Affinity Rainbow Publications extends to authors the opportunity to submit their contemporary romance novel. All work submitted to us is considered for a “traditional publishing contract.” This means no costs are incurred by the author and the entire cost for producing, publishing, and initial marketing of the work is covered by Affinity Rainbow Publications.

Below you will find Affinity’s requirement for the submission of manuscripts. Please comply with these requirements before submission. If you do not follow these requirements, your manuscript will be returned unread and we will ask for it to be reworked before resubmission. Manuscripts sent to multiple publishers will be rejected. The genre is unlimited. No pornographic material. If you are unsure about the material content, please email Affinity for consultation: affinityebooks1@gmail.com. Manuscripts must reflect the best work of the author. Poor editing will severely diminish the prospect of the submitted manuscript going forward.

The size of your document is not as important as the quality. We publish eBooks of all sizes and there is no set size for the number of pages or word count requirements. Please note: only manuscripts that are over 50,000 words will be published as a printed book and an eBook. Manuscripts under 45,000 words will be published as eBooks only, unless otherwise negotiated.

Submit the completed manuscript electronically. Please include the following: a one-page plot summary including a working title, the genre, and the word count. Complete author biography, and synopsis for back of the book. Author information: name, mailing address, and email address. Include any previous publications including free to public forums on the internet. Advise us if the manuscript was published previously. If so, let us know the status of the manuscript with the previous publisher.

General Editing Requirements and Page setup. The Chicago Manual of Style is the basis for our editing style. House edit rules supersede all others. These include the use of serial commas, and all thoughts and emphasized words are in italics. Times New Roman. Font size: 12 point. Do not add a space between paragraphs. We will return for corrections any manuscript that has spaces between paragraphs. 1 1/2 line spacing. There must only be one space between sentences. First line of every paragraph indented to 5 pt. Do not use tab to indent your paragraphs. Use the page layout feature to accomplish this. All scene breaks must have some sort of symbol to separate the scenes. Do not have one long story without chapters. Clearly indicate chapters. New chapters should have a page break associated with them. To do this in MS Word, click on the Insert tab then click on Page Break, located on the left side of the toolbar.

Submission Timeline

On submission of a manuscript or any communication with Affinity, you will receive an acknowledgement of that communication. If you do not receive a return email within two days, please email to ask why. We will not be offended because we understand that emails do, from time to time, get lost. If your manuscript is of interest, we will notify you within sixty days. Publication of an accepted manuscript on contract is within eight months after satisfactorily fulfilling all contractual elements.

How to format a document in MS Word

       Open a new Word document.

       Click on MS office symbol in the top left corner. Click on Save As in pop-up box, use your document name.

       Go to Page Layout located in the tabs at the top of the document.

       Go to Paragraph located in the middle options.

       Click on the small arrow in the right corner under After 0 pt.

       Alignment should be justified.

       Outline level should be body text.

       Indentation should all be at zero.

       Special should be first line by 0.5

       Mirror indents should be unchecked.

       Spacing before and after should all be at zero.

       Line spacing should be 1 1/2 and ‘at’ should be blank.

       Check Do not add space between paragraphs of the same style.

       Click OK.

       Save document by clicking on the MS Office Symbol in the top left corner and click on save.

Examples

Page Layout

Page Layout Toolbar How to Format Header

        Open your manuscript page.

        Double click on the top of the page.

        Header and header toolbar will appear.

        Click on header footer page number.

       Select top of page and select bold number 3 you will see Page 1 of 1

       Click in front of the word Page in the header.

       Type in your name and the title of your book.

        Click on the header tool bar and select close header and footer a red X on the right side.

        You should see the grey header above.

Punctuation Guidelines

    Example 1

    Susan and Elise went to the museum and had a good time. They saw some impressive art work, ate in the cafeteria, and then went home.

    Example 2

    “I hope you like art,” Susan said.

    “Is that my surprise?” Elise asked.

    “Yep, I can’t wait to show you the Rembrandt they have on display.”

    “A day at the art museum with you…I can’t wait.”

 Above are examples of going from telling to showing. The first tells the reader what is going on. In the second example, dialogue shows the reader what is happening. You want to bring the reader into the story with Susan and Elise instead of having the day glossed over and reading like a headline. Remember, if it is important enough to the story for you to tell us, it is important enough to show us.

