Literary fiction is one of the harder genres to get published in without an agent. There are smaller presses that specialize in it, but unfortunately more and more of those presses are now charging reading fees. However, there are still good options for authors who are unagented and averse to paying reading fees.
The manuscript publishers in this list cover a wide range. Some are small presses that only publish a few works of literary fiction a year, others are large established presses that just focus on literary fiction along with one or two other genres, others publish literary fiction as part of a wide variety of genres.
Not all of these publishers are currently open to submissions. This list is in no particular order.
Able Muse is a small literary press that has one free reading period every year, from 1st May through 15th July. They also publish a literary journal, and they host a number of contests every year. They publish poetry and fiction primarily, and they will consider nonfiction as long as you query first. Most of the fiction they publish is short story collections and unlike other small presses, some of what they publish is genre work.
Coffee House Press (CHP) is a respected literary press with a great reputation. They are only open for short submission periods every year. These periods are capped at 300 submissions, so submit early. They open on the first of the month. During the last open period they had reached 300 submissions within a few hours. Coffee House Press publishes emerging and midcareer authors. They do not focus on bestsellers, but their books are often taught in academic settings and available in libraries and independent bookstores.
BlazeVOX is a publisher based out of Buffalo, New York. They are a small independent publisher that focuses on publishing innovative literary fiction and poetry manuscripts.
Acre Books is an imprint of The Cincinnati Review. They focus on publishing literary fiction and poetry. They are interested in novels and short story collections. They are not accepting submissions of full manuscripts. They ask that authors query first. While Acre Books is still new, they are an offshoot of the well-respected and long- established literary journal The Cincinnati Review. Their website focuses on selling books, not on recruiting authors. The books they have published so far are great and have wonderful covers.
They publish a quarterly magazine as well as books. The books they publish include books on Christian living, social issues, devotionals, church history, spiritual classics, parenting and education, poetry and literary fiction, as well as children’s books.
Schaffner is an established press with distribution through IPG. They publish literary fiction, short fiction collections, and crime fiction. They also publish a wide variety of nonfiction including memoir, autobiography, biography, journalistic expose or narrative, true crime, art, culture, pop culture, world history, current events, science, and music.
This is an Edinburgh based publisher, open to direct submissions of full length manuscripts of fiction, nonfiction, short stories, and poetry. They are a small press that has different reading periods every year, and currently, they are open to nonfiction pitches for their pocket book series.
The Feminist Press was established as an independent nonprofit literary publisher in 1970. The Feminist Press is the oldest women’s publishing house in the world. They are open to submission from female/female identifying, and non-binary authors. They publish literary fiction and works of nonfiction.
Platypus Press is a publisher of prose and poetry, all literary. They are a publisher based out of the UK that have been publishing books for six years. They have established a track record and publish books with beautiful covers.
Persea Books is an independent book publisher based out of New York that was established in the 1970s. Since then they have gained a reputation for publishing thoughtful books in a variety of literary genres, including literary fiction.
McSweeney’s is one of my personal favorite publishers. They publish literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. I own a large number of the books they have published in the last decade. They have been closed for submissions for longer than expected, but still plan to re-open.
Waywiser is a small independent press based in the UK. They host a yearly contest called The Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize, but they charge a fee for that. They seem to focus on literary prose and poetry. They publish fiction and nonfiction, including essay collections. Unfortunately the only way to submit poetry manuscripts to them is through the contest.
8th House Publishing is a newer publisher based out of Montreal and New York. They publish poetry, novels with a literary bent, and nonfiction.seem to put a fair amount of effort into promoting their author’s work through launches, readings, and links to additional publications. They also seem to be very good at getting prestigious authors to provide blurbs for their books. Their covers tend to be well designed and aesthetically pleasing.
Fairlight Books is a publisher of literary fiction based in Oxford. They were founded in 2017 and started publishing in 2018. The company is run by an ex-energy chief, Louise Boland. Their goal is to promote literary fiction, particularly by new authors, in the UK. You can learn a little bit more about that here.
aunt lute is a multicultural women’s press. Their priority is to publish work by women, both transgender and cisgender, particularly women of color. They publish both fiction and nonfiction. They also publish poetry but only as part of an anthology or a larger prose work. They were founded in 1982.
Soho Press is an established and respected literary independent publisher based out of New York. Soho Press is generally open to unsolicited submissions of literary fiction. They focus on publishing bold voices and original perspectives. To learn more about what they have published in the past, their catalog is a good place to start.
Tramp is a literary press based out of Ireland that has great distribution. Within Ireland they are distributed by Gill & Macmillan. Throughout the rest of the world they are distributed by Macmillan.
Skylight Press is a small, UK-based publisher. They publish 12 books every year. They publish serious esoteric and occult books (focusing on things like paganism, and Arthurian/Grail traditions), as well as literary fiction, and nonfiction with a history or horticultural focus. They also consider literary analysis, although they do not publish much of it. They publish poetry as well but are currently not open to fiction or poetry submissions.
Regal Crest Enterprises historically specialized in publishing books of interest to lesbian readers but now their focus has expanded to include LGBTQ+ and they’ve rebranded as Flashpoint Publications. They mostly publish genre fiction now as well as some nonfiction. Learn more here.
Bellevue Literary Press publishes works of narrative nonfiction and literary fiction geared towards a general readership. They accept unsolicited submissions of both kinds of work. The work they publish explores the intersection between arts and science. Many of the characters in the fictional work that they publish are doctors and scientists, but many of their books also focus on the natural world. They seem to publish about four novels for every work of nonfiction they publish.
Douglas & McIntyre is one of Canada’s pre-eminent independent publishers, with books that have won many national and international awards, including the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award. They filed for bankruptcy a number of years ago. Harbour Publishing purchased Douglas & McIntyre at that point. They predominantly publish Canadian authors. To learn more about their submission policy, go here.
Three Rooms Press is an independent press that is inspired by “Dada, Punk, and Passion”. They were founded in 1994. They have good distribution.
Jaded Ibis Press allows international submissions from women, writers of color, writers with disabilities, queer writers, as well as other marginalized and disenfranchised writers. They currently publish prose, both in terms of fiction and nonfiction. They want work to be well written and also contain ideas that contribute to the progress of social justice. This is very much a niche focus.
Deep Vellum is a press based in Dallas. They describe themselves as the “heart and soul of the Dallas literary community”. They were founded in 2013 and initially just published works in translation. Now they publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in English, as well as works in translation that fall into any of the previous categories. As of 2020 about half of that work was translated authors and half was work originally published in English.
époque press is an independent publisher based between Brighton, Dublin and New York. They publish literary fiction, and only literary fiction, but it can be novel length or in short story format. They published their first volume in 2018.
Unnamed Press is an independent publisher of literary fiction and nonfiction, based in Los Angeles and founded in 2014. They have excellent distribution, their books have been reviewed in most major publications, and they know how to promote the books they publish.
Brother Mockingbird Publishing
Brother Mockingbird Publishing is a small independent press committed to discovering writers from the American South, but they are also open to good fiction, regardless of where the author is based. They recently celebrated their three-year anniversary, so they are a new press.
Clash Books started in 2015, they also publish Clash Magazine and the literary journal Black Telephone Magazine. They publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Clash Books is a small press but they attend major conferences like AWP and they host readings. They also offer wholesale discounts and they have provisional distribution via Ingram Spark.
Ig Publishing is a New York-based small press that focuses on publishing literary fiction and progressive political nonfiction. The books they’ve published have won or been honorable mentions for many major awards, and are frequently mentioned on “best of” year- end lists.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2020 Guide to Manuscript Publishers.
She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
