality resources by, for, and about military and first responder families.
In honor of our 30th anniversary, we are opening our submissions window for an extended period during 2027.
Call for Manuscripts: January 15, 2027 — December 15, 2027
This call for manuscripts for our Elva Resa imprint opens January 15, 2027 and closes December 15, 2027, for limited publishing slots in our 2028, 2029, and 2030 seasons. Submissions outside this window will not be considered.
During this extended open call for manuscripts, Elva Resa will accept nonfiction proposals for all ages, as well as children’s picture books. We are looking for well-developed, ready-to-publish manuscripts on military family life, first responder family life, and veteran care and transition.
Our first priority is to publish resources that are greatly needed within the military and first responder communities, with information or perspective that is not already widely published and that will have the greatest positive impact on military and/or first responder families.
If you are an outstanding author committed to your craft, platform, and community, and you have a strong voice, unique perspective, and exceptional book that informs, inspires, or encourages military or first responder families, we look forward to reading your proposal during this call for manuscripts. We pay competitive royalty rates, with international distribution. We welcome proposals from authors of all communities and backgrounds.
Please note that during this open call for manuscripts, we will NOT be accepting the following types of proposals: memoir, military history, adult fiction/novels, preteen/teen fiction, romance, poetry, general books not related to military or first responder life, books written by or heavily polished with AI, or incomplete manuscripts.
Due to an anticipated large number of submissions in this call, we are not able to respond to every proposal. We will respond to accepted manuscripts on a rolling basis.
All publishing agreements have been awarded for past submissions. If your book was not accepted in a previous call, you may resubmit as long as you have substantially revised your manuscript since your last proposal and it meets the criteria of this proposal.
Submission Guidelines
Please follow these submission guidelines and have your proposal information and manuscript ready before you complete our online form.
Your submission should clearly show there is a need for your book in this market, you are the best author to write and promote the book, and Elva Resa is the right publisher.
Guidelines and requirements:
- You must use the online submission form during the call for manuscripts window. We accept ONLY electronic submissions. Please do NOT mail us a hard copy.
- This call for manuscripts is for our Elva Resa imprint only. All submissions MUST relate to military life (any branch; active duty, Guard/Reserve, transitioning or veteran status) or first responder life, and must support Elva Resa’s mission.
- We will only consider complete proposals that include complete manuscripts.
- Your work must be original, written by you, and you must own the rights to your work.
- If you have used AI for any part of your research or writing, you MUST disclose any AI use on your submission form. In general, we do NOT recommend using AI at any stage of writing or editing your manuscript or proposal. AI uses common tropes that we must undo in the editing process. If you use AI in any capacity, we are less likely to accept your proposal. We strongly prefer seeing your original work with NO use of AI for research, organizing, outlining, writing, editing, polishing, and/or any other use. If we do accept your manuscript and you have used AI, you will be required to note your specific AI sources within the manuscript at each instance, in the same way you would footnote other sources. You will also be required to submit your full prompt history. Please plan accordingly. If you use AI and do not disclose it on your submission form, we may recall any offer to publish your book.
- If you have more than one author, only the lead author should complete the proposal form (one submission per manuscript).
- Unless you are a professional artist, please do not include illustrations.
- When preparing your manuscript, please double space; use a readable font, such as 12-point Times New Roman or Calibri; auto number your manuscript pages; keep a 1” margin on all sides; and include your name, email, and phone number in the header of each page. Save your file as a pdf with the following naming convention: LastName_BookTitle_MS.pdf
- Send us your best work. We encourage you to workshop your manuscript with a writer’s group to fully develop your content or work with a developmental editor prior to submitting.
To complete the online form, you will need the following:
- Book title and logline (one sentence description).
- Three comp books published within the last three years: one competitive book (primary reader might buy instead of yours), one complementary (might buy with yours), one comparable (similar example of a book like the one you propose). Include Title/ISBN/publisher/year, and how your book is different/better. (Do NOT use AI to compile your comps—AI sometimes hallucinates and makes up books that do not exist. Make sure you have actually read your comps.)
- Current existing professional author platform information.
- Summary of your high-level marketing plan approach, including at least three major campaign strategies you will lead to promote your book in the six months leading up to publication and 12 months post-publication. (Do not list retailers, etc; tell us what your efforts will be as the author to connect with your readers.)
- Optional cover letter to further explain any of your answers or provide relevant information not asked about on the form.
- Complete manuscript, formatted per guidelines.
Submissions Form:
[Submissions Form will open January 15, 2027]
Thank you for your interest in Elva Resa Publishing!