Resources
From Category: Publishers
20.35 Africa
20.35 Africa is a resource institution and publisher for African poets, particularly younger and emerging writers across the continent. They began in 2017 with their annual electronic anthology series featuring African writers aged 20-35. Newer features on the website are the Conversations series of interviews about the role of poetry in Africa today, and the New Poets series showcasing individual writers.
Avantacular Press
This virtual press edited by Andrew Topel publishes e-chapbooks of visual poetry, a form that combines text with abstract art and other images. Email submissions to andrewtopel@hotmail.com.
Black Lawrence Press
This well-regarded independent small press offers several annual contests for chapbooks and full-length collections of poetry and literary fiction. Order one book from the BLP catalog and receive a free subscription to editor Diane Goettel's weekly e-newsletter with tips for getting published by a small press.
Blue Heron Book Works
Blue Heron Book Works is an independent small press founded by novelist Bathsheba Monk. Their main focus is literary memoirs, but they will also consider fiction if it is in a series. Books are published as e-books and print-on-demand editions. The press bears the up-front costs of editing, formatting, copyrights, and ISBN numbers, and they work with the author to create a marketing plan. Monk says they are looking for "unusual stories, or ordinary stories unusually well-told...Great story trumps stylistic virtuosity. No recovering addict stories unless the author joined the circus to recover...so to speak. No cured from cancer stories unless author went on to join a convent and feed the poor...ditto." Their catalog includes Paul Heller's Last Call, a #1 Kindle bestselling memoir about caring for a parent with dementia.
Book Publishers Who Specialize in Diversity and Inclusion
Here Wee Read is a book blog for parents and educators. This A-Z list profiles small presses and specialty imprints that promote multicultural literature for children and adults.
Broadsided
Each month, Broadsided selects a poem or flash prose piece from their submissions and invites an artist to create an original "broadside", or poster, featuring that poem. A letter-sized PDF file of the collaboration is posted on their site to be freely downloaded and distributed. You can sign up as a "Vector" and agree to post at least two copies of each month's poems in your local coffee shop, library, bus station, public notice board, grocery store, or other public gathering place. Entries should be submitted by email; send 3-5 poems, maximum 30 lines each, or one prose piece, maximum 300 words, in the body of your message to broadsided@gmail.com. Include a short bio. Previously published work accepted. Past contributors have included Mary Jo Bang, Ilya Kaminsky, G.C. Waldrep, Brian Teare, and Robert Wrigley.
Broken Sleep Books
Broken Sleep Books is a small literary press in Wales that publishes poetry and nonfiction chapbooks ("pamphlets" in UK parlance) and full-length poetry collections. See website for their submission windows for each genre. Editors say, "We particularly wish to encourage more working-class writers, LGBTQ+, and BAME writers to submit. Politically we are left-leaning." Authors in their catalog include Angela Cleland, Pádraig ó Tuama, and U.G. Világos.
Cervena Barva Press
This new literary press with connections to the Cambridge, Mass. poetry scene was founded by Gloria Mindock, longtime editor of the Boston Literary Review. Ms. Mindock says, "The press solicits poetry, fiction, and plays from various writers around the world, and holds open contests regularly for its chapbooks, postcards, broadsides and full-length books. I look for work that has a strong voice, is unique, and that takes risks with language. I encourage queries from Central and Eastern Europe." Subscribe to their free monthly email newsletter to read author interviews and find out about upcoming readings and new plays being produced around the country.
Cozy Classics
Cozy Classics adapts great literature for beginning readers. Each board book by Jack and Holman Wang condenses a classic novel to 12 child-friendly words, illustrated with images of needle-felted dolls in period costume and scenery. By introducing words in the context of a narrative, these books encourage deeper involvement than the vocabulary-list format of the typical infant primer. Parents who are familiar with the original book can elaborate on the story as they read aloud to their child, or use the words and images as prompts for inventing new stories. Quotations, synopsis, and cast of characters for each book are available on the website. The first titles in the series are 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Moby-Dick'.
