Soft Skull Press is accepting submissions of full-length poetry, fiction, and nonfiction manuscripts until July 20, 2021. There is no submission fee.
During this submission period, the press, which accepts agented submissions throughout the year, is particularly interested in submissions from “BIPOC writers and underrepresented voices of any race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class, and physical or mental ability.”
They are also interested in hybrid projects and translations.
An independent publisher of books that radically engage with art, culture, and events that hold significance in current times, Soft Skull, started in 1992 in New York by Sander Hicks, has published, among other prominent writers, Alain Mabanckou, Eileen Myles, Maggie Nelson, Noam Chomsky, Lydia Millet.
The press’s books have received Lambda Literary Awards, the Quill Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction; and have been finalists for the Believer Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
Submitted manuscripts will be read by the editorial staff; they aim to respond within six months.
“We want our books to offer a refuge from, an alternative to, and an argument against mainstream culture and mainstream thinking,” Soft Skull says.
If you have a complete manuscript that does that, submit here.
7 Responses
I’d like to submit a collection of short stories for your competition. They total 13, of which 5 have been previously published in various journals and reviews. Pls let me know if this collection is still eligible.
Thanks, R.C. Goodwin
juderob@cox.net
Open Country isn’t having a competition; they’re simply reporting on a open submission window (not a contest) for Soft Skull Press. I wouldn’t expect a press as busy and well-regarded as Soft Skull to happen upon your comment and seek you out to clarify their rules, though. I recommend you familiarize yourself with their books if you don’t know what type of work they publish (it’s unique and quite a treat, I promise!). But you only have a few days left to submit, so if you need a rules clarification I’d ask them directly, perhaps on social media where it might garner a quick reply?
Ugh. They closed it early.
This is July 19th. Soft Skull is closed to submissions. What is going on?
Hi I live in a different time zone (14hrs ahead) and tried to submit on the 19th and it appears they closed for submissions. All I can think of is that closing on the 20th meant at 1 minute past midnight on the 19th. Do you think that is correct?
I submitted a fiction novel about a month ago. I have another novel, Can I submit it now or should I wait to hear about the first book?
I am so bummed. I missed the submission period. I was looking forward to it, and…yeah…