Please Note
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on our workflow and the overwhelming number of submissions we’ve received recently, we are expecting prolonged review periods. While we normally hope to review submissions within a month of receiving them, we are presently experiencing three month delays. Please be patient with our acquisitions team. We endeavor to respond to every submission we receive.
The City of Light has six unique, vibrant neighborhoods. Learn more about each one below.
Should you choose to submit a manuscript for consideration,
please comply with the following formatting requests to ensure our editors can easily review your work:
Please use a standard, 12 pt. (Times New Roman is fine; no need to be fancy!). Please also double space your manuscript, include paragraph indents and omit any “double spaces.” (It was a common practice to include two spaces after every period in the past. That is no longer the case, and should we choose to move forward with your manuscript, we would ask you to comply with this formatting anyhow.)
Thank you for making it easy for us to consider your wonderful work!

CrissCross AppleSauce
CrissCross AppleSauce publishes picture books that inspire and educate children of all ages. Gather ‘round, sit criss-cross applesauce, and read stories.
Max Meets the Mayor
Price range: $16.95 through $24.95When Max’s grandpa drives Max and his brother past City Hall, Max decides he wants to meet the mayor. So his grandpa sets up an appointment with Buffalo’s mayor, Byron Brown. But when a blizzard hits Buffalo the night before the appointment, it looks like the meeting may be canceled. Can Max and his grandpa find a way to meet the mayor?
Elinormal
$13.95While skipping lessons at the prestigious ballet academy that her mother forced her to enroll in, 11-year-old Elinor Malcolm meets Indira, a mysterious older girl who encourages her to explore her identity and expand her world. A touch of magical realism infuses their encounters and shapes their relationship. Indira’s influence helps Elinor find a path that ultimately is satisfying for both her and her mother. Friendship, family, identity, and the importance of honest communication and being true to oneself are interwoven themes that create a fascinating tapestry and a very compelling story.
ISBN: 978-1-952536-22-9 (softcover only)
Check out the Elinormal book trailer!
My Little Light
Price range: $16.95 through $24.95My Little Light tells the bedtime routine of a happy and thankful little girl. As Mom reads her a bedtime story and Dad gives her a piggyback ride, she is safe in the glow of her bedside lamp, her “little light.” Drifting off to sleep, she remembers all that she is thankful for. Whether it is read as a bedtime story, or a quiet, evening prayer, My Little Light is enjoyable for the entire family. This story will remain in young hearts through each night and for a lifetime.

Cross Your Fingers
Cross Your Fingers is our middle grade and early reader imprint. Cross Your Fingers books are chapter books for young readers with engaging and educational stories that will keep them hooked on reading as a lifelong passion.

Cross Your Heart
Cross Your Heart publishes young adult books that explore the joys and perils that every young adult can relate to as they navigate their own coming-of-age story.

New Idea Press
New Idea Press publishes innovative non-fiction books. We call these “Books that make the lightbulb go on.”
Legacy of a Refugee: An American-Hungarian Entrepreneur’s Journey to Silicon Valley
Price range: $19.95 through $29.95Legacy of a Refugee recounts the journey of an extraordinary man who refused to give up. From washing cars and painting houses, he progressed to factory work and lab work. He then learned and worked in various facets of the emerging world of computer technology, leading to several managerial positions. These experiences, combined with his leadership and vision, drove him to fulfill his dream of starting his own company. Meszaros eventually founded an innovative tech company that was acquired by Intel. This story of a self-made man is an inspiration to those who have left or who are considering leaving their birth place behind in search of a better life.
Free Speech and Why You Should Give a Damn
Original price was: $19.95.$9.50Current price is: $9.50.Written by Jonathan Zimmerman, with cartoons by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Signe Wilkinson.
Across the political spectrum, Americans have demanded the suppression of ideas and images that allegedly threaten our nation. But the biggest danger to America comes not from speech but from censorship, which prevents us from freely governing ourselves.
In this brief but bracing book, historian Jonathan Zimmerman and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Signe Wilkinson tell the story of free speech in America: who established it, who has denounced it, and who has risen to its defense.
120 pages
5” x 7”
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-952536-10-6
Peaceprints: Sister Karen’s Paths to Nonviolence
$18.95This beautiful book celebrates the life of Sister Karen Klimczak, SSJ, and helps us cherish the memory of this passionate champion of nonviolence, who dedicated her life to providing sanctuary and hope to ex-offenders. The biographies, stories, essays, interviews, poetry, art, and photographs that grace this book are voices of the community expressing how Buffalo’s Ambassador of Peace touched their lives. Vignettes are interspersed with entries from Sister Karen’s own journals and observations that express hope and forgiveness.
The Emmy-nominated DVD, Apostle of Peace, produced by Daybreak TV Productions, is enclosed in each book. This moving half-hour tribute to Sister Karen that aired a year after her death, includes interviews with some of the people closest to her, along with archival footage of Sister Karen herself.

