Can you believe we are publishing our 18th book? House of Gratitude will be published in early May. Your submissions are welcome between now and April 22. See details below. (DEADLiNE EXTENDED TO 4/22)
Submissions : Your writing and art may speak to one or more themes.
Essays are limited to 2700 words.
Artwork is limited to high-resolution (600 dpi) grayscale photographs or photographs of original artwork. Full color photo submissions for cover art are welcome.
Photos: We love family or personal photos that relate to your stories! We can do some basic retouching for old photos, and we’ll send you a copy. We can’t use photos from the internet because as published books, we have to be careful with copyrighted works.
New Authors: Our books focus on personal experiences, poetry, faith journeys, and perhaps a light essay. There is plenty of disagreement about faith “out there,” “in here” we want our books to inspire and uplift, to comfort and provide a way forward, to bridge and connect us with others.
Sample Themes Related to Gratitude:
House and Home: What does it mean to feel at home? Is home a building, a place, a community? Is it a relationship with God or Self or the natural world? What is the relationship between house, home, and faith? In what ways are you grateful for this sense of house and home?
Mothers, Fathers, Family: Mothers Day and Father’s Day occur shortly after we publish. How are you grateful for your mother, father, or family?
Gratitude: What does gratitude mean for you? Why does gratitude matter? How does gratitude manifest in your life—connection to your body, to Self, to others, to the natural world, to God?
Gratitude, Balance, and Hard times: How does gratitude help move through hard times? How does gratitude help us to stay balanced? Do you have a story where gratitude really made a difference?
Outreach: We are committed to reaching out to faith communities beyond those represented by Retreat House covenant partners. If you know of someone from a non-Christian faith tradition, we would love it if you would invite them to participate; or, pass their name along to Gretchen for a personal invitation.
Gretchen Martens | Village of Care Press
Mobile: 214-620-5360 | Email: GretchenMartens@gmail.com
Author Fee: We request $100 from authors, which defrays the publication cost and entitles authors and artists to up to 10 books; additional books may be pre-ordered at the author rate of $5 per book. After the initial print run, books are $10. Discount for first-time authors: $50 fee.
Scholarships are available on a first come-first served basis by contacting Lil Smith (lil@retreathousecommunity.org). Scholarships must be approved before you submit. Receiving a scholarship in the past does not guarantee receiving a scholarship for this book. Donations to the scholarship fund or full author sponsorships are gratefully accepted.
Ready to submit? Questions on submitting? Nervous as a first-time author?
Contact Gretchen Martens, your friendly editor, at GretchenMartens@gmail.com.