Press 53 is a small independent publisher of books of literary fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. If you are not sure what we mean by literary, please visit our Catalog and read the writing samplers of some of our books. Or better still, purchase our books and sample widely.
Though we don't like categorizing literature, we must adhere to certain general categories if we are to give you any sense of what it is we are interested in publishing. We are not interested in work that can be labeled as straight "genre" writing, work that can be mostly categorized as mysteries, suspense/thrillers, romance novels, horror novels, science fiction work, or westerns. We do not publish books for children or young adults, nor do we venture into picture books, graphic novels, religious or political testimonials, or how-to guides (although books on the craft of writing may be considered). In additon to full-length books (100,000 words max.) of poetry, literary novels/novellas/short fiction collections, biographies, memoirs, collections of essays, and other nonfiction books, we will consider experimental forms, anthologies, and books of interest to writers.
Check our schedule and needs below.
Reading Period:
Regular submissions are currently closed. Any submissions received before the next reading period will be automatically deleted. We appreciate your interest, but try us again next time.
June 1, 2009 - July 31, 2009
If you've recently submitted work, we will be in touch soon. Thanks for your patience as we set our noddles to the difficult challenge of picking a few from the great batch of work we receive. We cannot express to you enough how much we appreciate each one of you and how much we wish we could publish every deserving book. If you're still waiting to hear from us, it means you've made it especially hard on us this time. We're scratching our heads, weighing books and writers and trying to decide who we can best serve. We will have news for you soon. Hang tight.
Submission Guidelines:
Please query us by email before submitting your complete manuscript. Queries should provide a brief (1 page max) synopsis of your work and explain how it fits with Press 53. A short bio, in the body of your email, telling us where you live and what you do for a day job and how your experience has enriched your writing is also helpful. If you have marekting strategies, include those as well. Please keep it all to 1-2 pages. Then attach a sample of your work to your email and enter your name/title of your work/genre (fiction, etc) in the subject line of your email. Adhering to these guidelines carefully will ensure that your manuscript is not overlooked. Please send submission queries to both of these email addresses: submissions@press53.com and p53submissions@aol.com. Do not send to any other email address from this website. Doing so will risk having your submission lost in the jumble of other emails we receive. Submit one book query at a time. We will only consider one, so pick your best. Please do not submit work outside of our reading periods. Thanks.
Poetry: Submit ten of your best poems
Short Fiction: Submit three of your best stories (up to 50 pgs.)
Novel/Novella: Submit first three chapters (up to 50 pgs.)
Memoir/Personal Essay: Submit first three chapters or essays (up to 50 pgs.)
Biography/Other Nonfiction/Essay/Interviews: Submit up to 50 pgs
If we ask to see the rest of your work, send your complete manuscript by mail (sorry, no email) with a synopsis, marketing plan, and a concise cover letter telling us about your publishing credits, awards, education, and anything else we might find interesting about you. Include your email address or SASE for our reply.
Process: Reading submissions is time-consuming. We apologize now for the long wait. Please allow us several months to read your work and reply. We encourage simulanteous submissions but appreciate immediate notice if your work is accepted elsewhere.
ANNOUNCING THE OPENING OF SUBMISSIONS FOR SURREAL SOUTH '09
(Please read the entire announcement before submitting.)
In October 2007, Press53 published Surreal South, a trade paperback anthology of Southern poetry and fiction with a surreal bent. The collection was edited by the husband-and-wife writers Pinckney and Laura Benedict, and included the work of twenty-seven established authors, including William Gay, Ann Pancake, Robert Olen Butler, Rodney Jones, and many others. You can learn more about the anthology here (www.myspace.com/surrealsouth), and you can order a copy through Press53 or through online booksellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Press53 has elected to make the Surreal South anthology a biennial event. The next edition is due out in October 2009. It too will be edited by Laura and Pinckney Benedict. Whereas material for the first anthology was submission-by-invitation only, the second edition – which will concentrate principally on the work of new and emerging writers – will be filled by open submission.
Like the original Surreal South, the new anthology will consist of work, by Southerners or about the South, that contains surreal elements. We're defining the term surreal quite broadly, to include dream stories, horror stories, monster stories, insanity, magical realism, the distorted, the peculiar, the impossible, and the irrational. We have as part of our mandate some small reconciliation between so-called "genre" fiction and so-called "literary" fiction.
