HarperOne Accepts Unagented Manuscripts for Digital-First Fiction Imprint

As of 2017, HarperOne is closed to submissions

San Francisco, CA (November 10, 2015) – HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, today announced HarperLegend, a new line that seeks to discover and publish new authors of visionary and transformational fiction in the digital-first format. HarperLegend will publish visionary fiction from new voices that communicates wisdom, insight, and/or personal growth with an overarching theme of transformation. Submissions will be accepted online via www.HarperLegend.com beginning today.

For nearly four decades, HarperOne has been publishing books that transform readers, institutions, and culture. Though the bulk of these books have been non-fiction, HarperOne has helped to create a unique genre of transformational or visionary fiction with such titles as The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Screwtape Letters and The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma, Buddha by Deepak Chopra, and Life's Golden Ticket by Brendon Burchard.

'Call them visionary fiction, spiritual novels, or just stories of change; these are books that not only move us, but transform and illuminate,' said Mark Tauber, senior vice president and publisher of HarperOne. 'We have seen the success of this type of fiction as we watch our sales grow and our authors' influence widen. As we can see from our colleagues at Avon Impulse, and often hear from our readers, digital-first fiction is growing.'

Submissions will be handled digitally via HarperLegend's online system and reviewed by the line's editorial team. If accepted, authors will obtain royalties for the e-book publication of their novels, access to HarperCollins's individualized editorial direction, and custom marketing and publicity guidance. Visit www.HarperLegend.com for more information.

What are they looking for?

"We want to read your visionary fiction. If you have a novel (or a trilogy or a series) that communicates wisdom, insight, transformation and/or personal growth, bring them on. We want fresh voices, great characters, compelling storylines, and original ideas and approaches. These novels may have many different stripes and flavors including Christian, Eastern, or general spirituality, personal growth, wisdom literature, fables, historical fiction, fantasy fiction even paranormal fiction as long it is transformational."

Bottom line

Pros: You get an editor, and you can say you've been published by an imprint of HarperCollins.

Cons: HarperLegend royalties start at 25% and rise to 50% after the first 10,000 copies are sold, which is not wonderful. They do not pay advances. As a financial deal this might be worth it if HarperLegend did any marketing or promotion. However, the most they offer is a packet to help you build your platform, distribution on ebook retail sites (Amazon, B&N, etc.), and the tantalizing possibility of perhaps offering your book in print if it does well.