Send us
your book.
Verlagi welcomes manuscripts and proposals directly from writers, with or without a literary agent. And, unusually for a publishing house, we reply to every submission.
No author fees · Read by a person · Initial response within 30 days
Reading window: open until 30 September 2026. Everything received before then has an answer by 31 October, and that means a decision, not an acknowledgement. Arrive later and nothing is lost: your book simply joins the next reading round, with its own answer-by date.
What to send
One submission at a time, please. DOCX or PDF
A covering letter: your title, a one-sentence pitch, and why this book, now
A synopsis: one to two pages
An opening sample: the first three chapters, or roughly 10,000 words
Approximate final word count
Intended readership
Two or three comparable titles
A short author biography: the expertise behind the book
Non-fiction may be submitted as a proposal with sample chapters. Fiction should be complete. You keep all rights unless and until a publishing agreement is signed. Submitting costs you nothing, ever.
Never written one of these? We wrote down what we look for: how to write a synopsis and how to write a non-fiction proposal.
What we want to read
Non-fiction
The bulk of the list. We publish books that explain how something works and why it changes things, written for a curious general reader rather than for a seminar room. Expertise matters more than platform: if you have spent a decade inside a subject and have something to say that outsiders miss, we want to hear from you.
Science · Technology · AI · Business · Money · Economics · Psychology · Society · Innovation · The Future
- A proposal is enough. Unlike fiction, non-fiction doesn’t need to be finished. A strong proposal with sample chapters is a real submission.
- What to send. A covering letter, a one-to-two page synopsis or chapter outline, and roughly 10,000 words of sample, usually the opening.
- Length. Most books we’d consider run 60,000–110,000 words. Tell us your target if it isn’t written yet.
- First-time authors welcome. No agent and no previous book required. Tell us what qualifies you to write this one.
- Evidence. Where a book makes technical, medical or financial claims, expect us to commission specialist review, so tell us what the argument rests on.
What we’re less likely to take: highly technical monographs with no route to a general reader, manuscripts needing months of rescue work, and books whose argument isn’t evidenced.
Fiction
Fiction is a small part of the list, but a real one, and the door is open, not ajar. We publish novels driven by an idea: speculative and near-future stories, science fiction that takes its science seriously, and thrillers where the premise does the work. If your novel would sit naturally beside the non-fiction we publish, it belongs here.
Speculative Fiction · Near-future Novels · Science Fiction · Techno-thrillers · Literary Fiction with an idea at its centre
- Complete manuscripts only. Unlike non-fiction, we can’t judge a novel from a proposal. Send it when it’s finished.
- Send the opening, not the whole file. The first three chapters or roughly 10,000 words, plus a one-to-two page synopsis that tells us the ending. Don’t withhold it. We need to know the book lands.
- Length. Most novels we’d consider run 70,000–120,000 words. Outside that, tell us why.
- Debuts are welcome. No agent, no publication history and no platform required. The novel is the argument.
- Series. Pitch the first book as a book that works alone. Tell us if more are planned.
What we’re less likely to take: fiction with no connective tissue to the subjects we publish, partial or early drafts, and series proposals resting on an unwritten first book.
Guidance by subject
And, kindly, what we’re not looking for
Not our list at all: poetry, children’s and picture books, screenplays, song lyrics, comics and graphic novels. We would rather tell you here than take a month to tell you by email.
Beyond format: get-rich-quick material or anything resembling regulated financial advice, and manifesto-style arguments without evidence or a clear reader. Everything else, we want to see.
The form
Or email everything to [email protected]with your book’s title in the subject line
Tell us about your book. It takes a few minutes, and we read everything we’re sent. If you’d rather use email, everything can go to [email protected] with the title in the subject line.
How it works
The long version: what happens after you submit
Submit
Send your opening material and proposal.
Read
Every submission is read. We assess the writing, the idea and the fit.
Full manuscript
If interested, we ask to read more.
Discussion
The book, the editorial work, the publishing plan.
Offer
A traditional publishing offer, if we believe in the book.
You retain all rights unless and until a publishing agreement is signed
Questions
Do I need a literary agent?+
No. We read unagented submissions as a matter of course; agented submissions are equally welcome.
Does Verlagi ever charge authors?+
No. Not for reading, not for editing, not for production, not for marketing. Verlagi invests in the books it publishes and earns its return by selling them. Anyone requesting payment in Verlagi's name is not us.
Do you accept simultaneous submissions?+
Yes. Tell us if another publisher makes an offer.
Do you accept incomplete manuscripts?+
Non-fiction proposals may be considered before final completion. Fiction should be complete.
Will you publish everything submitted?+
No. Verlagi intends to maintain a deliberately small and selective list.
How quickly will I hear back?+
We aim to provide an initial response within 30 days.
What terms do you offer?+
World rights in all formats. Modest advances. Royalties as a share of what the book earns, with the schedule in plain figures before you sign. Quarterly statements and payments. The terms are the same agented or unagented, and if we stop keeping your book available, the rights revert to you.
Does Verlagi use AI to read or edit submissions?+
No. Every submission is read by a person, and no judgement about a book, and no editing of it, is made by a machine. Administration and production are largely automated here: metadata, contracts, royalty accounting, file handling. That is where it stops.
Do you accept books written with AI?+
The book has to be yours. We do not accept manuscripts generated by AI. We have no reliable way to detect this and we will not pretend otherwise, so we rely on your word and on the warranty in our publishing agreement. Ordinary tools we will not police: spellcheck, transcription, research. If a generative tool played a substantive part in the drafting, tell us when you submit and let us weigh it.
We’re reading.
The founding list will be small, and it is being chosen now. If you’ve written something with a substantial idea at its centre, we want to see it.
Go to the form