Caution: Please only submit if you can wait two years to be published. Our publishing schedule is full until late September of 2023.
Our SPILL IT! column and 50 Give or Take are open for submissions.
Want to be published by Vine Leaves Press? Here are your options:
Option #1: Full-length books
Submit your book to us for consideration. It's free to submit, and you will receive a 40% net royalty on all eBook and print sales. A copy of the publishing contract for your perusal can be downloaded HERE. Please also take a look at our Author FAQ to make sure we are the right publisher for you before submitting your work.
We are looking for: novels (all genres accepted, but with a literary bent), memoirs/biographies/autobiographies, creative nonfiction, and writing/publishing reference books, and short story collections.
Submission Guidelines:
If you have a manuscript that you would like us to publish, please answer the following questions (in your head):
Answered 'Yes' to all of the above? Great! Read on ...
We are looking for: novels (all genres accepted, but with a literary bent), memoirs/biographies/autobiographies, creative nonfiction, and writing/publishing reference books, and short story collections.
Submission Guidelines:
If you have a manuscript that you would like us to publish, please answer the following questions (in your head):
- Do you believe this manuscript is in the best possible shape?
- Is it edited and proofread to the best of your ability (or someone else's ability)?
- Will your query letter make us NEED to read your book?
- Does your work suit Vine Leaves Press?
Answered 'Yes' to all of the above? Great! Read on ...
- Email a query letter, the first ten pages (attached as an Word Document), and a biography to submissions[at]vineleavespress[dot]com. Please write ''Query: Your Book Title' in the subject line. We do not accept snail mail. You will get an automatic response. If you didn't get one, check your spam. If it's not in spam, send it to us again.
- TIP: MFAs in Creative Writing & essays in The Paris Review won't sell your book to us. In addition to an appealing book proposal, we want see evidence of a healthy social media presence and an engaging public voice that's going to have readers worship you! Times have changed, folks. No more hiding. Get yourself out there.
- We will respond within two months. If we haven't replied to you within two months, please follow up.
Option #2: Vignette collection
Submit your vignette collection. Submit a 50 to 60 page manuscript (poetry: 60 poems max; prose: approx 800 words maximum per piece, 20,000 words max in total; each vignette must begin on a new page. Collections may be a mixture of both poetry and prose.
The Vine Leaves Vignette Collection is one of a kind, and Vine Leaves Press is the only publisher in the world (as far as our research shows) who frequently publishes this kind of book. If your manuscript is accepted, it will be published by Vine Leaves Press, in paperback and eBook. The author will receive 3 copies of the paperback, worldwide distribution, and promotion through Vine Leaves Press social media accounts. The author will receive a 40% net royalty on all eBook and print sales, and 40% off retail price with free shipping for bulk paperback orders.
Manuscripts are evaluated by our Vine Leaves editors, Theresa Milstein, Melissa Slayton, and Alana King. If a manuscript receives a thumbs up from all four editors, then the Publisher, Jessica Bell, will read the manuscript and decide if she wants to publish it. Submissions are open to vignettes in English (poetry and/or prose), written by authors anywhere in the world. Individual pieces in a manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, print or web journals, or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished (this includes previously self-published books.)
Manuscript Requirements & Submission Instructions
Submit a 50 to 60 page manuscript (poetry: 60 poems max; prose: approx 800 words maximum per piece, 20,000 words max in total; each vignette must begin on a new page. Collections may be a mixture of both poetry and prose.
Email a query letter, the full manuscript (attached as an Word Document), and a biography to submissions[at]vineleavespress[dot]com. Please write ''Query: Vignette Collection' in the subject line. We do not accept snail mail.
Manuscripts are evaluated by our Vine Leaves editors, Theresa Milstein, Melissa Slayton, and Alana King. If a manuscript receives a thumbs up from all four editors, then the Publisher, Jessica Bell, will read the manuscript and decide if she wants to publish it. Submissions are open to vignettes in English (poetry and/or prose), written by authors anywhere in the world. Individual pieces in a manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, print or web journals, or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished (this includes previously self-published books.)
Manuscript Requirements & Submission Instructions
Submit a 50 to 60 page manuscript (poetry: 60 poems max; prose: approx 800 words maximum per piece, 20,000 words max in total; each vignette must begin on a new page. Collections may be a mixture of both poetry and prose.
Email a query letter, the full manuscript (attached as an Word Document), and a biography to submissions[at]vineleavespress[dot]com. Please write ''Query: Vignette Collection' in the subject line. We do not accept snail mail.
Simultaneous submissions to other publishers or contests are permitted, as long as you withdraw your manuscript from us immediately upon acceptance elsewhere.
Before you submit a manuscript, please consider reading a couple of the other collections we've published to familiarize yourself with the kind of work we are looking for.
Kindly refrain from requesting an individual response to confirm receipt of your manuscript. You will receive and automated confirmation so please check your spam. We receive thousands of submissions each year and can no longer offer individual acknowledgments beyond these. Thank you for your understanding.
