5 Small Presses Currently Seeking Manuscripts
The American indie and small press landscape is vast, various, and looking for new voices. The map is constantly evolving. New publishers emerge every day. Indies operate on a different logic than the Big 5, including that many of them accept unagented submissions, through contests or open reading periods. There are dozens currently seeking full-length work across all genres. Here’s five that are reading right now:
Wendy’s Subway - 2026 Book Prize
Wendy’s Subway is accepting full-length manuscripts for the 2026 Book Prize. Selected manuscripts are published as part of the Passage Series, which features emerging writers and artists working in innovative, hybrid, and cross-genre forms.
Deadline: July 24, 2026
University of Pittsburgh Press - Drue Heinz Literature Prize
$25,000 prize plus publication for a short fiction collection. Must have published a prior book or 3+ stories/novellas.
Deadline: July 31, 2026
YesYes Books - Fiction Reading Period
Seeking short story collections (150-250 pages) and novellas (60-120 page). Collaborative manuscripts are eligible for submission. 40 author copies, $1000 advance toward royalties, 15%-25% royalty package and $500 toward tour expenses
Deadline: August 1, 2026
Betty - Open Reading Period for Prose Manuscripts
Manuscripts should be full-length books of prose (novels, memoirs, narrative nonfiction, collections of stories or essays, hybrid prose) in English by self-identified women, including trans women, nonbinary and intersex authors, and authors whose gender identity is fluid or nonconforming.
Deadline: August 31, 2026
Sundress Publications - Poetry Manuscript Submissions
Open for submissions of full-length poetry manuscripts of forty-eight to eighty (48-80) single-spaced pages. We especially welcome authors from marginalized and underrepresented communities. Selected manuscripts will be offered a standard publication contract, which includes 25 copies of the published book.
Deadline: August 31, 2026
Check out more in the July 2026 Opportunities issue, along with lit journals reading for shorter work, chapbook open calls, and the fellowships and residencies that could support the development of a book project. Paid subscribers get all of it, twice a month.