Submissions

Submit to Madness Heart Press, Madness Heart Games, Aggadah Try It, and Gutter Mystic Books

We are overjoyed to see that you are interested in joining the Madness Heart Press Family.

If you would like to publish a manuscript with Madness Heart Press, you will need to either be invited or submit your pitch during our submission period, generally February-June.

Please click on the links below to see the specific guidelines for submissions. In most cases, submissions will close when we have received a specific number of qualifying entries. 

• Novel & Novella Submissions – NOW CLOSED

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Luke Spooner - Cover Artist

‘A highly collaborative group that puts diverse and innovative story-telling at the forefront of their priorities’

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Nikolas Robinson - You Will Be Consumed

Writers are encouraged to test their limits and hold nothing back, it's a welcoming and inclusive family, more than a publishing house.

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Susan Snyder - Encylopedia Sharksploitanica, Nympho Shark Fuck Fest

The amazing support that is shown to the writers, editors and cover artists is the gold standard of how a publisher should operate. MHP gives a safe and welcoming space for creatives to introduce the world to their work. I signed on with them years ago and have never looked back. I have been allowed to experiment and grow as a writer and I will always be one of MHP’s biggest fans.

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Drew Stepek, Owner of Godless.com

Madness Heart Press is one of the best independent presses in the horror/experimental space right now. Not only do they ALWAYS put out the highest quality work, they always deliver with a smile and a sense of appreciation. The owner, John Baltisberger, is an amazing human being who will go to great lengths for you, your books, and your career.

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Austin Shirey - City of Spores

Madness Heart Press has been an absolute DREAM to work with. A great press run by great people.

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Christine Morgan - Lakehouse Infernal, Trenchmouth

A joy to work with, prompt, professional, approachable, fun, open to all kinds of insanity!

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Reed Alexander - Hungry Cosmos, UPD

Madness Heart Press was my home. They took a chance on me before anyone else did and made an amazing product from my novella. But more than that they're like minded individuals that want to really push the boundaries of horror. They'll always be my first choice for publishing.

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Jeff Oliver - Scapegoated, Mercy Kills

Publisher John Baltisberger and his Team are incredibly professional, responsive and (above all) dependable. While they are “cool” folks, they are also neurotic perfectionists who strive for pristine writing and beautiful design on everything they publish. MHP has proven to me (over and over) that they want their writers happy – and as a result they get the best from their writers.

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Edward Lee - The Television and Bounce House.

New sub-genres of horror have generated many new publishers, some good, some not so good. Very few of these houses are top-tier but Madness Heart is one of them. They bend over backwards to deliver editorial excellence, quality production values, great cover art, and outstanding fiction that, foremost, prioritizes the readership. I look forward to writing for Madness Heart for a long time to come.

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Josh Schlossberg - CHARWOOD

Every step of the way from the submissions process, to selecting a cover, to editing, to getting the book on the market, was professional and respectful of my wishes as a creator. Whether you’re a horror or speculative fiction author on the hunt for a publisher or simply a dark fiction reader looking for your next favorite book, Madness Heart Press should be at the very top of your list.

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Judith Sonnet - Low Blasphemy, No One Rides For Free

Madness Heart Press makes the writers job easier ... while also encouraging us to challenge ourselves. Communicative, bold, fearless, and deeply devoted to making genre fiction look its best, you can't go wrong with this group!

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Douglas Ford - Little Lugosi, Ape in the Ring

Publishing with Madness Heart Press means that you will work with professionals who care about horror and who will make sure your book looks incredible. One of the best independent publishers in the horror industry!

What Kinds of Books Do We Want?

Splatterpunk/Antifascist/Anticap

“If it’s transgressive, addressing social or political ills, not pulling punches, and pushing the boundaries, then it’s Splatterpunk.” this quote, from Brian Keene exemplifies what we really want. Horror without boundaries, but with a voice. Splatterpunk is all about ultra-violence and sick and twisted terror, body horror, revenge, torture, sadism, and insanity. But all with a purpose. A counter-culture explosion of literature. We want to focus on the violent destruction of those institutes that harm marginalized communities and feast on the despair of the people.

Bizzaro

I cut my teeth on Kafka and Durang. Surreal, absurd, and oftentimes uncomfortable, Bizarro-Horror is the modern-day home of Splatterpunk according to John Skipp. That said, we look for bizarro that is not only weird but has a message. Surreal with heart, meaningless with meaning.

Experimental Literature

This is sort of a catch-all for anything out of the ordinary. Poetry, plays, cookbooks, puzzle books, decks of cards, tabletop RPG’s, things that break the mold of the traditional methods of telling horror stories. It’s hard to quantify what we are looking for here, except to say the more unusual the method the more interested we are.

Jewish Speculative Fiction

This is for the Aggadah Try It Imprint, and we feel the need to be very specific here. We are looking for horror, science fiction, fantasy, and surrealistic fiction. Though we have a broad net for Jewish fiction, we are looking for stories with supernatural/unnatural/science fiction elements. We are not looking for realistic fiction, historical fiction, or Jewish studies. We feel books of those styles have plentiful publishing options to pursue.

TTRPG & Gaming

The Madness Heart Games’ doors are now open to working with creators of TTRPG materials. We are looking for horror-related gaming supplements and original works. All works submitted must either be an original creation OR made under OGL or another 3rd party license. These include games such as Mork Borg, Necronautilus, Trophy, Blades in the Dark, or any system that allows the use of their rules via the Creative Commons Attribution license.

The above systems are mentioned by name because they are of PARTICULAR interest to us. However, we are interested in working with any creators who focus on horror/grimdark themes.

Dark, Occult and/or Creative Non-Fiction and Satire

For our newest Imprint, Gutter Mystic Books, we are looking for NON-FICTION and SATIRE. We want to see weird, psychedelic, upsetting, non-fiction. We want to see the strangest and most bizarre satire we can find. We are also interested in books on occult studies, especially in ways that intersect with social justice, and anti-fascist sentiment.

A Note on Extreme Horror

Extreme horror is a hugely popular genre, and we love our extreme horror authors and audience. That said, we are extremely picky with what extreme horror we will publish. We do not accept extreme horror pitches except by specific invitation.