Submissions - Autumn House Press

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Submissions

Autumn House Press publishes 7-8 books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction each year. We accept manuscripts for our annual fiction, nonfiction, and poetry prizes; and through publishing partnerships with the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics and West Chester University Poetry Center.

NB: We have changed the readings periods for our fiction, nonfiction, and poetry prizes.

We encourage writers from all backgrounds to submit; it is our goal at Autumn House to develop a rich and varied literary tradition. Though we are open to a wide variety of styles of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, we suggest you take a moment to read our “About Us” page and familiarize yourself with previous Autumn House publications before submitting your work.

We only accept manuscripts through our submission manager, Submittable. Please, do not mail or email submissions to us. We will not read or respond to these submissions. 

If you have any questions, please check our FAQs page!

Prizes

  • Autumn House Prizes 
    • Fiction: Winners receive publication of their full-length manuscripts. Each winner also receives a $1,000 honorarium and a $1,500 travel/publicity grant to promote the book. The submission period opens on January 1, 2024, and closes on February 29, 2024 (Eastern Time). The final judge is Kristen Arnett. To submit, please visit our online submission manager.
    • Nonfiction: Winners receive publication of their full-length manuscripts. Each winner also receives a $1,000 honorarium and a $1,500 travel/publicity grant to promote the book. The submission period opens March 1, 2024, and closes April 30, 2024 (Eastern Time). The final judge is Clifford Thompson. To submit, please visit our online submission manager.
    • Poetry Winners of each prize receive publication of their full-length manuscripts. Each winner also receives a $1,000 honorarium and a $1,500 travel/publicity grant to promote the book. The submission period opens May 1, 2024, and closes June 30, 2024 (Eastern Time). The final judge is Kazim Ali. To submit, please visit our online submission manager.
  • Rising Writer Prize: This prize is for a first full-length book. The genre for the prize alternates each year. In addition to publication, the winner also receives a $1,000 and a $500 travel/publicity grant to promote the book. The submission period opens on September 1 and closes on October 31, 2024 (Eastern Time). The genre for the 2025 Rising Writer Prize is fiction and the final judge is TBA. To submit, please visit our online submission manager.

Partnership Prizes

  • CAAPP Book Prize: Our partnership with The Center for African American Poetry and Poetics allows AHP the opportunity to publish and promote work by a writer of African descent. The prize will be awarded to a first or second book by a writer of African descent and is open to the full range of writers embodying African and African diasporic experience. The winner receives publication by AHP and a $3,000 honorarium. The book can be of any genre that is, or intersects with, poetry, including poetry, hybrid work, speculative prose, and/or translation. The reading period opens on December 15, 2023, and is open until February 15, 2024; the final judge for the 2024 prize is aracelis girmay. To submit online please visit CAAPP’s online submission manager.
  • WCUPC Donald Justice Prize: The distinguished American poet Donald Justice is recognized as one of the finest poets of the late twentieth century. The recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, Bollingen Prize, and numerous honors for his verse, Justice was a masterful and exacting craftsman, traits that define the prize named in his honor. The prize is made possible through the generosity of the Iris N. Spencer Poetry Award. The Justice Prize welcomes unpublished, original book-length collections of poems that pay attention to form for consideration in the competition. The winner of the competition will receive $1,500 and have their manuscript published by Autumn House Press. All manuscripts and payments must be received by November 15, 2023; the final judge for this year’s prize is Patricia Smith. To submit online please visit WCUPC’s website.

A Note on Publishing with Autumn House

At Autumn House, we see our relationships with our authors as partnerships, and we work closely with our authors to support them during the editorial process and well beyond the book’s release. In this spirit, Autumn House Press offers all our authors:

  • Their books will be nominated for numerous book prizes such as the Pulitzer Prize, PEN America Literary Awards, CLMP Firecracker Awards, National Book Critics Circle Awards, and more
  • Book advertisements in prestigious journals such as Harper’s, Poets & Writers, Prairie Schooner, American Poetry Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, and more
  • Support and guidance with the promotion of the title
  • 30 print galleys sent to major reviewer outlets 5-6 months prior to publication
  • At least 20 finished review copies sent to reviewers and review outlets 1-3 months prior to publication; this list will be compiled with input from the author
  • Distribution through the Chicago Distribution Center of the University of Chicago Press
  • 35 author copies from the first print run
  • 8 percent royalties on print titles and 25 percent on digital*
  • 50 percent discount when purchasing additional copies of your title; 40 percent off any additional AHP titles

* royalties are paid on sales that are 50% of the list price or greater, excluding author purchases