Showcase: Future House Publishing

Publishing House for Science Fiction and Fantasy

Nov 16, 2022

Dear Reader,

So many awesome things to share and so little time! We’re long overdue for another Showcase. Here is what I have to say about Future House Publishing! ~ WM

Image taken from Future House Publishing website

Discovery

A few years ago, I was searching for a publishing house to submit my work to. I’d just moved to Salt Lake City, and had finished a local, 3-day writing workshop over at the Sundance Resort. One of the small group sessions at the event was about pitching yourself to a publisher; that some publishers love series and universes because they show greater potential (I’ll write about paid workshops and my growing aversion to them in a separate post).

This led me to quit working on my novel at the time (Stormfallen) because after three separate workshops it had changed three times, revised into three different versions of what other people wanted it to be. The silver lining was that I retreated into a developmental phase; a reflective point in my life that gave me some much needed perspective. I also began writing short fiction.

Writing short stories has been revolutionary for me over the past two years. I’ve learned so much about myself and my voice and what types of stories I want to tell. I think it stems from the fact that I can actually finish telling them, whereas with the novels I was attempting to write, I’d burnout rather quickly. The only way for me to combat burnout is to publish serial fiction it seems, since the only two novels I’ve completed have been released this way.

After drafting up several short stories, I realized I could combine them into an anthology within a shared universe. This got me really excited. I remembered all of the classes about pitching to publishers and started researching which publishers would be interested in acquiring what it was I was attempting to create. This led me directly to Future House Publishing, a publisher of science fiction and fantasy. The real kicker? They were local. Right down the road from me here in Utah.

I’d set my sights on submitting my work to them, but to submit something I’d have to finish it. Three years and a few detours later, I’m not that much closer than I was when I discovered their website. Even still, I’ve started a separate Substack featuring the creation of that shared world I mentioned earlier called Tales of Havek, if you’d like to follow that journey.

With this Showcase, however, I’d like to highlight the awesome work that Adam Sidwell and his team are doing over at Future House Publishing and Future House Studios (the animation/gaming side). As well as present you with an opportunity to submit your own work to them.

Who are they?

Future House Publishing, or FHP, is a publisher of science fiction and fantasy novels. Their growing selection offers books ranging from Middle Grade (ages 8-12) to Adult fiction. I’ve read a few of them now, such as Super Dungeon and Etherwalker, and I have to say I really like their overall style. I can’t wait to give a few other books a try.

With roots in cinematic storytelling, Future House publishes adult science
fiction and fantasy, as well as middle grade adventure books
that embrace community, liberty, and family.

Taken from their About page, their core values are as follows:

Community - Stories that talk about and herald the communities in which they live. We cherish heroes that build up communities, helping them to be better and overcome obstacles.
Liberty - We publish stories that champions heroes that fight for liberty, both physically and with how they act.
Family - At the center of our society is the family. We uphold strict content standards that makes all of published content family friendly and clean.

There is a massive market for clean fiction, as evidenced by Brandon Sanderson’s $42 million dollar Kickstarter. I tend to write cleaner fiction for the most part, barring all the fighting and death. I’m trying!

Future House Publishing is an imprint of Familius and distributed by Workman in partnership with Hatchette. This means they are not an independent small press, and considered “traditional” as far as publishing is concerned. I make this distinction because I normally share and promote indie content on The Storyletter, so this is geared toward folks still interested in publishing traditionally. I, myself, haven’t ruled out the notion entirely, and believe in helping authors discover the best route that works for them.

Adam Sidwell, the Founder

I first met

Adam Sidwell

at the Into the Metaverse event he hosted here in SLC. I discovered this event due to a connection I made with

Elle Griffin

on LinkedIn. Unfortunately, even though Elle was a speaker at the event, I didn’t meet her in person on this day. She was busy talking to other people and I didn’t want to interrupt! (I must also mention the power of LinkedIn in this scenario. Business-minded individuals looking to make worthwhile connections should consider making a profile, if you haven’t already. It’s like Facebook but without most of the distracting stuff. If you have an account, feel free to send me an invite to connect!)

At the event, Adam spoke about the projects they had worked on with the Studios side of Future House and his background in the entertainment industry, him personally working on films such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers.

The only reason I got to speak with Adam was because Kenton DeSanti, head of business development, approached me and introduced himself. We got to talking and I told him how I was interested in what Adam was doing with his publishing company since I had recently started my own. He then introduced me to Adam and we got to talking about Substack.

The immediate vibe I got from Adam Sidwell is that he’s genuinely passionate about what he’s doing and the future of the industry, and this has held true even til now. He and FHS are truly onto something big, especially with the shifting of the internet into Web3 territory. He even mentioned potentially working on a way to turn the novels on the FHP side into animated stories on the FHS side, which I find incredibly exciting.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Peter Anthony “Tony” Chiodo and Robert Hafen in this post. Tony (head of Production and Client Relations) recognized me in the crowd at the Into the Metaverse event and I’ve had nothing but great interactions with him online. I met Robert later at Cryptopia and we set up a one-on-one to discuss Substack and FHP which I found very helpful in narrowing my focus. Everyone I’ve met with working for Future House has been incredibly supportive and easy to interact with.

How to Show Support

The best way to support FHP is probably to follow Adam Sidwell and the team on their Substack called “Stories of the Future”. They post updates regarding the industry, discounts to their books, free giveaways, contests, and other awesome stuff in the realms of science fiction and fantasy.

Also, consider checking out their ever-expanding library of awesome books! They have everything from kids fantasy stories to adult science fiction, and more. You can also find them at Future House Studios, if you’re more interested in the animation and game development stuff.

Image taken of Future House Publishing website

Final Thoughts

I really like the style of Future House Publishing and would still gladly submit my work to them if I had something to submit. Maybe someday. However, I’m also loving the journey I’m currently on with self-publishing and helping others figure out their own path. But who says you can’t do both, right?!

I wish FHP/FHS much success in their endeavors and I hope The Storyletter readers found this information useful in some way. Please let us know what you think about Future House Publishing in the comments. Are you seeking traditional publishing, or have you embraced the indie lifestyle?

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