Fall for the Book

George Mason University

Stillhouse Press publishes surprising, gutsy fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that can’t or doesn’t want to find a home in big publishing. We are drawn to the strange, the unconventional, the transcendent, the risky. We’re looking for work that pushes boundaries.

As a student and alumni-led teaching press, our primary aim is to provide educational opportunity through applied experience in the art of craft publishing — student staff are responsible for acquiring, producing, and marketing work from independent authors in the course of their professional education, allowing them to forge lasting professional relationships and step out with confidence into the greater literary community.

Stillhouse is a nationally-distributed press that offers a competitive royalty-based compensation structure: authors earn 20% of net revenue from standard online and bookstore sales and 25% from Stillhouse website and direct sales. We publish a limited number of titles each year to offer more personalized support and attention to our authors. Collaboration is paramount: we partner with our authors to build awareness of their work through review and award submissions, endorsements, newsletter campaigns, and social media promotion.

Stillhouse Press

For our current prose submission period, we will be accepting NOVELS. We love to read seriously fun, surprising, and gutsy literature that is unafraid to push boundaries of all kinds. Novels with speculative elements, warped perceptions, blended genres, absurd plots, irreverent voices, and new perspectives can find a home with Stillhouse Press.
At this time, we are only considering novel and hybrid novel submissions. No short story collections, flash collections, or nonfiction should be submitted through this portal.
If you think your work’s not commercial enough for big publishing, send it our way. If you think it’s too commercial for small presses, send it anyway! Whatever you’re writing, we’re looking for good novels, period. If you have one, send it! 
We seek manuscripts between 50,000 and 100,000 words. Works with longer word counts may be considered, but they will need to be exceptional.
We will remain open for novel submissions until Feb 1st or until we receive 300 submissions.

Novels - 2024 General Call

Stillhouse Press is open from November 1st, 2025 to March 10th, 2026 for submissions of full-length, complete memoirs between 50,000 and 100,000 words. Exceptional works with longer or shorter word counts may be considered.
We particularly enjoy work that pushes boundaries, that examines the world as well as the self, and that questions who we are, what we feel, and why we as human beings matter more than ever. Experiments in form, style, and/or subject matter are welcome.
Stillhouse Press will accept manuscripts only through Submittable. Unsolicited manuscripts received through email will be rejected unread. We are also open for essay collections—that call can be found separately on our Submittable page.
Please note that we do not accept submissions of AI-generated prose, previously published full books, and submissions from writers currently or recently affiliated with George Mason University’s English Department or Creative Writing MFA/BFA programs. Submissions that meet these criteria will be automatically declined.
We take time in considering all of our submissions. If you have not received a response within six months of submitting, your submission is still under editor review. We appreciate your patience as we carefully review each submission.
Only complete, full-length manuscripts will be considered. Our ideal manuscript is between 50,000 – 100,000 words for prose; please include word count in the top right corner of the first page for all prose submissions.
All manuscripts should include a query letter and short synopsis or overview of the work.
Authors are also invited to share information about their writing background, online presence, involvement with the writing community, and inspiration for their submission.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
All attachments should be in either PDF or Word.doc formats.
All work must be original. Translations will not be accepted.
Submissions must be made through Submittable. Paper and email submissions are not accepted.
There is a $7 fee/submission for regular submissions, to defray administration and Submittable costs. We offer fee-free submissions for authors who have a financial need. Fee waivers can be requested through the contact form on our website.
We are unable to accept agented submissions at this time.

Stillhouse Press  - Memoir Open Call 2025

Stillhouse Press is open from November 1st 2025 to March 10th, 2026 for submissions of essay collections between 50,000 and 100,000 words. Exceptional works with longer or shorter word counts may be considered--see guidelines below for details.
There are no restrictions on essay forms, style, or subject matter. Send us collections of essays that consider a central topic or theme, the self, the world, or preferably more than one at the same time. We encourage writers to include previously published essays in their submission, and ask that published essays are credited according to our guidelines in the acknowledgements page.
Stillhouse Press will accept manuscripts only through Submittable. Unsolicited manuscripts received through email will be rejected unread. We are also open for memoirs—that call can be found separately on our Submittable page.
Please note that we do not accept submissions of AI-generated prose, previously published full books, and submissions from writers currently or recently affiliated with George Mason University’s English Department or Creative Writing MFA/BFA programs. Submissions that meet these criteria will be automatically declined.
We take time in considering all of our submissions. If you have not received a response within six months of submitting, your submission is still under editor review. We appreciate your patience as we carefully review each submission.
Our ideal manuscript is between 50,000 – 100,000 words for prose; please include word count in the top right corner of the first page for all prose submissions. For collections that are under this word count, please include a note in your cover letter with a brief justification. Why is the work complete at this length? Why is it incomplete, but we really should consider it anyway? If you are willing or eager to further develop the manuscript with editorial guidance, please state that in your cover letter.
All manuscripts should include a query letter and short synopsis or overview of the work.
Authors are also invited to share information about their writing background, online presence, involvement with the writing community, and inspiration for their submission.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
All attachments should be in either PDF or Word.doc formats.
All work must be original. Translations will not be accepted.
Submissions must be made through Submittable. Paper and email submissions are not accepted.
There is a $7 fee/submission for regular submissions, to defray administration and Submittable costs. We offer fee-free submissions for authors who have a financial need. Fee waivers can be requested through the contact form on our website.
We are unable to accept agented submissions at this time.