We will respond to your submission within three months. If you haven't heard from us in three months, please inquire.
Before you submit a manuscript, please consider reading a couple of the other collections we've published to familiarize yourself with the kind of work we are looking for.
Kindly refrain from requesting an individual response to confirm receipt of your manuscript. You will receive and automated confirmation so please check your spam. We receive thousands of submissions each year and can no longer offer individual acknowledgments beyond these. Thank you for your understanding.
We will respond to your submission within three months. If you haven't heard from us in three months, please inquire.
Option #3: SPILL IT!
Submit to our monthly SPILL IT! column. An opinion column written by Vine Leaves Press authors, staff and other contributors. Sent to your inbox monthly. Designed to spark debate and conversation. Caution: Some controversial content.
If you haven't been published by us in Vine Leaves Literary Journal (RIP), or in any of our anthologies, and would like to contribute an article, please submit to 50 Give or Take (see below) first, so that you can officially claim your VLP contributor status.
The purpose of SPILL IT! is to evoke debate/opinions, and therefore each article is titled with a direct question to readers.
If you contribute to the column, we will pay $30 USD per article of 500-1000 words, and include direct links to your personal website and any titles you wish to gain exposure for. Our mailing list currently has around 1200 active subscribers, and the columns are also posted on our Facebook Page and Twitter feed.
If you're interested in becoming a contributor, please email our pubisher, Jessica Bell, with a brief pitch:
TIP: Don't be afraid to be controversial. Do not send entire articles instead of pitches. They will not be read.
Please note that we do not want any articles that are about your own experience with writing. Readers who do not write are not going to have any interest in this. So please only send us ideas that would interest people who have never written (and don't wish to) in their lives.
Also, please only send us ideas that spark a solid debate. We want to trigger conversation. We also need links to articles that you've written, not your fiction or poetry. We need to be able to see that you can write an opinion article. It's a completely different kettle of fish.
The purpose of SPILL IT! is to evoke debate/opinions, and therefore each article is titled with a direct question to readers.
If you contribute to the column, we will pay $30 USD per article of 500-1000 words, and include direct links to your personal website and any titles you wish to gain exposure for. Our mailing list currently has around 1200 active subscribers, and the columns are also posted on our Facebook Page and Twitter feed.
If you're interested in becoming a contributor, please email our pubisher, Jessica Bell, with a brief pitch:
- Article title (the question your article is answering):
- 2-3 sentence summary of topic:
- A link to a published opinion article of yours if you haven't been published in SPILL IT! before.
- Your author bio
- A photograph of yourself
TIP: Don't be afraid to be controversial. Do not send entire articles instead of pitches. They will not be read.
Please note that we do not want any articles that are about your own experience with writing. Readers who do not write are not going to have any interest in this. So please only send us ideas that would interest people who have never written (and don't wish to) in their lives.
Also, please only send us ideas that spark a solid debate. We want to trigger conversation. We also need links to articles that you've written, not your fiction or poetry. We need to be able to see that you can write an opinion article. It's a completely different kettle of fish.
Option #4: 50 Give or Take
Do you write flash fiction? Then submit your 50-word story to 50 Give or Take.
We love bite-sized stories to brighten the day, which is exactly why we created 50 Give or Take. If you subscribe, you'll receive daily microfiction of fifty words or less straight into your inbox. Despite popular opinion, the name 50 Give or Take doesn't refer to the amount of words in the story. The title is a metaphor for what we, as readers and writers, give and take emotionally from the written word. So if you decide to submit, make sure your story is 50 words or less. Please subscribe to get an idea of what is published, before submitting your work.
At the moment, as this is a new project, we don't offer payment. But we will most likely publish all 50 Give or Take pieces in a print collection at the end of every year, starting in 2021.
All you have to do is submit* your:
to 50giveortake@vineleavespress.com.
If you're submitting to 50 Give or Take in order to also submit to SPILL IT!, please say so in your email so that we respond to let you know if your story made the cut.
*By submitting to 50 Give or Take, you accept and understand that you are handing over non-exclusive rights for Vine Leaves Press to publish your work. You also understand that you may not be notified if your work is chosen for publication, and you will therefore notify Vine Leaves Press immediately if you must withdraw your submission for any reason.
At the moment, as this is a new project, we don't offer payment. But we will most likely publish all 50 Give or Take pieces in a print collection at the end of every year, starting in 2021.
All you have to do is submit* your:
- 50-word story
- one-line bio
- website or social media URL
- a vertical photo of yourself
to 50giveortake@vineleavespress.com.
If you're submitting to 50 Give or Take in order to also submit to SPILL IT!, please say so in your email so that we respond to let you know if your story made the cut.
*By submitting to 50 Give or Take, you accept and understand that you are handing over non-exclusive rights for Vine Leaves Press to publish your work. You also understand that you may not be notified if your work is chosen for publication, and you will therefore notify Vine Leaves Press immediately if you must withdraw your submission for any reason.