CUE Editions
Based in Tucson, Arizona, CUE Editions is an independent micro-press that specializes in limited-edition, hand-made chapbooks by new and established poets. Authors include Stephanie Balzer and Mark Horosky. Visit website to purchase back issues of Cue: A Journal of Prose Poetry (no longer publishing).
Dalkey Archive Press
This independent publisher in Champaign, Illinois specializes in bringing translations of world literature to the US market. Their website features author interviews, information for bookstores and reviewers, critical essays on contemporary literature, and other resources of interest to translators.
Dancing Girl Press & Studio
Spawned by the online zine Wicked Alice, DGP seeks to publish work that bridges the gaps between schools and poetic techniques: work that's fresh, innovative, and exciting. The press has published over 90 titles by emerging women poets in delectable handmade editions. The studio also sells art paper, ephemera, and vintage-inspired arts and crafts.
Demeter Press
Based in Toronto, Demeter Press is an independent feminist press specializing in books about mothering and motherhood. They publish peer-reviewed scholarly work, fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction by and about mothers, mothering and family issues. Demeter Press is the publishing arm of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement.
Ellipsis Press
Ellipsis Press publishes literary novels that are structurally innovative. "We like: novels that look normal but aren’t (more than those that look weird but are actually quite normal); those that are successful at bypassing or evolving the seemingly necessary but often tired elements of character and/or plot; and those that respond in some way to the history of the novel as genre and form. Writers who have studied the traditional elements of the novel and experimented with them to emotionally moving and/or extraordinary ends are invited to submit for publication." Send manuscripts by email.
Enchanted Lion Books
Enchanted Lion Books is a Brooklyn-based publisher of children's picture books. "Independent and family owned, we love books, well-told stories, and illustrations that open up the visual world and deepen a child's sense of story."
Etruscan Press
Based in Pennsylvania, Etruscan Press is a nonprofit cooperative of writers producing books that nurture the dialogue among genres, achieve distinctive voice, and reshape our literary and cultural histories. Their catalogue of fiction, poetry, and literary criticism includes the authors H.L. Hix, Paul Lisicky, Carol Moldaw, Bruce Bond, and Kazim Ali.
Europa Editions
Europa Editions is a New York-based publisher of literary fiction, high-end mystery and noir, children's illustrated fiction, narrative nonfiction, and memoir. Approximately two-thirds of the titles on their list are works of literature in translation. Europa Editions was founded in 2005 by Sandro Ferri and Sandra Ozzola Ferri, who are also the owner-publishers of Rome-based Edizioni E/O, one of Europe's most prestigious independent publishing houses. Europa's Tonga Books imprint publishes literary prose titles with a strong narrative voice, chosen by prominent authors as guest editors.
Fig Tree Books
Launched in 2014, Fig Tree Books publishes and promotes high-quality, commercially viable literary works that chronicle and enlighten the American Jewish Experience. They encourage submissions from both new and established writers. Fig Tree Books will also be re-publishing works that have fallen out of print or were not previously available as e-books. The press began with a focus on literary novels; as of 2015, they are also open to memoirs, graphic novels, and young adult literature.
Fireship Press
Fireship Press, based in Tucson, AZ, publishes e-books and print-on-demand books of nautical and historical fiction and nonfiction. They publish a wide range of works from Age of Sail, Medieval and Renaissance histories, to Westerns and Civil War fiction. The press's Cordero imprint publishes fantasy, murder mysteries, thrillers, biographical and instructional books.
Fish Publishing
This well-regarded Irish literary publisher runs a range of competitions, from poetry and flash fiction to crime, historical fiction, and short stories, with prizes up to 2,500 euros. They also provide a full editorial consultancy service designed to provide writers with one to one, on-going, constructive feedback on their work, whether it is a complete novel or just the beginnings. As of 2012, they also offer an online mentoring service, with pricing based on the manuscript length and duration of the mentoring relationship (3, 6, or 9 months).
