Submissions

What we publish

We consider literary fiction, including the philosophical and speculative end of the literary spectrum — novels of ideas with characters you believe and prose worth living in.

We also consider literary nonfiction: essayistic, formally adventurous, or hybrid work that reads like literature and holds its tension the way the fiction does. We are not looking for conventional memoir, self-help, or inspirational narrative — if the shape of the writing isn't doing part of the work, we're likely the wrong home for it.

We consider short-story collections when the collection coheres — a book, not an assortment. Tell us in the query what holds it together.

Beyond that we'd rather draw the line loosely than lose a book to it. We are rarely the right home for straight genre fiction — romance, thriller, mystery, fantasy adventure — or for poetry, children's and YA, or reference and how-to. But our own debut is a speculative novel, and a book that borrows genre machinery to do something literary with it is precisely what we're hoping to find. The question we're asking isn't which shelf a book belongs on. It's whether the writing holds its tension.

What to send

• A query letter — about one page: a short pitch for the book, its approximate word count and a comparable title or two, and a few lines about you.
• A synopsis — one to two pages covering the whole story, including how it ends.
• The first 20 pages — as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf attachment (double-spaced is easiest to read).

Sending a collection? Skip the synopsis — tell us in the query what holds the book together, and send two or three complete stories instead of the first 20 pages. For nonfiction, a short outline does the synopsis's job.

How to submit

Use the button below — it opens a pre-addressed email with a short template. Paste your query letter and synopsis into the message and attach your first 20 pages.

Prefer to compose it yourself? Write to our submissions editor.

What happens next

Because we read everything ourselves, responses take time — and because of the volume, we reply only when we would like to see more. Please allow 12–16 weeks. We ask that you not have the manuscript under consideration with other publishers or agents while we read it; if you haven't heard from us after 16 weeks, you are free to submit it elsewhere — and welcome to resubmit to us.