LLP publishing program
We encourage queries from Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada of all backgrounds who are interested in submitting an original fiction or non-fiction manuscript.Literary quality and originality are our main criteria, and diversity and inclusion are very much on our minds. We have published writers of colour, immigrant writers, many members of minority language communities, both francophone and anglophone, LGBTQ writers, and a wide variety of others. However, we are a small press publishing about 10 titles a year, including work in French and work in translation. We are extremely selective and can publish only a small fraction of the quality manuscripts we receive.
So what is it that intrigues us? A compelling story. A fresh voice. An edgy point of view. Sheer brilliance. Intensity. Warmth. Intelligence. We also consider the makeup of our list as a whole, which we wish to reflect the diversity we see all around us. Something new, something that catches our attention, something irresistible, something unlike anything we've come across before. And much else besides.
A book's marketability is always a consideration! The press's survival--and our authors' careers--depend in large part on book sales. Send us your best work, and if it doesn't fit our current needs, we hope you'll find a good home for it elsewhere.
In fiction, only novels and novellas will be considered. For non-fiction, in the LLP Singles series of short essays, manuscripts should be 20,000 - 30,000 words in length. We also consider longer works of trade non-fiction. You can consult the Canada Council's definition of literary non-fiction to see if your title would be considered eligible for funding.
The books we publish for young people are a reflection of the same wish for freshness, compassion, and intelligence that intrigue us in books for adults. If we're going to introduce a book to a young person, we want it to be irresistible.
In translations, we have so many in the works, that we will not be able to consider new submissions until 2021.
LLP does not publish: poetry, romance, historical fiction, science fiction, graphic novels, cartoons, collections of essays or interviews, or previously published work. Because of funding criteria, we do not normally publish reprints.
How do you know if your book is right for LLP--and LLP is right for you? Read more on this website and familiarize yourself with the Books page. Come to our events in Montreal and elsewhere. Those are good ways to take our measure. But the best way is to read some of the books we have already published. They intrigued us, and they may intrigue you, too.