We're also defining "southern" broadly, simply to mean that either the writer needs to be associated with the geographical south (born, living, spent time in prison or otherwise dallied somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon) or the material needs to be plainly set in or derived from the South.
We're looking for excellent prose fiction, preferably short stories. Novel excerpts are acceptable so long as they have narrative integrity. We're hoping that folks will pull out of the closet their truly gruesome fantasies, stuff they'd be too timid or embarrassed or worried to send to a more conventional venue, and send them to us. Submissions will ideally be between 3000 and 7000 words in length, though some variation is possible.
We're able to pay two contributor's copies of the book on publication for non-exclusive rights to the story. The work can have been previously published anywhere, in any form, or be under consideration elsewhere, or unpublished; however, (re)publication rights for the story must lie with the writer, or the writer must obtain such permission. If you do not own rights to the story, please do not submit it. We are looking for twenty to twenty-five pieces of surreal fiction.
We can accept only one submission per writer, and (given the volume of submissions we anticipate) we cannot communicate about individual manuscripts other than to indicate that they are accepted or rejected. We will not in any case respond before the submission deadline of January 1, 2009. All submissions must be in Microsoft Word compatible format or Adobe PDF. Send submissions as email attachments to surrealsouth@gmail.com. Do not send submissions to any other email address on this website.
A cover letter is optional. We are interested in the work exclusively. If/when we need to contact you, we will use the email address from which the submission came. The subject line of the email should contain the words “Surreal South 09 submission” and your full name. The file name should also contain this information. You should copy the email to yourself or some other address that’s accessible to you; if it arrives safely and with attachment intact at that address, then you can assume that we received it in good order as well.
We want strongly to suggest that writers interested in submitting work for Surreal South 09 should purchase a copy of Surreal South in order to acquaint themselves with the sort of thing we’re looking for.
Literary magazines and other such venues typically receive submissions from many more people than they have subscribers. Such magazines are, like the Surreal South series, labors of love that do not enrich those who create and maintain them. Those who wish to keep such venues available for their own work and the work of those like them should want to support them financially.
If you think that Surreal South is a worthwhile effort – and if you plan to submit work to it, then presumably you do think so – then it only makes sense that you should help to support it. We are openly asking that you do so. The continuation of the Surreal South series is directly contingent on the number of books sold.
summary
Surreal South 09 is seeking submissions of prose fiction (3000 to 7000 words approximately).
Please feel free to copy and post these guidelines anywhere you believe that interested writers will see them. Please do not alter or truncate them. Thank you!
Versus is a collection of works based on the theme of pitting iconic characters or forces against one another (for example, “Jesus VS Thor” or “Adolph Hitler VS Grendel”). Versus is set for release in the spring of 2009 by Press 53. Versus already includes a great host of writers, such as Pinckney Benedict, Michael Kimball, Margaret McMullan, John McNally, Kyle Minor, Andrew Scott, Curtis Smith, Susan Woodring, and many others, but we have held a few spots open in order to give everyone interested the opportunity to join this anthology, so here is that opportunity.
We’re looking mostly for short fiction of around 1,000-1,500 words, but Versus is open to longer works as well as poetry, creative non-fiction, short screenplays, flash fiction, graphic novel pages, and even hybrid genres. Submissions can be previously published elsewhere as long as the writer has, or can obtain, (re)publication rights. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are allowed, but due to the volume of submissions, we will be unable to communicate about individual manuscripts other than to indicate that they are accepted or rejected. We will not respond prior to the submission deadline.
The deadline for all submissions is June 1, 2008.
Please send submissions by email attachment in Microsoft Word compatible format or as Adobe PDF to versusanthology@gmail.com, or submit by mail with SASE to:
Versus Anthology
Faner Hall 2390, MC 4503
SIU Carbondale
1000 Faner Hall
Carbondale, IL 62901
Do not send submissions to any other email address on this website.
Cover letter is optional, but please include your name and email address on each page of the manuscript. For these few remaining spots in Versus, we are setting our focus on new, emerging, and innovative writers. For further details on what a Versus piece is, or even for the option of getting assigned a set of characters for your Versus piece, please visit www.myspace.com/versusanthology.