Stillhouse Press  - Essay Collections Open Call 2025

<b>Stillhouse Press is open from May 1st, 2026, to August 7th, 2026, for submissions of book length poetry manuscripts of 50-75 pages</b>. Exceptional works with longer or shorter page counts may still be considered.<div>We are interested in collections that encourage surprise, are ordered in novel and interesting ways, and that push the boundaries of what poetry is expected to be. Please send us your best.</div><div>Stillhouse Press will accept manuscripts only through Submittable. Unsolicited manuscripts received through email will be rejected unread.</div><div>Please note that we do not accept submissions of AI-generated prose, previously published full-length books, or submissions from writers currently or recently affiliated with George Mason University’s English Department or Creative Writing MFA/BFA programs. Submissions that fall under these criteria will be automatically declined.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Guidelines</b></div><div>We take time in considering all of our submissions. If you have not received a response within six months of submitting, your submission is still under editor review. We appreciate your patience as we carefully review each submission.</div><div>Our ideal manuscript is between 50-75 pages for poetry collections. For manuscripts that are under this page count, please include a note in your cover letter with a brief justification. Why is the work complete at this length? Why is it incomplete, but we really should consider it anyway? If you are willing or eager to further develop the manuscript with editorial guidance, please state that in your cover letter.</div><div>All manuscripts should include a query letter and short synopsis or overview of the work.</div><div>Authors are also invited to share information about their writing background, online presence, involvement with the writing community, and inspiration for their submission.</div><div>Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.</div><div>All attachments should be in either PDF or Word.doc formats.</div><div>All work must be original. Translations will not be accepted.</div><div>Submissions must be made through Submittable. Paper and email submissions are not accepted.</div><div>There is a $7 fee/submission for regular submissions, to defray administration and Submittable costs. We offer fee-free submissions for authors who have a financial need. Fee waivers can be requested through the contact form on our website.</div><div>We are unable to accept agented submissions at this time.</div>

Stillhouse Press - Poetry Collection Open Call

Stillhouse Press is open from August 15th, 2026, to November 15th, 2026, for submissions of book length speculative fiction manuscripts and short story collections between 60,000 and 90,000 words. Exceptional works with longer or shorter word counts may still be considered, but please address the inconsistency in your cover letter.
We are interested in works that apply a lyrical style to a speculative framework, break from existing genre conventions, and engage with the human— or nonhuman! —experience in ways that constantly surprise us. While you can find our list of hard sells linked here, please don’t self-reject. If you think your manuscript is a good fit for our list, we’d love to take a look!
If you want to check out our previous speculative fiction offerings at http://stillhousepress.org/stillhouse-store, they’re 20% off for the duration of this open call!
Stillhouse Press will accept manuscripts only through Submittable. Unsolicited manuscripts received through email will be rejected unread.
Please note that we do not accept submissions of AI-generated prose, previously published full-length books, or submissions from writers currently or recently affiliated with George Mason University’s English Department or Creative Writing MFA/BFA programs. Submissions that fall under these criteria will be automatically declined.
We take time in considering all of our submissions. If you have not received a response within six months of submitting, your submission is still under editor review. We appreciate your patience as we carefully review each submission.
Our ideal manuscript is between 50,000 – 100,000 words for prose; please include word count in the top right corner of the first page for all prose submissions. For collections that are under this word count, please include a note in your cover letter with a brief justification. Why is the work complete at this length? Why is it incomplete, but we really should consider it anyway? If you are willing or eager to further develop the manuscript with editorial guidance, please state that in your cover letter.
All manuscripts should include a query letter and short synopsis or overview of the work.
Authors are also invited to share information about their writing background, online presence, involvement with the writing community, and inspiration for their submission.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
All attachments should be in either PDF or Word.doc formats.
All work must be original. Translations will not be accepted.
Submissions must be made through Submittable. Paper and email submissions are not accepted.
There is a $7 fee/submission for regular submissions, to defray administration and Submittable costs. We offer fee-free submissions for authors who have a financial need. Fee waivers can be requested through the contact form on our website.
We are unable to accept agented submissions at this time.

Stillhouse Press

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Speculative Fiction Open Call