Flamingo Rampant
Flamingo Rampant is an independent publisher of feminist, racially diverse, LGBTQ-positive picture books for children. They publish six titles a year, which must be ordered as a box set. Other forthcoming projects include resource sheets for parents and educators.
Flying Object
Flying Object is a nonprofit art and publishing organization. Their storefront in Hadley, Massachusetts hosts a variety of literary readings, art exhibits, concerts, and multimedia events. Their Factory Hollow Press and Flying Object imprints publish limited-edition letterpress chapbooks and broadsides, literary fiction and poetry, artists' books, and a print and online journal. Editors say, "We're particularly interested in collaborative and interdisciplinary work of emerging, experimental, and often overlooked artists, writers, and performers that seek to expand the traditional boundaries of a given art-form and to see that work realized through performance and/or publication. We see our storefront as a laboratory for creative development, performance, and publication that encourages both deliberate and chance encounters with the community that supports and engages our organization."
Folded Word
Independent literary press with a special interest in adapting short written works into a variety of electronic media. One of their projects is Shape of a Box, the first YouTube poetry journal, which features videos by poets such as Ellaraine Lockie, Dan Nowak, and Pris Campbell.
Global City Press
An offshoot of Global City Review, this NYC-based press aims to be a "literary metropolis of the imagination". Their first title, publishing in early 2020, is The Escapist by David Puretz, which follows a young anti-hero on a quest for his missing father while grappling with his sexuality, substance addiction, and childhood traumas. Multicultural Review calls Global City "a rich treasury of contemporary social thought and artistic expressions, defending a humanistic view of the individual in a complex society."
Great Place Books
Founded by novelists Alex Higley and Emily Adrian and literary agent Monika Woods, Great Place Books seeks to publish "rigorous, weird, beautiful books" of literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and translations. Authors in their catalog include Emma Catherine Perry, Julia Hannafin, and Pilar Fraile (translated by Lizzie Davis). They accept un-agented submissions.
Haymarket Books
Chicago-based independent press publishes scholarly and popular nonfiction from a left-wing activist perspective. They also publish the International Socialist Review.
Holy Cow! Press
Founded in 1977, Holy Cow! Press is an independent small press whose mission is to publish the very best collections of Midwest writings and develop an audience for those books regionally and nationally. They have published books of poetry, short fiction, memoirs, novels, plays, children's and young adult titles, biographies and anthologies centered around important themes. Authors in their catalog include Natalie Goldberg, Brenda Ueland, Meridel Le Sueur, Diane Glancy, and Ray A. Young Bear.
Honeysuckle Press
Brooklyn-based Honeysuckle Press is a small literary press affiliated with Winter Tangerine Review. Their mission statement says they are "committed to expanding and redefining human truths by prioritizing the narratives of unsung communities." The press accepts queries year-round for full-length poetry collections and short story collections, and also offers a free contest for prose and poetry chapbook manuscripts.
Idiots’ Books
Idiots' Books is a Maryland-based indie press that publishes offbeat, satirical illustrated books featuring the work of writer Matthew Swanson and illustrator Robbi Behr. Books are distributed through a subscription service. Titles include 'Dawn of the Fats', billed as "the oft-neglected examination of that special place where funnel cakes and zombiism collide"; 'Ten Thousand Stories', a book whose split pages can be recombined into 10,000 absurd but still grammatical narratives; and 'After Everafter', which gives ten classic fairy tales the same (mis)treatment.
Interlink Books
Based in Northampton, MA, Interlink Publishing is a literary small press with a cosmopolitan perspective. They publish literary fiction, history, contemporary politics, art, cultural guides, international cuisine, and illustrated children’s books from around the world. Interlink has a special interest in introducing Americans to topics and areas of the world often ignored by the Western media. Their list includes many thought-provoking works by Palestinian and Middle Eastern authors.
Jewish Storyteller Press
Founded in 2007 by filmmaker and author Scott Hilton Davis, Jewish Storyteller Press is an independent small press that uses print‑on‑demand and e‑book technology to bring English translations of 19th-century Yiddish writers to 21st-century readers. They publish new translations, adaptations, and original stories based on the works of once-famous Yiddish writers such as Sholem Abramovitsh (Mendele Moykher Sforim), Jacob Dinezon, I.L. Peretz, and Sholem Aleichem.
