Calls for submissions

We are not currently accepting submissions.

We be open for proposals again in early 2024. In the meantime, you can find all the information about the kind of work we are looking to publish and how to submit your writing to us on this page.

The Emma Press is an independent publisher specialising in poetry, short fiction and children’s books. It was founded in 2012 and is based in Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, UK. We publish poetry, short-form prose, and books for children. We have a growing list of translations which includes titles from Latvia, Estonia, Indonesia, Spain and the Netherlands. We are open to submissions once every half year. If you come across The Emma Press and you’ve missed the most recent window by a hair, you’ll only have to wait 6 months max until the next window.

The rest of this page includes all the information you will need to submit. You can also download this same information in an Easy-Read PDF we have created – click the button below to view.

Eligibility

• We have a ‘no agents’ policy. We see The Emma Press as a place where future stars can gain a platform that enables them to get an agent, or for more established writers to take a sidestep on a side project. 
• We accept submissions from anywhere in the world so long as the work is written in or translated into English.

We encourage you to read some of our previous publications, so you can get a sense of what we like and explain with practical examples in your proposal how you see your work fitting in with our current range. The curated Emma Press Bundles are our suggested readings for anyone considering submitting – take a look.

What we offer authors

• Advances: We will offer a small advance on books we choose to publish from the 2022 calls for submissions, as well as complimentary author copies and royalties. £50 for poetry pamphlets and children’s books, and £100 for prose for adults. We will apply for a PEN grant to fund the work of translators.
• Editing: We work with our authors to get their work into the best shape possible, and we recognise that different manuscripts and authors can require different approaches. 
• Production: We provide illustration when the work calls for it, and allow authors to have a level of input into construction of the book they might not often get from bigger publishers. However, we have an editorial vision which is as important as the author’s own vision. It’s a collaborative process 🙂.
• Promotion: We will work with authors to publicise books in the lead-up to and after publication. We are a small team and publish quite a few books each year, so promotion will be a joint effort between our team and the author.
• Prizes: We will submit books to appropriate prizes where possible.

♦ How to submit ♦

Please read the general guidance here to help you prepare proposal. Links will only be active during submission windows.

Submission Steps

1. Write your proposal! There are guides and suggestions on how to structure a prose proposal here (you can just adapt it for poetry).
2. Purchase a pay-what-you-can submission ticket from our webshop and make a note of your number order (you’ll be asked to enter it later).
3. Prepare your proposal and sample pages (or full manuscript) in .DOC, .ODT or PDF format. Never .pages!! These can be in separate documents or in a single one. If you’re not sure where to start, check out this guide to preparing your submission.
4. Upload your proposal and sample pages to Submittable. You will be asked to fill out a form to help us find out a bit more about you and your work, and to write the number of your pay-what-you-can submission fee order.

Response time

We will aim to respond to everyone who has submitted within 1 submission cycle, i.e. 6 months. If we think your proposal could be a good fit for The Emma Press, we will get in touch with you to request the full manuscript or more information. We will publish shortlists from each submission window, alongside comments on what we loved about those works. We will select 1-2 books to publish from each call for submissions, and we will aim to publish books within 12-24 months of the full manuscripts being finalised. If we don’t think your manuscript is for us, we will send you a response to that effect but we’re afraid it won’t be individualised and we can’t provide specific feedback. We hope to be able to do more for shortlisted authors in the future.  Thank you for trusting us with your submissions! We can’t wait to read your work. We will keep you updated on our review progress via our newsletters.

Low-Income Writers from the Midlands

We are now able to offer additional support for any Midlands-based writers on low-income.

In partnership with The Literacy Consultancy, any author identifying themselves in that criteria will be automatically considered for development opportunities when they submit their work to us in a submissions window.

Find out more here.

Good luck!

We are really looking forward to reading the submissions and finding our future publications. Submissions in August 2023 will first be read by one of our trusted authors and editors who will select a longlist with the Emma Press team (see who we are here). We will then consider these manuscripts over several sessions with a Birmingham Editorial Readers Group, a community reading project funded by Arts Council England. (find out more here). Together, we decide on a shortlist. We aim to respond to all submissions within six months. Scroll down to ‘Response time’ for more details.