Publishing

The year 2013 marked Kitaab’s foray into publishing. As a publishing house, Kitaab publishes original/translated contemporary literature in English and other Asian languages (such as Urdu, Hindi, Malay and Tamil) which illuminates hearts and minds of readers.

We aim to be a publishing house with titles that will serve our broad theme: empowering and connecting Asian writers and readers.  We are now open to all kinds of work: fiction, non-fiction, and poetry (both original and in translation).

We have four types of publishing programmes:

1. Traditional Publishing: You send us a manuscript, and if we like it enough, we will publish it as a physical & electronic book. We will distribute it and market it, and the author will get royalties. (unsolicited manuscripts are not invited until further notice)
2. Curated Publishing/Co-publishing: (under the imprint, Simurg): You write, we publish! It’s as simple as that. Under a new imprint Simurg, Kitaab offers curated publishing solutions that suit the needs of today’s writers. Curated publishing is not self-publishing or vanity publishing in the traditional sense of the term. We define curated publishing as a form of publishing wherein we curate all ingredients necessary for publishing of a book (from copy editing to cover deisgn to ebook creation and distribution and promotion of the book) and free up the writer from worrying about collaborators (editors, designers, printers, etc.) to help them produce their work. Please get in touch with us if you are interested in the programme or if you have any further queries. (Write to us at kitaab.sg@gmail.com to get info on our curated publishing packages. We also offer customised publishing packages). (unsolicited manuscripts are not invited until further notice)
3. Mentored Publishing: In this mentorship-based model, we attach new writers to established writers who help their mentees through various drafts of their book–from an early version to a final draft version. Once the draft becomes publishable, Kitaab will publish the book. It is a fee-based model. However, the book will go through the same design and editorial process that any book under the traditional publishing model does. (Suspended)
4. Crowdfunded Publishing: Crowdfunding has opened new opportunities for aspiring writers to fulfil their publishing dream. Under this model, authors are required to raise a certain amount of money by finding buyers in advance to publish their book. (Suspended)

How to submit

We welcome submissions from published and unpublished authors for all our publishing models:

1. Traditional Model (unsolicited manuscripts are not invited until further notice)
2. Curated Model (Suspended for now)
3. Mentorship Model (Suspended for now)
4. Crowdfunding Model (Suspended for now)

When you submit your work, please keep the following in mind: 

1. Kindly include an outline of your work (1-2 pages), a brief author bio (200 words) and a list of 2-3 comparative titles in the market with your submission.
2. Please don’t email us your complete manuscript unless we ask for it. Send only three sample chapters.
3. Please indicate your choice of publishing model (traditional, curated etc.)
4. Please format the email subject line in this way: Submission (your name) (fiction/non-fiction) (publishing model)

Please allow Team Kitaab 6-8 weeks to evaluate your submission. If you do not hear from us within 8 weeks, please send us a reminder and we will make sure that we respond to you. Please do not send us manuscripts for appraisal or evaluation.

Write to us at kitaab.sg@gmail.com.