Kattywompus Press
This small press based in Cleveland Heights, Ohio publishes chapbooks of innovative, contemporary writing in a variety of genres: poetry, a chapbook-length essay collection, a rollicking long prose poem or gaggle of shorter prose poems, a clutch of micro-fictions, one incredible short story, or a chapbook-friendly slice of autobiography, travelogue, art criticism. $15 reading fee. Enter online only. The no-simultaneous-submissions rule is unusual for manuscript submissions, but they promise to respond within four weeks.
Kind of a Hurricane Press
This small press publishes several poetry anthologies a year on various themes, in POD print and e-book formats. Recent themes have included "Barbie in a Blender" and "Poised in Flight". The press also sponsors online journals for different types of poetry.
Levellers Press
This small press based in Western Massachusetts publishes literary novels and short story collections through its Thornapple Books imprint, and poetry collections through Hedgerow Books. The press has also published nonfiction books relating to local history and progressive social thought. Poets in their catalog include Annie Boutelle, Patricia Lee Lewis, and Anne Love Woodhull. See website for submission guidelines.
Little Red Tree Publishing
Little Red Tree Publishing was established in 2006 and is based in New London, CT. Their mission is to produce books that "delight, entertain and educate". Little Red Tree sponsors a first-book award for women poets, and an individual-poems contest with anthology publication for winners and runners-up. Authors in their catalog include Richard Harteis, W.F. Lantry, A.D. Winans, and Diana Woodcock.
Madras Press
Independent small press based in Brookline, MA publishes longer short stories and novellas as stand-alone paperbacks. Proceeds from each book are donated to a charity of the author's choice. Authors in their catalog include Aimee Bender and Trinie Dalton.
Metonymy Press
Based in Montreal, Metonymy Press specializes in queer, feminist, and social justice literature. They seek to promote literary fiction and nonfiction authors with underrepresented perspectives. Their motto: "We want to keep gay book lovers satisfied." See their contact page for submission guidelines.
Microcosm Publishing
Microcosm Press specializes in nonfiction DIY (Do-It-Yourself) goods that focus on the reader and teach self-empowerment. They publish books from people with both expertise and lived experience, on topics such as magic and herbalism, punk music and culture, queer erotica, travel, self-care, comics journalism, and "the bicycle revolution". Illustrated work is strongly encouraged. Browse sample titles on their website and send them a pitch that follows their detailed guidelines. Editors say, "We do not publish books that would primarily be described as poetry, fiction, travel stories, or memoirs, unless the work is more substantially about a nonfiction topic than the author's life and experiences. If your book contains more than 20% personal stories, we are not the right publisher for you."
Milkweed Editions: Multiverse Literary Series
An imprint of Milkweed Editions, a well-regarded literary press, the Multiverse series publishes neurodivergent poets. Its creator, Chris Martin, says that Multiverse is "devoted to different ways of languaging" and seeks innovative literary styles that "emerge from the practices and creativity of neurodivergent, autistic, neuroqueer, mad, nonspeaking, and disabled cultures." Poets in their catalog include Hannah Emerson and Adam Wolfond. Read Brian Gresko's article about Multiverse in the July/August 2022 Poets & Writers.
Octavo Digital Rare Books
High-quality digital reproductions (PDF or CD) of important rare printed works. Catalogue includes medieval illuminated manuscripts, Shakespeare folios and more.
Open Road Integrated Media
Open Road Integrated Media is a digital publisher and multimedia content company. Open Road creates connections between authors and their audiences by marketing its e-books through a new proprietary online platform, which uses premium video content and social media. Their mission is to give publishing's "vibrant backlist" fresh exposure in the digital marketplace. Open Road has published e-books from legendary authors including William Styron, Pat Conroy, Jack Higgins, and Virginia Hamilton, and has launched new e-stars like Mary Glickman. Their current projects include reviving out-of-print LGBT classics for e-book readers.
