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 for and about military families.
We accept submissions during a call for manuscripts only.
Call for Manuscripts – Will open November 1, 2025
Our next call for manuscripts submission period for our Elva Resa imprint will open November 1, 2025 for limited publishing slots in our 2027 and 2028 seasons.
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 families, we look forward to reading your proposal during our next call for manuscripts. We pay competitive royalty rates, with international distribution. We value diversity and welcome proposals from authors of all communities and backgrounds.
Submission Guidelines
During our next call for manuscripts, we will NOT be accepting the following types of proposals: memoir, military history, adult fiction/novels, romance, unwritten manuscripts, general books not related to military family life.
During our next call for manuscripts, we WILL accept the following types of proposals with well-developed, ready-to-publish manuscripts related to military family life:
- adult nonfiction focused on military family life topics (no memoir)
- preteen, teen, young adult nonfiction focused on military family life topics
- children’s nonfiction focused on military family life topics
- children’s fiction—picture books about military family life
For your reference and future planning, the following are basic submission guidelines.
Your proposal 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.
If you have not written a proposal before, we recommend How to Write a Book Proposal (5th Ed) by Jody Rein/Michael Larsen.
Guidelines and requirements:
- We accept ONLY electronic submissions. Please do NOT mail us a hard copy. Please use our online form to submit your proposal and manuscript/sample chapters.
- The next call for manuscripts will be for our Elva Resa military family life imprint only. All submissions MUST relate to military family life and support Elva Resa’s mission.
- Authors may submit directly or through an agent. Please indicate if you are simultaneously submitting your manuscript to other publishers.
- Your work must be original, written by you, and you must own the rights to your work. We will consider previously self-published books if you own the rights and the book has sold more than 1000 copies.
- If you have used AI for any part of your research or writing, you MUST note your specific AI source within the manuscript at each instance, in the same way you would footnote other sources.
- When submitting 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.
- Send us your best work. [Most proposals that are not accepted are due to underdeveloped content. We encourage you to workshop your manuscript with a writer’s group to fully develop your content or work with a development editor prior to submitting.]
- If your proposal includes a revised manuscript you previously submitted in a prior call for manuscripts, please summarize in your cover letter the significant changes you made to the manuscript since the last submission.
- We will only consider complete proposals that include complete manuscripts. An online submission form will be posted when the call for manuscripts window opens.
- Please use the following file naming convention:
Proposal: LastName-BookTitle-Proposal.pdf
Manuscript: LastName-BookTitle-MS.pdf
Detailed guidelines will be posted with the next call for manuscripts. We accept submissions only during a call for manuscripts.
Thank you for your interest in Elva Resa Publishing.