Six Questions for Stephanie Taylor, Publisher, Astraea Press

Astraea Press publishes romance (no erotica), young adult, and fiction in general (no poetry). Read the complete guidelines here.

Now publishing as Clean Reads.


SQF: Astraea Press is a new venture. What does Astraea Press offer authors that other presses don't?

ST: We offer personal contact with our editors and owners, cover artists and marketing director. We also offer 50% site sales and promise that you will be happy with your cover art. The cover sells your book and if it's bad, no one will want to buy it.


SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a manuscript?

ST: Good Goal, Motivation and Conflict (GMC), knowledge of showing vs. telling, and clean content (no language, "pink parts" or premarital sex).


SQF: What major mistakes do authors make when pitching their books?

ST: They think of me like I'm some big business gal when in all honesty, I take pitches from my home computer in my pjs, with or without a shower. Gross, but it's the truth. I'm just a regular person like they are and more often than not, I'm going to request their work if it looks interesting because I know how nerves can get the best of your brain when it's under pressure!


SQF: How many books to you hope to publish this year?

ST: We've published 12 so far. Our goal is to publish 6-10 books a month. Next year, it will be more.  ;o)


SQF: What is your advice to new, unpublished authors looking for a publisher or agent?

ST: Get a crit partner. Even if you think your work is perfect, find someone who will give it to you straight. Chances are, there's still a typo or misspelled word. I once read over my own work before publication five times, and there was still something like three errors in it! Crit partners also help you to stay focused and provide a sounding board for your idea or better ideas you might not have thought of just yet.


SQF: What question do you wish I’d asked that I didn’t? And how would you answer it? 

ST: Astraea's books aim to offer quality reading for kids all the way to adults. When I started Astraea, I never wanted to have erotica or m/m or anything edgy. There was a gap in the market, and I recognized it because my own writing fell into that gap. I don't write erotica and I don't write inspirational. I also believe that in general, the public is getting sick of all the sex in books today, the lack of plot and bad writing, and I think everything will come full circle. Astraea has done so well in our first month, that we're even more excited to see where we're going in the next few. It's only proof that the writing industry needed a publisher like Astraea that offers a safe haven for good books where the focus is on the STORY and not the sex.

Thank you, Stephanie. We all appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.

NEXT POST: 4/18--Six Questions for Laura E. Davis, Founding & Poetry Editor, Weave Magazine