CamCat Books is a small independent publisher that was founded in 2019. Since that time they have publishes 22 titles, and they have a number of titles already scheduled as coming soon for 2021. This is a lot of titles for such a new company.
They were founded by Sue Arroyo, an entrepreneur who sold her previous business, Trident Technologies, to start CamCat. I am unsure of the size of the company, but a business manager and sales and marketing manager are listed on the site. No mention of additional editors. They do not seem to have a distributor.
Initially they were supposed to launch an imprint named Equinox (not to be confused with the UK education publisher). It’s mentioned here and on their Facebook page, which isn’t very active. All the links to the imprint are dead, and I wasn’t able to find very much out.
CamCat does seem to be reader orientated, and they have a once a month reader survey with a hundred dollar prize. Their covers are inconsistent. Some are great, some are awful (in my personal opinion, of course).
CamCat Books publishes novel-length genre fiction aimed at adults as well as young adults. They’ll consider most works of fiction aimed at these age groups but they are most interested in publishing in the following genres:
- Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Romance
- Historical
- Paranormal
- Horror
- Adventure
- Westerns
They only consider polished and complete work that is between 65,000 and 125,000 words in length. It must be formatted to meet standard guidelines. They do not consider simultaneously submitted work or previously published work. Agented submissions get priority consideration. Although based on the authors they’ve previously published and their FAQ, the majority of what is submitted to them is direct from authors.
All work must be submitted through their Submittable portal. It’s very important to note that it’s an extensive form and they won’t let you file it without various website links (for goodreads, etc) that they ask for at the end. So scan down and make sure you have those before you start the process. It is very arduous and seems excessive.
I’ve also heard a complaints about their rejection letters not necessarily reflecting the books that were submitted.
To learn more, read their complete submission guidelines here.
They also have an extensive list of FAQ here.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2020 Guide to Manuscript Publishers.
She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish.You can follow her on Facebook here.
