Masthead
EDITOR · Deena Drewis
ASSISTANT EDITOR · Joshua Neely
ASSISTANT EDITOR · Jonathan Danielson
ASSISTANT EDITOR · Emma Bushnell
ART DIRECTOR · Daniel D’Arcy
WEB DEVELOPER · Greg Mathews
About
Nouvella is an independent publisher dedicated to novellas by emerging authors. Established in 2011 after the closure of Flatmancrooked, Nouvella utilizes the LAUNCH program, wherein the reading community can invest in the career of an emerging author by purchasing a share in the author during a designated one-week period. For every share purchased, the patron will receive a limited edition, hand-signed copy of the novella and a letter from the author.
The first edition run of each novella is limited to 500-600 copies. The books are small, designed to fit in your back pocket or your purse, to take with you wherever you go. Four hundred are available during the author’s LAUNCH week, and the remaining books will be available at select bookstores and events. After the first edition runs out, the book will be available electronically directly on the site and through various ebook distributors.
In the time leading up to an author’s LAUNCH, links to previously published short stories and an excerpt from the novella will be featured on the website as a demonstration of the author’s talent and potential. While there are no specific selection criteria for our authors, our aim is to find writers that we believe have a bright and dedicated future in front of them, and who have not yet signed with a major publisher.
Author Selection
We are looking for works of fiction in the 10,000 to 35,000 word range. Authors are selected through two different processes.
1.) Staff scouting. Each member of the editorial staff is assigned a handful of literary magazines and websites to read in search of emerging authors. If we find something we like, we contact the author and see what else they’ve published previously, what they’re working on currently, and what they’ve got sitting on the shelf. Magazines and websites assigned to the staff are any combination of the following: One Story, American Short Fiction, Glimmertrain, Monkeybicycle, The Collagist, Dzanc’s Best of the Web series, McSweeney’s, Bat City Review, PANK, FiveChapters, Narrative, Meridian and others. Give us reading suggestions here.
2.) Cold submissions. You have the option of submitting three additional short stories that will be read alongside your novella submission in order to give us a more comprehensive idea of your writing style. Please note that due to the amount of material being submitted and the small number of novellas published in a given year, your work may be under consideration anywhere from four to six months. Simultaneous submissions are fine with us. Submissions sent directly to an editor, unless by request, will not be read.
Questions and Answers
What kind of work are you looking for?
In brief, we are interested in narrative fiction. Conflicted characters. Good dialogue. Moral ambiguity. Make us laugh. Make us feel implicated. We are less concerned with revolutionizing form and with syntax experiments than with the story aspect of storytelling.
Why novellas?
Historically, for various silly reasons, novellas have not been seen as a marketable form of storytelling. But stories should be as long or as short as they need to be. Nouvella was founded on a willingness to bet that a good many talented writers have stories to tell that fall in this word count range. We think it’s a good bet.
How many titles do you release per year?
Roughly, one title every three months. One of the founding ideas behind Nouvella is that each author receives the full and undivided support of its publisher, and this schedule allows us that, in addition to taking time to find the next author.
Why do you only print 500 books?
The print books are intended to be collectible, one-of-a-kind mementos that will become dearer and dearer as the author’s career progresses. If you have a signed copy of a book, and there are only a few hundred in the whole world just like it, that means you’re pretty special.
How can I get the book after the LAUNCH week is over?
You can attend the author’s release party or find out where the Nouvella staff will be peddling extra copies—AWP, BEA and the like. Otherwise, you can buy the e-book through the site or through various e-book distributors.
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