See You in September

I know. We didn't give any warning for this. We're sorry, but we're closing to unsolicited submissions until September. What a jerk move! you may be thinking. Okay, okay, let me explain.

Common Deer Press is small press. Like, really small. That means a few things happen here that may not happen at the larger houses. For example, several of us herd members wear more than one hat. I, for example (Ellie), not only publish our books, but I also take care of all the production stuff, too. That includes editing the manuscripts, designing the print books, handwriting the HTML for our e-books, and getting everything to our printers and distributor in a timely fashion (you can read more about my experience with all this stuff by visiting THIS SITE). Jenn, too, does more than her share with all the marketing and sales and distribution tasks. We have a few behind-the-scenes people as well that don't get the recognition they deserve (which is apparently how they like it, but they know we love them). It's a heavy job working at a small press.

However, we feel our size gives us an advantage. We work hard for our authors. Like, really, super hard. Our authors are not just numbers to us. We work very closely with them, make ourselves available to them, discuss things with them every step of the way. Things they would not get at a larger house, things most authors want. Business-wise, we also feel every little bump in the road, which means we work very hard to avoid the potholes. We feel passionately about every manuscript we take on. We have to. Otherwise...there can be no Common Deer Press.

So there are lots of great things to gain by publishing with a small house. But there are also a few lousy things. Because we are so committed to our books and our authors, we spend a lot of time working on/with them. That means our top priority is producing quality books that allow us to acquire more manuscripts and keep on keeping on. That means reading, and reading means time.

We have three amazing books coming out this fall. First up is Jesse Miller's darkly comedic literary fiction novel Unwrap Your Candy, which releases on September 10th. Then, on October 5th, we have the second book in Collin Piprell's absolutely fabulous Magic Circles series, Genesis 2.0. After that comes A. T. Balsara's super dark but also super terrific (and illustrated!) young adult book, The Great and the Small, which drops on the unsuspecting world on Halloween.

We are so excited about each and every one of these books. Seriously, so freakin' excited.

However... this means, we need time to make these beauties. And I am no slacker in this regard---I take book production very, very seriously. Our books are going to rock the socks off everyone who reads them, of that I guarantee. But still...time, guys. Time.

So we have closed our doors until the first book on our fall list comes out. We simply need that time to prepare to blow your mind. Blowing a person's mind is no small feat, you know. So that's what's happening in the Deer Den.

We hope that you'll stay tuned and send us your manuscript in the fall when we open again. We also hope that you have a wonderful summer---as wonderful at least as we hope to have. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

So for now...

See you in September.