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. (Also see our opportunities for freelance writers, editors, artists, and production specialists.)
Call for Manuscripts – Closed
Our recent call for manuscripts submission period for our Elva Resa imprint ended August 15, 2023. Due to the large number of submissions received, we are still reviewing proposals. We plan to extend publishing offers by September 15 to fill a limited number of book release slots for the 2025 and 2026 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
We are not currently accepting manuscripts – please only submit during the open call for manuscripts. 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.
- We anticipate the next call for manuscripts will be open to fiction and nonfiction, all ages, for our Elva Resa military family life imprint. 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 or sample chapters, 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.]
- 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. This is an example of the information you should include in your proposal as well as manuscript or sample chapters we’d like to see for different types of books: Elva-Resa_Proposal-Outline.docx
During the next open submissions, you may submit your proposal in pdf format via an online form using the following file naming convention:
Proposal: LastName-BookTitle-Proposal.pdf
Manuscript/sample chapters: 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.