Press 53 basics:

Located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Press 53 is a small, independent publisher of literary fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. They champion the work of short story writers, poets, literary novelists, memoirists and others who face challenges in the publishing industry. Their imprint, Press 53 Classics, is dedicated to bringing back important works of literature that have gone out of print.


They publish 6-10 books each year.

This profile was completed by publisher and editor Sheryl Monks .

Press 53 contests and awards:

In their effort to continually champion the short story, Press 53 has partnered with the RiverRun International Film Festival and Stone's Throw Films to develop the RiverRun Story to Screenplay Adaptation Competition. They also sponsor the annual Press 53 Open Awards writing contest, with deadlines for various genres occurring from October to March.

Authors and titles representative of their list:

Press 53 publishes (and re-issues) classic Appalachian literature by writers like John Ehle (The Land Breakers, Lion on the Hearth), but they're also looking for cutting-edge contemporary work like the stories and poems found in Surreal South, an anthology series edited by Pinckney and Laura Benedict, and Versus, a forthcoming anthology edited by J. Dillon Woods.

What Press 53 offers writers that commercial presses don't:

An abiding love for your work. A personal, customized approach to finding your book's unique market.

Shared creative control of your book's cover, title, font, marketing strategies (and everything else).

Number one thing most likely to put them off a manuscript::

Knowing nothing about Press 53/sending us work that clearly doesn't fit us.

Number one thing most likely to spark their interest: :

Finding superb work is easy. Finding a superb match is much harder. We get excited when writers offer us great books that fit with our vision and marketing abilities.

How to submit work to Press 53:

For more information read guidelines at www.press53.com/submissions.html Direct fiction submissions to fiction editors Sheryl Monks and Kevin Watson.

Additional advice for writers interested in submitting work to Press 53:

Press 53 works hard to promote its authors, but it's imperative that writers are prepared to help in this effort. This is particularly true for writers outside the region. A marketing plan illustrating your willingness and ability to promote your work comes in handy when we're reading excellent manuscripts from writers geographically closer to us. Many of the books we publish come by referral.

Also, don't be afraid to support our efforts by purchasing and reading other books we've published. Not only will you get a better sense of what we're looking for, but you'll demonstrate to us that you value our efforts. Understanding that most of us in the small press industry promote books as a labor of love (not for fortune and fame) and illustrating a willingness to lend a hand (on your own behalf and on behalf of others like you and us) helps us identify writers who are as serious about us as they hope we'll be about them. That doesn't mean the work can be any less spectacular. That's a given.

See submission advice from other small publishers.