Winnie-the-Pooh is such a popular bear. He combines humor, compassion and an innate curiosity with a warm and deep love for his friends. He’s often mistaken for being a bit simple. However, like Columbo, beneath that innocent exterior lies an unparalleled intelligence and talent for solving problems. The 100 Acre Wood has its own private investigator and, for the first time, Inspector Pooh’s case files are being made available to the public in this monthly (or, potentially, bimonthly) novella/novelette series.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. Your story must be based ONLY on the public domain version of Winnie-the-Pooh and not any of the Walt Disney copyrighted material, depictions, etc.. The same goes for any characters. It is the author’s responsibility to do their research to find what’s available to be used.
2. Only the following names for the main character are allowed: Inspector Pooh, Mr. Pooh, Mr. Winnie or Winnie. Note that if you do use Winnie-the-Pooh it must be with hyphens as only that version is public domain.
3. Although Pooh is considered a children’s character, your story should be aimed at an adult reading audience as this series will be positioned in the market as more of a nostalgia series for grownups. However, any storyline can be aimed at 15 years and up.
4. Winnie-the-Pooh is a British creation and must remain British in the storylines. No Americanization or any other nationalization will be accepted. British spelling should also apply.
5. As in the original stories, all cases must take place in The 100 Acre Wood. You’re welcome to create new characters, locations, and anything else that doesn’t exist in the original stories.
6. Series is scheduled to begin publication in June of 2026 with a new story ideally being published monthly thereafter. Should there be a lower number of submissions or issues in production, this will be a limited series and the publication timing may change to bimonthly.
7. Initial submissions need to be received by November 30th, 2025 to ensure stories are in production for on-time publication in June 2026.
8. Multiple submissions are welcome, but must be submitted via individual emails.
9. White City Press reserves the right to end publication of new stories in the series at any time. However, any titles already released will not be removed from availability.

TECHNICAL GUIDELINES

1. Stories must be novelette or novella length, 18,000 – to 40,000 words, with preference given to stories at the upper end of that spectrum.
2. All submissions need to be in DOCX format. Please use Shunn Manuscript Formatting. Anything else will be deleted.
3. All entries should be sent to submissions@mistimedia.com with POOH in the subject heading. All entries will be acknowledged.
4. This is a royalty-earning contract. Author retains copyright. Publisher will be contracting for eBook, Print, and Audio Worldwide English Language Rights.
5. Original stories only, no reprints.
6. Per company policy, absolutely no AI may be used in the writing of your story. If it’s determined that AI was used, you will be permanently blacklisted from making any future submissions to us.
7.. This series will be published under our White City Press imprint and edited by J. Alan Hartman.

Please direct all questions to Editor-in-Chief Jay Hartman at jhartman@mistimedia.com