Castle Gate Press has published using a traditional model from 2013-2018. One of our books is an Amazon genre bestseller, and another won a Selah Award for Christian fiction in the speculative category. Yet another was a finalist for Selah, and another a finalist for the Grace Award. In short, we provide award-winning editing. We […]
Is Your Manuscript Ready For Publication?
One of my favorite parts of being the editorial director at Castle Gate Press is the sense of hope that fills me every time I open an e-mail with a submission. Each one brings the possibility of a great story, memorable characters, and plot twists I won’t see coming. I almost hold my breath as I […]
Things We Do and Don’t Like to See in a Submission to Castle Gate Press
Although each publishing house has their submission guidelines, there are always parts of the query letter and synopsis that are left undefined, or perhaps it is assumed that everyone is in agreement that they should be professionally presented, yet again, this is often undefined. So we at Castle Gate Press would like to give you a […]
Lessons from the Slush Pile
Although good news rarely comes from the slush pile, we can find many lessons about the craft of writing buried within it. One of our goals here at Castle Gate Press is to encourage new authors, so even though we can’t send personalized feedback to everyone who submits to us, I would like to share […]
Rejection Letters – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
We all know rejection letters are UGLY. They hurt. We put our heart and soul into our writing, spend more time than we’d like to remember revising and polishing our manuscript. Finally, we put it in front of agents and editors. Then the responses come. Our baby, rejected…often multiple times. We tend to think […]
Revision Prompt – The Hook
You’ve heard of writing prompts, now we have revision prompts! Each prompt will give you a specific writing issue to check for in your WIP, along with tips on how to fix each. Going through this process one issue at a time will not only help polish your current novel but will also teach you specific ways […]
Get Fewer Rejection Letters
With the beginning of the year, one of my goals has been to catch up on reading through submissions. As I’ve reviewed queries and submission over the last month, I’ve noticed a few issues that repeatedly come up which virtually always lead to a rejection letter. The following suggestions won’t necessarily lead to a contract, but they […]
Submissions are up!
As Castle Gate Press approaches its one year anniversary of accepting submissions of novels with a twist of the fantastic, we see a marked increase in the number of submissions we receive each month. The word is getting out, and there are several reasons why: 1) Excellent content on our blog. Our Fantastic Fiction blog contains articles with […]
Castle Gate Press Will Be at the ACFW Conference
Both Phyllis and Suzanne, Castle Gate Press’s CEO and Editorial Director, will be at the ACFW Conference this coming weekend in St. Louis. We’re ready to have some fun, and want you to join us. We’re taking pitches – If you’ve got a novel with a hint of speculative fiction (or maybe a lot more!), we’d love to […]
The Slush Pile – Murky Waters or Treasure Trove?
The phrase “slush pile” generally doesn’t paint a pretty picture in the minds of either authors or agents and editors. For authors, being in the slush pile means a long wait on the good side, and never hearing anything on the bad side. For agents and editors, the slush pile means long hours of work […]