Orison Books
Orison Books publishes spiritually-engaged poetry, fiction, and nonfiction of exceptional literary merit. Editors say, "In our view, spiritual writing has little to do with subject matter. Rather, the kind of work we seek to publish has a transcendent aesthetic effect on the reader, and reading it can itself be a spiritual experience. We seek to be broad, inclusive, and open to perspectives spanning the spectrums of spiritual and religious thought, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation." Anthology proposals and fiction and nonfiction manuscripts are accepted year-round. There is an open reading period for poetry manuscripts in the spring and a contest in the winter with a large cash prize and prestigious judges. See website for online submission guidelines.
Peepal Tree Press
Based in Leeds, England, Peepal Tree Press publishes Caribbean and Black British fiction, poetry, literary criticism, memoirs and historical studies. In addition to their catalogue of contemporary authors, their Caribbean Modern Classics Series restores to print essential classic books from the 1950s and '60s.
Plain View Press
Founded in the 1970s, this independent small press in Austin, TX publishes poetry and literary prose. Editors say, "Our books result from artistic collaboration between writers, artists and editors. Over the years we have become a far-flung community of activists whose energies bring humanitarian enlightenment and hope to individuals and communities grappling with the major issues of our time: peace, justice, the environment, education and gender. This is a humane and highly creative group of people committed to art and social change." Query by email first, and wait for a response before sending the full manuscript. Email queries should include a link to a website that features a selection of your work and information about you, or a short selection of work pasted into the message (no attachments).
Prism Comics
Prism Comics is a nonprofit organization that supports the creators and readers of LGBT and LGBT-friendly comics and graphic novels. Prism provides networking opportunities for writers, artists, and small publishers to collaborate on new comics and reach a wider fan base. The website includes an online store where indie comics creators can sell their work. They also sponsor the Prism Comics Queer Press Grant to help indie and self-published authors publicize their work.
Q Avenue Press
Launched in 2004 by award-winning poet Curtis Bauer, Q Avenue Press publishes hand-bound chapbooks. Editors say, "We are devoted to publishing new writing, whether prose, poetry, or some combination of the two, new translations, and books that incorporate visual art with writing." Titles include 'I take back the sponge cake' by Loren Erdrich and Sierra Nelson, an illustrated poetry chapbook modeled on choose-your-own-adventure novels.
Ragged Sky Press
Ragged Sky Press was founded in 1992 by poet and publisher Ellen Foos of Princeton, NJ, and publishes quality works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. See website for submission guidelines for their themed anthologies. Authors in their catalog include Elizabeth Socolow, Anca Vlasopolos, and Carlos Hernández Peña.
Random House Canada
Random House Canada announced in 2023 that they would be open year-round to unagented submissions of adult fiction manuscripts from authors who are LGBTQ, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous or People of Color), and other under-represented communities. Editors say, "Our hope is that this will go a small way toward removing some of the barriers that have existed for writers developing their craft outside of traditional avenues of literary exposure. In particular, our editors are looking for high quality commercial fiction in the following genres: literary, romance, speculative fiction, historical fiction, and mystery. Please note that we do not currently accept screenplays, stage plays, young adult fiction, children's fiction, or picture book queries." No strict length limits; novels are typically 70,000-100,000 words. Follow formatting guidelines on website to submit your query letter, synopsis, and opening chapters by email.
Riverdale Avenue Books
Riverdale Avenue Books now owns the Magnus Books imprint founded in 2010 by LGBT publishing expert Don Weise, which published notable authors such as Urvashi Vaid and Edmund White. Riverdale's other imprints include romance/erotica, science fiction, horror, mystery/thriller, and commercial nonfiction. They were the 2014 BiPublisher of the Year from the Bi-Writers Association.
Rose Alley Press
This small press has a special interest in publishing verse that is attentive to meter and rhyme. Editor David Horowitz has also written several useful guides to marketing your poetry book, available here.
