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.

Atlantic Books
Atlantic Books is an independent London-based publishing house that was founded in 2000. They publish a wide range of work including fiction, memoir, history and current affairs. Some of their biggest fiction successes include My Sister the Serial Killer, Call Me By Your Name, and Crazy Rich Asians. They are currently only open to submissions for their Atlantic Fiction imprint, and not for any of their other imprints, nonfiction or fiction. Their Atlantic Fiction imprint only publishes literary fiction and they are not interested in any genres outside of literary fiction.

Sea Crow Press
Their motto is “Stories Rooted In Place  •  Writing That Moves The World”. This small press based in Cape Cod, Massachusetts focuses on publishing fiction, nonfiction, and poetry with a clear focus on eco-literature, regional writing, and climate-aware storytelling. It is a woman-owned press, and you can see their full masthead by scrolling down here.

Bullshit Lit
Bullshit Lit describes itself by saying they are,​”Inspired by a stack of silly poems, Bullshit Lit is the antithesis to those flowery submissions calls for, like, “the deepest echo in your heartcanyon.” We don’t take ourselves too seriously.​ We like to see your worst. Your trash. Get funky with it. We love silly poems, nonsense prose, and lazy lore.” They were founded in 2021 in Philadelphia by Veronica Bennett. They are closed to submissions at the time of this update.

Bluemoose Books
Bluemoose Books is an award winning independent publisher based in the UK. It was founded by Kevin and Hetha Duffy. For a small press, the books they have published have gone on to win major prizes, including the Walter Scott Prize, Portico Literature Prize, and many more have been long and shortlisted. They are a small press that focuses on publishing only a few literary novels per year.

Everything With Words 
Everything With Words is an independent  publisher based in the UK. They focus on publishing literary fiction for children and adults. Their books have been featured in major UK-based newspapers and online, and have won or been shortlisted for industry prizes. You can get a good feel for what they publish here. Please spend time with their catalog if you are considering submitting to them. If you are serious about submitting, please either try to buy a book, or borrow one through your library. Their distribution in the UK is through Central Books. They also have someone on staff focused on foreign rights, which is a good sign. 

Game Over Books
A small press based out of Boston, Game Over Books was founded in 2017 and has funded their small press through a mix of Kickstarter fundraising, Patreon, and book sales. Their staff page is here, if you want to learn more about their team. Their covers are generally excellent, and all of the books they’ve published that I’ve read are terrific. They have yet to announce their 2026 reading period.

Parlyaree Press
Parlyaree Press was established in 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. They are focused on publishing work that “expands, reveals, and interrogates the mainstream.” They want their books to “exist in the liminal space between what was and what will be.”

Querencia Press [
Querencia Press is a small press that describes themselves by saying “Querencia Press is an independent publisher from the Chicago-land area amplifying marginalized voices & creating a safe space for writers and artists to share their stories. We are especially interested in work that has been looked over in the past and challenges conventional genre placement.” They publish poetry, fiction, nonfiction and hybrid work. 

Modern Artist Press
This small Northern Virginia based press was founded in 2023. The press makes it clear that they are women owned and are committed to amplifying the work of writers and artists who are “women, nonbinary; Black, Indigenous, Latina/o/x, Arab, Asian; LGBTQ+; neurodivergent, disabled; multinational, multicultural, multidisciplinary; and those defining and redefining their identities”. They state, “Modern Artist Press looks to expand and explode the definition of a modern artist by publishing literary fiction.”

Arsenal Pulp Press 
They have over 400 titles currently in print. The books they publish cover a wide range of topics and genres. They publish literary fiction and nonfiction, and the topics they cover range from gender studies to cook books. They also publish graphic novels.

Bold Strokes Books
Bold Strokes is interested in publishing books that fall under the LGBTQ umbrella including literary fiction, romance novels, young-adult novels, genre novels (including science fiction and mystery), and works of nonfiction. The only genre of books they do not appear to publish is poetry.

Cornerstone Press
Cornerstone Press is a traditional press in that it doesn’t charge its authors, but they are an unusual press in that it is run by students at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. You can learn more about the press and how it is run, here. The masthead is also included at the bottom of the page

Great Place Books
This small press publishes literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and work in translation, at the rate of about one to two books per year. They state: “Our mission is to be a home for rigorous, weird, beautiful books—and their readers. These books are imperiled by the stratification and commercialization of publishing. Against the grain of the industry and the times, we aim to support the careers of idiosyncratic and alluring writers whose voices might otherwise be lost.”

BlazeVOX
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
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. Their website focuses on selling books, not on recruiting authors. The books they have published so far are great and have wonderful covers. They are not open to submissions at this time, but try to have one to two reading periods a year. 

Plough Publishing
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 Press
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.

The Feminist Press
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.

aunt lute
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.

Three Rooms Press
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
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.

Deep Vellum 
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.

époque press
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
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 that publishes a wide variety of genres including literary fiction.

Clash Books
Clash Books started in 2015, they also publish Clash Magazine. They publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Clash Books is a small press but they attend major conferences like AWP and they host readings.

Ig Publishing
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.