Submission Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in One Voice Press. We are a publisher of religious books with a Baha'i theme. We hope the following guidelines will help you understand and prepare the type of material we are seeking.

We are particularly interested in inspirational materials, fiction, memoirs, and general works showing faith in action. We do not publish either introductory or scholarly works on the Baha’i Faith. In general, our books fall into two broad categories:

  • Mid-level works for people who have at least a basic familiarity with the Baha’i Faith and want to explore it in a bit more detail, particularly in terms of how it influences lives.
  • Books that do not overtly present the Baha'i Faith but are inspirational and consistent with its spiritual message.

We accept submission of both proposals and completed manuscripts. We prefer to receive electronic submissions, but will also accept printed submissions. In either case, the same formatting requirements apply.

Manuscripts must be typed, double-spaced, one side of the page only, with margins of about one inch. You can find more detailed manuscript formatting information in a variety of writers’ resources such as Writer’s Market or online at http://www.writing-world.com/basics/manuscript.shtml. Please refer to this information when preparing your manuscript.

The title page of your manuscript should include the proposed title, your name, address, phone number, and email address, and an approximate word count. Please do not rely upon your word processor’s word count. Again, methods for properly determining word count can be found in a variety of writers’ resources.

We would appreciate inclusion of a cover letter introducing yourself and your background. For electronic submissions, this can simply be the body of an email to which the manuscript or proposal is attached.

If submitting a proposal, please include a synopsis of the work and proposed length. For nonfiction works, you should also include a proposed table of contents with a brief summary of what will be included in each chapter. For fictional works, the synopsis should indicate the main characters, the issues they will face in the course of the work, and a high-level plot outline.

For electronic submissions, all files should be in a Microsoft Word compatible format (e.g., .doc, .docx, .rtf). Even if you do not choose to send us an electronic submission, we encourage you to prepare your materials in one of these formats, as we will require them should we elect to publish your work. Electronic submissions may be sent to us using our online contact form or burned to CD and mailed to us at the postal address given below.

For postal submissions, send clear printouts or photocopies to us at the following address:

One Voice Press
c/o Kathleen Lehman, Editor
27 Walkern Road
Baltimore, MD 21221

Never send the only copy of your manuscript or proposal. Because of postal weight regulations, we cannot return any materials. If you would like to be notified when your manuscript has been received, please include a self-addressed stamped postcard. We will mail this back to you upon receipt. (Emailed submissions will be acknowledged by us once they are received.)

If your work includes quotations from sources not in the public domain, you must obtain permission from the current copyright owner to include this material in your work. It will be your responsibility to do so, although we can help if needed. It can often take four or more months to obtain permissions. It would be helpful if you could initiate the process prior to sending us your manuscript.

Finally, if your work should be submitted to the Baha'i review process, it will be your responsibility to do so. Again, it can take several months to complete this process, so we suggest you initiate it prior to sending us your manuscript. Please let us know if you have any questions about this process or if you are unsure whether it is required for your work.

We hope these guidelines answer your questions about submitting to One Voice Press. Should you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us using our online contact form. Thank you again for your interest in working with us.