Book & Chapbook

Submission Guidelines

General Information

Conium Press is a boutique fiction publisher with a limited catalog. We typically work on a single book at a time. Each year’s publishing decisions are determined based on the submission pool, available budget, and editorial workload.

We believe books come in all shapes and sizes. We’ll consider turning a 20-page story into a chapbook. We’ll do a flash collection. Send us that novella. Generally speaking, little books (i.e. chapbooks) have a better shot.

Conium Press leans toward magical realist, surrealist, and experimental fiction. We’re especially interested in work from historically underrepresented voices, including but not limited to LGTBQIA2S+ writers, BIPOC writers, writers with disabilities, and women writers.

To get an idea of what we publish, check out our latest release: Five Places You Meet Fifteen-Year-Old You, by Mariana Samuda. You can also pre-order our next release, The Butter House, by Sarah Gerard. Some other authors we like are Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Kim Fu, Amelia Gray, Etgar Keret, R. O. Kwon, Carmen Maria Machado, Rajesh Parameswaran, Karen Russell, and Nafissa Thompson-Spires.

If published, authors receive copies and a small honorarium (we’re talking about a few hundred bucks, so don’t quit your day job). We send titles to small press review outlets, and full-length books are also sent to larger industry staples (like Kirkus Reviews and Publisher’s Weekly). Titles are distributed through Ingram Book Group and stocked at a handful of participating libraries and bookstores. In short, we do what we can with a small budget and volunteer staff. While our circulation is limited, we can assure that your book will be read by people who love independent literature.

Submission Deadlines

We’re considering unsolicited book and chapbook submissions on a variable schedule. Our current reading period is April 1st through April 15th, 2023, focused exclusively on reading work from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) writers. Our next open reading period will likely be later in 2023.

Please submit all work using our Submittable page.  We do not respond to emailed submissions. If you don’t already have one, you can create a Submittable account for free.

Submission Guidelines

We only consider fiction; no poems or nonfiction, please. Manuscript length is extremely flexible (however, chapbook-length and shorter book-length works fare better than sprawling, maximalist novels).

Upload your manuscript submission as a single file.

In the “Manuscript Summary” field, tell us more about the work.

In the “Biography Statement” field, include a brief third-person bio.

Submissions must be original work. Individual pieces from the manuscript may have appeared in-print or online elsewhere, but the collection as a whole may not have previously appeared in book/chapbook or online form. If individual stories or excerpts have appeared elsewhere, please include an acknowledgements page.

Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but you must withdraw your submission immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.

Please only send one manuscript at a time and wait to hear back before submitting additional manuscripts.