Press 53 Submission Guidelines

Before submitting to Press 53, please take a few minutes to read our guidelines. Each editor has his or her own preferences. Below, you will learn who we are, what we publish, and how to submit.

Press 53 is a small independent publisher owned by Kevin Morgan Watson. We publish books of literary fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. If you are not sure what we mean by literary, do an Internet seach on any of our authors and you will find plenty of examples. Or better still, purchase our books and sample widely.

Please Note: We do not publish books for children or young adults, nor do we venture into picture/coffee table books, graphic novels, religious/political testimonials, and how-to guides.

We are looking for writers who are actively involved in the writing community, writers who are submitting their work to journals, magazines and contests, and who are getting published and earning recognition for their work. We are a small press, so it is important that we partner with writers who put themselves and their work out there on a regular basis.

While many of our authors are local / regional to the Carolinas, we publish just as many writers from outside our region from Florida to New England to California to Washington state and many points between. We also publish a balance of men and women. Neither of these statistics were established by design. Please note: Press 53 is not reviewing manuscripts from outside the US at this time. We do, however, accept contest entries worldwide for the Press 53 Open Awards for publication in the Press 53 Open Awards Anthology.

WHAT WE PUBLISH:

Poetry Collections: We love working with poets who have been widely published and are active in the poetry community. We publish only full-length poetry collections of roughly 70 pages or more. We prefer that at least 30-40% of the poems in the collection be previously published in literary journals, magazines, anthologies, etc. Individual poems may be submitted to our Press 53 Open Awards writing contest (reading fee involved), or if we have an open submission period for an anthology, which you will find listed at the top of this page. We publish 6-8 poetry collections each year; including books published as part of our Tom Lombardo Poetry Selections, edited by Tom LOmbardo, and our Silver Concho Poetry Series, edited by Pamela Uschuk and William Pitt Root. Plus, each October we publish the first prize, second prize, and honorable mention poems from the Press 53 Open Awards in our Press 53 Open Awards Anthology. Please note that there are no open submission periods for the Tom Lombardo Poetry Selections or the Silver Concho Poetry Series; the editors of these imprints actively scout for poets they wish to publish under these imprints.

Short Story Collections: We have made it our mission to help usher in a renaissance of the short story. Collections should include 10-15 short stories with 60-70% of those stories previously published in journals, magazines, or anthologies. Individual stories may be submitted to our Press 53 Open Awards writing contest (reading fee involved), or when we have an open submission period for an anthology, which you will find listed to the right. We publish 8 short story collections each year. Also, each October we publish the first prize, second prize, and honorable mention winners in Flash Fiction and Short Story from the Press 53 Open Awards in our Press 53 Open Awards Anthology.

Novels/Novellas: We no longer publish full-length novels, but will consider publishing a novella that comes to our attention by way of the Press 53 Open Awards. Each October, we publish the first prize winner in the Novella category in the Press 53 Open Awards (reading fee involved) in our Press 53 Open Awards Anthology.

Creative Nonfiction/Memoir/Biography: We no longer publish book-length nonfiction. Each October, we publish the first prize, second prize, and honorable mention winners in the Creative Nonfiction category of the Press 53 Open Awards (reading fee involved) in our Press 53 Open Awards Anthology.

HOW TO SUBMIT: (Simultaneous submissions are accepted so long as we are notified immediatley upon acceptance from another publisher)

POETRY COLLECTIONS: Submissions accepted during the month of May

(Open May each year)

Our Poetry editor is Kevin Morgan Watson. You may submit ten (10) poems directly to Kevin using Submishmash, a free submission service. Please include a letter of introduction, with info on yourself and your poetry collection, the number of poems in the collection, where the poems have been published, and a few ideas for marketing your book. Kevin will do his best to respond within six months. If after six months you have not received a response, please send a note to Kevin at kevin@press53.com. You can find Kevin on Facebook here. To learn more about Kevin Morgan Watson, visit our Editors' page.

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS: Submissions accepted during the month of November

(Opens November each year)

Our Short Story Collections editor is Kevin Morgan Watson. Kevin actively seeks out short story collections from authors he has read in literary journals, magazines, ezines, and anthologies, and through suggestions from editors at various publications. You may submit your short story collection directly to Kevin using Submishmash, a free submission service. Please send a letter of introduction, which includes info on yourself and your story collection, the number of stories in the collection, where the stories have been published, a few ideas for marketing your book, and three stories from the collection. Kevin will do his best to respond within six months. If after six months you have not received a response, please send a note to Kevin at kevin@press53.com. You can find Kevin on Facebook here. To learn more about Kevin Morgan Watson, visit our Editors' page.

POETRY: Open May each year

SHORT STORIES: Open November each year

NOVELS/MEMOIRS: We no longer publish book-length novels or nonfiction. We will consider novellas that come to our attention by way of the Press 53 Open Awards (please read below)

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Press 53 . PO Box 30314, Winston-Salem, NC 27130-0314