If you are familiar with fanfiction, the title of this press alone might help you know if your work is a good fit for it or not. They only publish work in the Whump genre. Whump is a genre that emphasizes trauma, and can go fully horror or lean more towards hurt/comfort (which is to say there is trauma, but also support at the end. As they make clear on their website, “Whump stories are usually character-driven and often (but not always) contain graphic violence.” If you want to learn more about the genre, there is a whole fandom wiki focused on it here.
The Whumpy Printing Press only publishes Whump, but they do so over a range of lengths, including novelette, novella, novel, and short story collection. They also consider graphic novel submissions. Their minimum word count in 7,500 words. If your work is not Whump please do not submit it to them. They close to submissions on September 30th, 2026.
You can see what they’ve published so far here. As far as I can tell they have been actively publishing for a little over two years. I know they have published at least one of the founders’ work, Kailey Alessi’s, but they have published books beyond that scope. Their covers seem genre-appropriate. They are part of the Indie Press Webring.
They have some electronic distribution, including through Libby (you can see which eLibraries carry their books here.
They say this about what they are currently seeking: “Your story should clearly fall into the whump genre (i.e. a character needs to be hurt). We’re looking for strong stories with a balance between whump and plot. We are especially fond of sci-fi/fantasy settings, but will consider any story as long as it gives us whumperflies! Word count: at least 7,500. There is no word count maximum. “
Even though they expect characters to be hurt in the fiction that is submitted to them, they do have strict perimeters and say the following about what is not allowed: “No explicit torture of children under the age of 13. No explicit sexual content of characters under the age of 18. No torture or sexual content involving non-sentient animals. No fanfiction, for legal reasons (exception: works in the public domain).” They state “no fanfiction”, but they also state in their FAQs that authors can submit work that was previously posted on Ao3 or Tumblr. This means that they do expect submissions of work that was previously fanfiction that has now been adapted so it is not.
They do not allow generative AI submissions. Authors must be 18 or older to submit You can only submit one story at a time. They allow simultaneous submissions as long as you inform them if your work is accepted elsewhere.
They are upfront about payment and state the following:
“Authors will receive an initial payment based on word count:
- 7,500-17,499 words $25 USD
- 17,500-39,999 words $50 USD
- 40,000+ words $100 USD
Additionally, authors will receive 50% of all royalties.”
Please read their full submission guidelines carefully before submitting.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2026 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.
