Pitch Submissions
We are about to open back up to general book pitches! Our reading period will be from March 15 - April 30. (A longer period than usual because we didn't want to compete with tax deadlines.)
Note: if you've already written a nonfiction book about video games and want to try it out on us out of pitch season, go ahead and send it!
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During our open reading period, you can send your pitch (or ideas/questions) to pitches@bossfightbooks.com.
Here's what we want: (1) A pitch that gives a strong, clear sense of what you'd do with the book and who you are. (2) Links to or attachments of other writing you've done. (3) Optional: A sample chapter or section from the proposed book.
We're open to new topics this time: While we are still interested most of all in building out our series with books about individual games, we recognize that this approach is not perfect for some topics in gaming. So if you want to pitch a nonfiction documentary-style book using a different organizing principle (theme, peripheral, console, era, person, company, etc.), go for it.
Format: Please have your full name and the name of the game in the subject line. If your email has attachments, please use doc, docx, or pdf formats, and send them as attachments and not as shared docs.
How long should my pitch/sample be? Not necessarily that long. And it does not need to be as polished as an actual book. Your job, again, is to give us a strong sense of what you'd do with the book.
We'd love to hear from writers of all stripes, including women, LGBTQ writers, writers from outside the US, and writers of color.
A few notes:
1. You're welcome to pitch books on newer games, just nothing that came out in the last year.
2. Nonfiction only.
3. Other hints:
- We'd love to see some pitches in game genres and franchises we haven't explored yet, or from new angles.
- We get extra excited when you show us that (1) you are serious about ambitious, thoughtful, researched writing, AND (2) you write in a voice that is not overtly academic/jargony.
- The best books show a lot of curiosity. What are some big questions you are curious to explore in the writing process? How might your book about this game be a window into a bigger topic? How is this game in conversation with other games, films, books, etc.? And what kind of sources and research materials would you engage with?
- Sometime we'd love to do another book in the Spelunky vein in which a game creator writes about their own game, or in which someone who worked in a particular role on a big game (as an artist, narrative designer, composer, etc.) tells their unique story of being part of a big team. Sometime we'd love to do a visual "graphic novel"-style exploration of a game in the tradition of Understanding Comics.
- If you pitched to us in the past and would like to update a previous pitch instead of picking a different topic, that's fine.
- If you have a few ideas for pitches and want to gauge our interest in one game over another, you can email us about it before going to the trouble of writing a full pitch. Often, we'll say, "They all sound good!"
4. We are slow. It'll take us awhile to get through all the subs! Also know that we won't be able to say yes as often as we'd like. Each of these books is an enormous time commitment and our team is very small. We're not going to be able to offer personalized feedback on your pitch.
Thanks so much for your interest in writing for us!