Lit Fox Books is a small, Austin-based press founded by Lisa Mottolo.
They do offer editing services on poetry manuscripts only. You can learn more about that here. I do know how important and hard it is to fund a small press, and I’m glad they are trying to find meaningful ways to do that but I personally wish that they were better at clearly stating that this is separate from the publications they do, and not a more expensive route towards that publication. Just to be a hundred percent transparent, I am not reviewing the poetry publishing aspect of their press (which is not currently open, either), because of that. I do very much get the impression that this is a small literary press and a passion project, if that is not the right fit for you or your work, please don’t proceed.
In this review I am only focusing on their nonfiction publishing, as they do not offer paid editing for this work. They have yet to publish nonfiction, but you can get a feel for what they have previously published here. They have yet to publish nonfiction, though. Their covers are generally terrific.
They are currently open to receiving submissions of full-length manuscripts in the following nonfiction categories: Books on the craft of poetry, books about writing, essay collections, flash nonfiction collections, and memoirs.
They ask for submissions of full manuscripts via email, alongside a cover letter and brief biographical statement. They also have requirements for the subject line of the email that you must follow.
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 2025 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.
