Submissions

Thank you for considering Floris Books for your book. As a smaller publishing company with a dedicated team we are able to give our authors personal care and attention, and many authors have published with us consistently for years.

Before submitting your manuscript, please take a moment to read our submission guidelines below and ensure you're sending us your work in the best possible way. You can also download our submission guidelines in PDF format.

Please note that we only accept submissions for children's picture books if they are in some way Scottish -- Scottish themes, Scottish setting, Scottish characters (or if you, the author or illustrator, is Scottish). This is so they fit into our Picture Kelpies range (see below). We do not accept general children's picture book submissions.

We also do not accept submissions by email.

Submission Guidelines - Adult Non-fiction

  • Please send the first three chapters of your book, along with a synopsis of the whole work
  • For non-fiction, please also send an introduction and/or table of contents
  • Please include a brief author biography
  • If you would like your work returned, please include a stamped-addressed envelope of the appropriate value. If no return postage is enclosed, we cannot return the manuscript.
  • Please do not send more than one book at a time
  • The address for submissions is at the bottom of this page
  • Please allow at least three months for a response

Submission Guidelines - Picture Kelpies - Scottish children's picture books

We publish a range of Scottish children's picture books known as the Picture Kelpies. They are suitable for children aged roughly 3 to 6 years old, and must be, in some way, Scottish -- Scottish themes, Scottish setting, Scottish characters, or a Scottish author/illustrator.

  • We can accept text-only submissions (no illustrations), illustration submissions (samples which don't yet have a story), or combined text and illustration submissions.
  • Please include a brief author/illustrator biography
  • If you would like your work returned, please include a stamped-addressed envelope of the appropriate value. If no return postage is enclosed, we cannot return the manuscript/illustrations.
  • Please do not send more than one book at a time
  • The address for submissions is at the bottom of this page
  • Please allow at least three months for a response

Submission Guidelines - General children's picture books

  • Unfortunately we are not able to accept unsolicited submissions for general children's picture books which don't fit the guidelines for our Picture Kelpie range (see above)
  • General or international picture books that you may see in our catalogue are co-publications with other European publishing companies

Submission Guidelines - Kelpies

  • We are currently accepting submissions for our Kelpies range of Scottish children's fiction.
  • Manuscripts should be 30,000 - 60,000 words, and should be suitable for either the 6-9 age group, or 8-12 age group
  • Stories should be set largely or wholly in Scotland, or have Scottish characters or themes
  • For more information, you can download our submissions guidelines in PDF format
  • Kelpies Prize: we also award an annual Kelpies Prize for new Scottish writing for children. Go to the Kelpies Prize website for more information

Submission Guidelines - Flyways

  • We are no longer commissioning for this series of books. Please note, therefore, that we do not accept submissions for books for children aged over 12 years.

Submission Guidelines - Illustrations

  • Very occasionally, we commission freelance illustrators to produce illustrations for book covers and/or internal book graphics. If you are a freelance illustrator, and would like us to hold your contact details and a small sample of your work on file, you are welcome to send those in. However, please note that we are not able to reply to any illustration submissions.
  • We do not accept unsolicited submissions for general children's picture books (but see guidelines for Picture Kelpies, above)

Submission Guidelines - What we don't publish

  • Please take time to look through our list and ensure that the subject of your book fits with our publishing programme
  • We do not publish in the following areas:
    • Poetry or verse, for children or adults
    • Adult fiction, or children's fiction over the age of 12 years
    • Autobiography, unless it specifically relates to one of our non-fiction subject areas
  • Note also that we do not accept unsolicited submissions for general children's picture books (but see guidelines for Picture Kelpies, above)

Submission Guidelines - Address for submissions

Send your submission to:
Children's Editor OR Non-Fiction Editor
Floris Books
15 Harrison Gardens
Edinburgh EH11 1SH
UK

Please do not send submissions by email; they will not be considered. Please allow at least three months for a response, before contacting us about your submission.