Updated July 27th, 2021: They have annonced “We will reopen unagented manuscript submissions on Submittable beginning Tuesday, August 3rd at 12:01am ET (9:01pm PT on 8/2), and ending Wednesday, August 4th at 11:59pm ET/8:59pm PT.”
Updated: July 19th 2021. They have closed early to submissions without announcing any change on their website, or their Twitter that I could find. This is unfortunate.
Soft Skull Press is a small publisher of literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid work currently based in New York. They publish a wide variety of quirky and well-written work. They have published a number of well-known authors, including Maggie Nelson.
They are a niche press. They are now an imprint of Catapult Press and they are distributed by Penguin Random House.
From June 29th to July 20th, they are accepting unagented submissions of complete manuscripts.
Per their website statement “We are primarily seeking and strongly encouraging submissions from BIPOC writers and underrepresented voices of any race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class, and physical or mental ability.”
Please respect these guidelines.
This three-week period is the one time per year that they are open to unsolicited submissions. They are open to agented submissions year-round.
All submissions must be made through Submittable. There is no submission fee.
In the cover letter field you should include a one-paragraph summary of your project, a total word count, a brief author bio, and your contact information.
Submissions must be full-length, previously unpublished manuscripts. You must also include a separate statement of intent making it clear why you think your work is right for them. Visit their catalogue here in order to determine if your work is a good fit.
Simultaneous submissions are fine. They aim to respond within six months of the submission period end date.
Visit their Submittable 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.
