Subtle Body Press is a small press that publishes a schizo-philosophical / countercultural journal series called Seven Story Hotel and a short fiction focused literary journal called Body Shots, both of which are currently open to submissions. They are also seeking a novella-length work of fiction or creative nonfiction to publish this year.
This is what they say they are looking for: “Show us something we haven’t seen before—but make it substantive and accessible. Practically speaking, we are fond of experimentation, counterculture, transgression, the occult, weird theory, weird fiction, speculative fiction, magical realism, slipstream, social satire, subversion, and horror that feels like an art-house film or has a body horror bent. But don’t limit yourself. We’re open to being pleasantly surprised, so give us your best and surprise us.”
This is not a good fit for anything mainstream or strictly genre, you can get a good idea of what they’ve previously published here. I cannot stress enough that you should not submit to them unless you feel like you could easily see your novella length work fitting within their current catalogue.
It’s also important to note that their preferred word count is on the lower end for a novella: “25000 and 30000 words are preferred, with 35000 words being the hard cap. But suppose you have a piece with visual and/or typographic peculiarities or a “book object” project where such design elements significantly impact the layout. In that case, we will consider as little as 18,000 words.”
They offer unspecified royalties and an advance. They ask for all submissions to be made via email without a synopsis or query, but with a name and contact information as well as linking to your social media. They are active on a number of social media platforms, but their Instagram account has the most followers.
To learn more, go here.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2024 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.