Blacklight Press
Blacklight Press publishes innovative fiction books. This imprint is filled with stories that, like a blacklight, reveal to us things that we may not have seen before.
Himself: A Civil War Soldier’s Battles with Rebels, Brits and Devils
$19.95Follow the lives of John and Patrick Donahue as they grow up in the Old First Ward in Buffalo, New York during the mid-1800s. Orphaned as children, they are sent to live with their grandmother. While John finds work and helps support the family, Patrick becomes involved with a gang and runs wild. When the Civil War breaks out, the brothers join the Union army. Follow them through the deadly battles of Grant’s Virginia campaign to Appomattox, the difficulties they face holding jobs once the war is over, their relationships with wives, children, and one another, and Patrick’s lifelong battle with the bottle. A compelling tale of two Irish Catholic men, sons of immigrants, during a tumultuous period in our nation’s rich history.
The President Factor
Original price was: $16.95.$8.50Current price is: $8.50.When Democratic hopeful Senator Adhemar Reyes proposed that all presidential candidates compete on a reality TV show to prove they can handle a crisis, he was kidding—mostly. But he said it on the U.S. Senate Floor, and it was all caught on C-SPAN. The comment sparks a media frenzy. Everyone wants Adhemar on their show. It doesn’t hurt to get your face on TV so that the American public knows your name before you announce your candidacy. Right? Mostly. But when Congress passes a bill that makes the reality show a reality, the senator is thrust into The President Factor. Countless sarcastic jibes, two political crises, and an off-limits love affair. Will the charismatic Hispanic candidate win? Why is one team getting malaria shots? Can Washington politics be even more absurd? Yes to the last question. The rest is inside.
Kite to Freedom
Price range: $6.50 through $8.50
The Story of a Kite-Flying Contest, the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, and the Underground Railroad |
Can a kite change history? Katie and Homan’s did.
When engineers were faced with the challenge of bridging the vast Niagara Gorge, the solution was a kite-flying contest. After Katie and Homan’s kite crosses the gorge and wins the contest, construction begins on the first suspension bridge to connect the United States and Canada. The two friends are there as it becomes an important link on the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom.
Even as her parents try to shield her from the ugly existence of slavery and the dangers of the Underground Railroad, Katie discovers that the scary truth is closer to home than she could have imagined.
Kite to Freedom is an action-packed, fictionalized account of actual events that occurred during the construction of the Niagara Falls International Suspension Bridge, which still connects the United States and Canada at Niagara Falls.
102 pages
Suitable for readers between 8 and 12 years old

Buffalo Heritage Press
Buffalo Heritage Press is committed to telling the stories of Buffalo, New York, one beautiful book at a time.
angles of memory’s dream
$29.95Out of the bleakness and massive chill of a Buffalo winter, Jake Miller has fashioned a visual and text poem of decay, loss, and memory. His photographs find beauty and insight in this freeze that makes us feel happy we are home and warm. A striking hardcover photographic essay that melds word and image masterfully.
Sights & Sounds of the Pan American Exposition
Original price was: $9.95.$4.50Current price is: $4.50.This illustrated, informative booklet offers a bird’s-eye view of the Pan-American Exposition. Review the grounds which were located between what today are Elmwood and Delaware avenues. See the sights that were seen then, when electricity was a novelty. And hear the sounds of the Pan-Am. A delightful CD of the music of the Pan-American Exposition as it was played by John Philip Sousa in 1901 – on player piano rolls – is tucked inside a colorful back pocket. A great way to experience a momentous event, when Buffalo came to be known as the City of Light.
At First Light
Price range: $29.95 through $39.95At First Light is a celebration of the natural world, one morning at a time. Put on the coffee, cozy up in your favorite chair and soak in the beauty of a new day. Breathe deeply and turn the pages slowly through the seasons. Listen to the sound of skis glide over fresh snow. Keep a keen eye out for deer prints as you pass through the tall tree shadows of sunrise.
This exquisite book reminds us that each day is a new gift to cherish and explore.
Just as the late winter sun eases up the river ice, the pages of At First Light will clear your spirit and start your day with a warm glow for many seasons to come.
You will never really finish reading At First Light.