Forest Avenue Press is open for novel submissions January 6–February 9, 2025. Submissions are only accepted through Submittable; submissions sent via email, social media, or any other means, will not be considered.
Please read and follow the guidelines! Any submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will be declined unread. Additional FAQs available on our website. https://www.forestavenuepress.com/submissions
Please read and follow the guidelines. Any submissions that do not follow our guidelines will be declined unread. Additional helpful FAQs can be found on our website.
Forest Avenue Press is currently seeking literary novels that dazzle us with language and humanity. We're looking for stories with some sort of joyous quality, whether that’s humor, whimsy, or interesting language. We love fabulism and magical thinking. We embrace hope. We love metaphors and grand statements and jaunty characters.
Hard things happen in fiction, because that tracks with real life, but we’re not the place for relentless trauma, pervasive darkness, violence, or startling meanness. We're currently drawn to stories where the antagonist isn’t obviously horrendous (cruel, willfully ignorant, abusive), but whose choices gets in the way of what the protagonist wants.
We’re extremely interested in stories and points of view that are often overlooked by mainstream presses, with specific interest in authors who identify as BIPOC, GLBTQ+, disabled, and/or neurodivergent.
SPECIFIC GUIDELINES
Adult literary novels only. No short story collections, memoir, essay collections, Y/A, children's literature, nonfiction or poetry.
Format: Double spaced, 12 point standard font, at least one inch margins, left aligned, numbered pages. No spaces between paragraphs unless they are section breaks.
Submit through Submittable only; submissions received by email, social media, or other means will not be considered. If you need a disability accommodation, email us so we can devise a workaround
Please briefly tell us what the book is about in the cover letter box. Include your word count. Our sweet spot is 60,000--80,000 words.
Simultaneous submissions are fine.
Only one submission per author during this submissions period.
Unpublished manuscripts only. If this manuscript has been previously published or self-published, do not submit. Excerpts published in literary journals or magazine are fine.
Stand-alone novels only—we can’t consider books that are part of a series.
Unagented? No problem! This is an open submission call.
Agents, please self-identify. You’re welcome to submit your client’s' work during this call, but please cap submissions at two projects.
Agented authors, if your agent isn’t submitting on your behalf, please let us know you have an agent in your query letter and include their contact information.
Submissions accepted from US residents only; that is, someone who lives in the United States and plans to continue residency during the book publication period. Getting your mail sent to a US post office box while living elsewhere doesn’t qualify.
We do not consider manuscripts written in any part with AI; in submitting to Forest Avenue, you’re confirming that your work is original and human-created.
We do not consider stories or language that is racist, homo- or transphobic, ableist, fat phobic, or misogynistic.
Additional FAQs can be found at: https://www.forestavenuepress.com/submissions
Good luck and thanks for considering Forest Avenue!