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Manuscript Submission Periods

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SHORT STORY/FLASH FICTION book manuscripts: January 1st through March 1st

CHAPBOOK submissions: April 1st through June 1st

  • alternates between nonfiction/hybrid and fiction, but for 2024 we will be doing open prose (both fiction + nf/h)

NOVEL/NOVELLA book manuscripts: July 1st through September 1st

ESSAY/MEMOIR/NONFICTION-HYBRID book manuscripts: October 1st through December 1st

 

Specific guidelines for each reading period are provided within our Submittable link. We ask for a full manuscript rather than an excerpt/query—our reading teams are committed to selecting the best books for our press based on what is already on the page. Running a press is a labor of (underpaid) love, and so we have a manuscript reading fee to help offset the many costs accrued by the press, which also allows us to direct 25% of the proceeds from those fees to pay our reading teams for their work. However, if our reading fee is prohibitive, please email splitlipthepress@gmail.com to receive a manuscript fee waiver, no questions asked.

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If, at the close of a reading period, we are unable to acquire a book that we feel fits our press mission, the remainder of the proceeds from that period's reading fees (after paying the readers) will be applied toward submission fee waivers for the next same-genre reading period.

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All books published at Split/Lip Press have been discovered during our open reading periods—we do not solicit manuscripts and do not accept manuscripts sent outside of our reading periods. Every author has the same opportunity to join us! However, Split/Lip Press does not tolerate manuscripts celebrating racist, homophobic, or misogynistic perspectives, and will discard such manuscripts unread. We believe in breaking boundaries at Split/Lip, but we will not assist agendas of hate.

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We are deeply committed to transparency and prosperity for our authors—when publishing with Split/Lip Press, authors can expect:

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  • everybody's favorite social media screen-grab: a Publishers Marketplace announcement!

  • 25% royalties on print books, distributed quarterly, which you begin earning with the very first book sale

    • 50% royalties on e-books (full-lengths only)

  • 10 complimentary copies of your published book

  • additional copies available to the author for purchase at a discounted rate of print cost + 25%

  • review copies available on Edelweiss (for full-lengths) and in PDF-form (for chapbooks)

  • financial assistance for award nominations (full-length books only)

  • a personalized book design process

  • an online Zoom reading event on publication day, hosted by Split/Lip Press

  • the opportunity to read at an AWP off-site event hosted by Split/Lip Press

  • all the social media support you can handle and a specialized marketing plan for your book, developed in conjunction with our Marketing Directors

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We hope to see your manuscript in our queue!

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