Dialogue should follow these guidelines:             

           Serial commas: place a comma after each item in a series, including the item before and. For example: she took out her coat, her boots, and her scarf.

           In dialogue, when one character is speaking to another and says the character’s name, commas should be around the name. E.g., “Sorry to hear that, Rachel, can I do anything for you?”

          In dialogue when attaching she said, there must be a comma before the last quotation mark, unless it is a question mark or exclamation mark. E.g., “I really have to leave so I can catch the last bus,” Rachel said.

            In dialogue when you use a question mark or an exclamation mark, you do not add she exclaimed or she asked. “I missed the bus. Crap!” “Do you really want to do that?”

            In dialogue, limit the use of she said, she exclaimed, etc. The written word should say it for you. “Crap, I missed the bus!” In context, the reader will know that she exclaimed this rather than said it.

            In dialogue, do not attach an adverb to said such as quietly, softly, regretfully, etc. E.g., “I really have to leave so I can catch the last bus,” Rachel said regretfully. Let what you write show the reader how the character says something. If you remove regretfully from the example, it would read, “I really don’t want to go but I have to so I can catch the last bus.”

            Either use said or an action in a sentence, not both. E.g., “We need to get out of here,” Alice said. Or, “We need to get out of here.” Alice grabbed Susan’s hand and pulled her along. Either one of these sentences is correct. The incorrect way would be: “We need to get out of here,” Alice said as she grabbed Susan’s hand and pulled her along.

           Dialog should start the paragraph. E.g., “Dammit, Karen, I told you to stop.” Rachel walked across the room and flopped into a chair. Not, Rachel walked across the room and flopped into a chair. “Dammit, Karen, I told you to stop.”  

          Use an ellipse (…) to indicate hesitation in speech or thoughts that trail off. Do not put spaces on either side of the ellipse. “I’m not sure what to do…” Mary looked distracted. Or you can use, “Well…uhm…why don’t you kiss me?”

       Use an em dash (—) at (alt+0151), a long dash. It indicates when speech is interrupted or abruptly cut off. Do not put a space on either side of an em dash. Example: Nancy’s lower lip quivered as she looked at Jane. “I think I love y—“ New paragraph. “Don’t say it,” said Jane.   

        Within the story, remember the following suggestions:

            Strike a balance between the character’s name and the word she. Don’t overuse either, but in some cases, it is imperative to use the character’s name instead of she. Clearly let the reader know who is talking or what the character is doing.

           Limit the use of adverbs (words that end in ly). “She was mad,” can be taken in a couple ways. “She was really mad,” leaves no doubt in a reader’s mind about how she is feeling and has a larger impact than talking about a really big house. “It was a really big house.” Instead of really try huge, gigantic, enormous, etc.

          For thoughts or words you want emphasized, use italics and not a single quote.

           Passive voice weakens what you are trying to convey to the reader. In a passive sentence, the subject does not do the action, but the action is done to the subject, e.g., the students are taught by the teacher. In that example, are taught is the passive voice. If you change it to the professor teaches the students, the professor now performs the action.

           Show by creating a scene or use dialogue to create an event. When you give a summary and not an action scene, you are telling and not showing.

        Head Hopping will cause the rejection of a manuscript.

      Head hopping occurs when more than one person’s point of view (POV) is used within a scene. Head hopping and POV are two different parts of writing. Examples:

      “Oh, no you don’t get away with it that easily.”  Lacy looked at Serena and shook her head.

       Serena felt her heart skip a beat. “Yes, I can and you can do nothing about it.”

    The hairs on the back of Lacy’s neck prickled and she stepped back. Serena wasn’t going to make the same mistake again and moved closer to her lover.

        In this example the POV switches from Lacy to Serena many times. The passage should be from Lacy’s POV only. Only Lacy can feel, see, or taste from her perspective. NO OTHER character’s viewpoint can be in the scene. It should read.

       “Oh, no you don’t get away with it that easily.” Lacy looked at Serena and shook her head.

       “Yes, I can and you can do nothing about it.” Serena put her hand over her heart.

       The hairs on the back of Lacy’s neck prickled and she stepped back.

       “I won’t make the same mistake again.” Serena stepped closer.

    This passage is from Lacy’s POV only. She is the only one who has emotions and can see Serena’s action.