Onyx Path Publishing Press Release - Writer All-Call: Follow Up

From the Onyx Path Publishing Website

The all-call (you know, this thing) is going well. We’ve got a few dozen submissions so far, and I’m looking forward to reading through them snagging some new folks for whatever the heck my next project turns out to be.

We have had a few questions that come up often enough to merit this post, however. So, here is another bulleted list!

• Read the all-call. That’s what we want. No more than 1000 words, ideally split between setting/fiction and mechanics. If you want to do 1000 words of not-mechanics, please make at least some of it game prose (tell us about a bloodline even if you don’t make up a new Discipline), because we just don’t do that much fiction and game prose is a different thing.
• We aren’t buying your submission. If you send in that hypothetical bloodline, we’re not going to take that and hire you to write that particular thing for a book, in all probability. What we will do is use your submission to gauge whether your writing is what we’re looking for. So, exactly what you send us is less important than how well it’s written.
• If you are a previous WW freelancer, you don’t need to submit. Just make an inquiry with me or another developer and see if there’s work for you. In some rare circumstances (like, it’s been a really long time since you’ve worked for us and you haven’t been doing any game writing in the interim), we might ask for a recent writing sample, but generally if you’re already in a WW/OPP book, you do not need to submit.
• All writers are hired on a freelance, work-for-hire basis. This isn’t a permanent gig or a job for which you’d have to relocate. It’s one book at a time.
• We’ll hire you no matter where live; it’s not just USA (that said, we do publish in American English, so it’s good to swap out your ‘s’ for ‘z’, I guezz).
• A tip: Don’t start out your email or submission with “I suck, but here we go.” Likewise, don’t start out with, “Your game has some serious problems, but luckily, I fixed them!” Be professional. “My submission is [for this game line] and is about [quick summary]” is groovy.
• I don’t know that I said this in the first all-call, but let me say it explicitly: Please attach your submission as a .doc, .rtf, .odt, or .pdf (I prefer .doc, but it’s not a deal-breaker). Don’t put it in the body of an email.

Otherwise, keep submissions coming!