Written by Emily Harstone December 20th, 2024

Verso: Accepting Proposals

Verso is the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world. They publish 100 books a year, and have editors based in Brooklyn, London, and Paris. They participate in all of the major book fairs. The majority what they publish is is nonfiction, and they are not open to unsolicited submissions of fiction of any kind.

They have received praise and acknowledgement from many major publications including Harper’s and the Sunday Times. You can learn more about their extensive history, here.

They are a radical publishing house, and so they are not a good fit for authors that do not align with that perspective. You can get a clear impression of their views and perspectives by spending time with their catalog here. Do not submit to them, if you have not spent some time browsing through their list of previously published books. It is well organized, and categorized, and it should not take anyone very long to figure out if is a good fit or not.

They only consider digital submissions, and have two different email addresses based off where the author is located in the world. They also only respond to submissions if interested, so if that is a deal breaker to you, please do not submit. Please assume rejection if you have not heard from them after two months.

Proposals should be no longer than 15 pages total and they should include a page or two that covers the book’s main themes, a list of contents with a short paragraph on each chapter, background information on the author, as well as what the author considers to be the main markets for the book. Also include information on titles covering the same or similar territory that are published or forthcoming. They also ask for an intended writing timetable, if possible.

You can see their full submission guidelines here. They are also open to pitches for their blog, and they include information about that at the bottom of their main submission guidelines.


Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript SubmissionsSubmit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2024 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.

 

 

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