UPDATED DECEMBER 2021 – Their newly acquired imprint Dalkey Press has started to charge writers and/or the institutions they work for. Please email us at support@authorspublish.com if you contact Deep Vellum and they ask for money in order to publish your manuscript. This is not appropriate for a traditional publisher.
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, poetry in English and works in translation that fall into any of the previous categories. As of 2020, about half of that work is by international authors, and half is work originally published in English.
Deep Vellum is nonprofit, and they explain why using these words: “Instead of selecting a book for publication exclusively because of its sales potential, our nonprofit status allows us to choose books for their artistic and social value. We are dedicated to publishing socially engaged literature that fosters cross-cultural dialogue, breaks down barriers between communities, and promotes empathy.” You can donate to help support them, you can also subscribe.
They also run a for profit “sister” bookstore which is located in Dallas.
The books they publish are diverse and eclectic and lean towards literary. You can get a good idea for what they publish by visiting their catalogue here. Only consider submitting if you feel like your manuscript is a good fit, based on thoroughly reviewing their catalogue. The books they publish have wonderful covers and their website is well designed.
They ask that you to contact them via a submission form first. They ask that you link to the manuscript when submitting. The link could be to a Dropbox, or a Google doc. They don’t have many guidelines in terms of submitting. Most of the language they use is vague. They say that they respond to all submissions as soon as possible.
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 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.
