Small Press Month - Press 53

Is it overly cheesy to begin this post with the cover photo of an anthology that I edited?  Press 53 was kind enough to agree that it was worth publishing a year and a half ago, but even before they said yes to that, they were one of my favorite up and comers - mainly because they were cranking out short story collections, and by damn good authors.

From their website:

Press 53 is a small independent publisher of literary fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that was founded in October 2005. Kevin Morgan Watson is the founder, owner and Fiction Editor. Tom Lombardo is Poetry Editor. Press 53 is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and publishes full-length books by both new and established writers. In addition to finding and showcasing new writers and new books, we also have a fondness for bringing back great books that are out of print, which we re-issue under our Press 53 Classics imprint.

Before you submit your writing to us, please read our submission guidelines thoroughly.

Here is a brief list of what we DO NOT publish.

Children’s books (There is an exhaustive list of children's book publishers available at BookMartket.com).

Books that are considered strictly "genre" (western, mystery, thriller, detective, romance, horror, or graphic). The exception here is anthologies (see below).

Coffee table or picture books of any kind. 

Here is a brief overview of what we DO publish:

Short Story Collections: Since we published our first book in October 2005, Press 53 has gained a reputation for being a champion of the short story. We publish 4-6 short story collections each year. If you are a short story writer, read our guidelines to learn how to receive an invitation to submit your collection to us. Several colleges and universities use our collections in their classrooms, including the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking, whose students adapt short stories for film projects.

Poetry: We also publish 3-4 poetry collections each year. We prefer narrative poetry that tells a story or shares an experience. To get a clear idea of what we are looking for, please read some of the poetry we have published. Samples can be found easily by doing an Internet search for any of our poets.

Novels: We rarely publish novels outside of our Press 53 Classics imprint, which is dedicated to bringing out-of-print books back to life. Novels written by authors and poets who have published collections with Press 53 are considered first, as are the prist prize winners and finalists in the Novella category of the Press 53 Open Awards. Each October, we publish the first prize winner in the Novella category in the Press 53 Open Awards Anthology. Finalists are also given consideration for stand-alone publication.

Creative Nonfiction/Memoir: We publish creative nonfiction when we find something that absolutely knocks us out.

Press 53 Classics:  Our first Press 53 Classics edition was The Land Breakers, by John Ehle, which was first published by Harper & Rowe in 1964. It was a best seller in the US and Europe, and somehow ended up out of print. It is one of our missions to find great stories that are out of print that should never be out of print. If you know of such a book, please let us know and we will consider adding it to our Press 53 Classics imprint if the rights are available.

Anthologies: Every odd year on Halloween we publish Surreal South, edited by Laura and Pinckney Benedict, a collection of odd, strange, Gothic, sci-fi, genre-bending short stories. Sumissions usually open every odd year in January. We also publish each year the Press 53 Open Awards Anthology, which features the top three winners in each category (first prize only in Novella) in the Press 53 Open Awards.

The Press 53 Open Awards is a writing contest that allows us to publish and discover new writers each year. The contest has six categories—Poetry, Flash Fiction, Short-Short Story, Short Story, Creative Nonfiction, and Novella—and is judged by six industry professionals ranging from award-winning writers, to editors, agents and publishers. We award a First Prize in each category (which includes a personalized etched-glass award and publication), a Second Prize and Honorable Mention (which includes publication, except for Novella). All finalists receive a copy of the anthology where they are mentioned by name in each category. A special mention is given to those writers who enter two or more pieces and are finalists in one of more categories. Submissions for The Press 53 Open Awards begin in September and run till March 31 for all categories. Winners and finalists are announced in July. This contest is a great way to give your writing and yourself some great exposure.

Press 53 is operated by myself, Tom Lombardo (Poetry Editor), Robin Miura (Novel/Memoir Editor) and a dedicated team of volunteers and interns, who help with editing, proofreading, and marketing. If you are interested in helping out, or if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please drop me an email or a letter. I would love to hear from you.

As to the story collections mentioned earlier, I'd heartily recommend those by:  Curtis Smith (both), Darlin' Neal, Clifford Garstang, Quinn Dalton, Amy Knox Brown, and Mary Akers as collection I've read and enjoyed.  Plus forthcoming from Pinckney Benedict will be a winner for sure, and the Surreal South anthologies, edited by Pinckney and his wife, Laura, too.

Comments

[Curtis Smith]

Hooray for Press 53!