Submission windows

Submissions are currently closed

We open for submissions once or twice a year (usually in July and November) and we will publishing a timetable for 2024 just as soon as we’re back up to speed with the backlog of reading.

As we are still reading open submissions from our final window of 2023, it does look unlikely that we’ll open submissions again until autumn 2024.

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Other key information

  • We publish adult literary fiction (novels and short story collections) and narrative non-fiction. We do not currently consider other genres (e.g., poetry, lifestyle, commercial fiction).

  • If a submissions window is open and you’d like to approach us, please familiarise yourself with our list. In your covering letter, tell us which of our authors you have read and why you feel your work is suited to Galley Beggar Press. You can read some first chapters here, or better still, buy a book here.

  • Manuscripts should be submitted in full, with a covering letter/email as outlined above. Synopses are welcome but not essential.

  • Do subscribe to our newsletter, to get a feel for the company. (And become a Galley Buddy, if you’d like to be introduced to some excellent writers.)

  • We welcome submissions from agented and non-agented writers.

  • As much as we would like to, we cannot enter into correspondence on submissions, or individual work.

  • We do not accept or return posted manuscripts.

* This is because we are a very small team: resources are at a premium, especially time. We value all submissions and we know how much effort it takes to write a book, and pluck up courage to send it in. But we can’t enter into correspondence about titles, offer feedback, or answer email inquiries. (We get 200+ emails a day, and as much as we’d like to give everyone time, we simply can’t. If we did, there would be nothing left for our writers, or publishing the kind of wonderful book that alerted you to us in the first place.) 

If we have questions about your work, you will hear from us within six months. If you don’t – do please take heart and remember that we have a small list. We publish three to four titles a year – and there is, inevitably, some excellent work that we have to let go. We also have very particular tastes. An editor is first and foremost a reader – and what doesn’t work for one reader will often appeal to another. So take heart! And don’t just submit to us: approach other publishers and literary agents. Keep writing, and good luck.