Hub City Writers Project is a literary nonprofit organization located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Comprised of an acclaimed literary book publisher, an independent bookshop, and a literary programmer focused on education and outreach, our mission is cultivating readers and nurturing writers in both the Spartanburg community and throughout the South to foster an inclusive literary arts culture. Open positions will be reflected below.
Hub City Press publishes books of literary fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, regional nonfiction, nature, and art. We are seeking new and extraordinary voices from the American South who have written well-crafted, high-quality works. We are particularly interested in books with a strong sense of place. We believe strongly that the publishing industry needs to promote a more diverse range of experiences, and so have committed ourselves to spotlighting lesser-heard Southern voices including: people of color, members of LGBTQ and gender diverse communities, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, as well as ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities. Hub City is a small press, publishing eight to ten titles per year. In general, our publication schedule operates at least 12-18 months in advance of release.
Hub City publishes writers living in or from the South. What's the South? A complicated issue, to say the least, but the short answer for our purposes: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia. (Are you from a border state like Missouri, Oklahoma, or Ohio? If you feel like your book is a good fit for us, make a case in your query.)
We do not publish romance, science fiction, true crime, mystery, cookbooks, how-to books, horror/paranormal or specific-religion inspirational books. We do not publish books for young people (YA, middle grade or childrens). Please do not send us a query if your book has already been self-published, even only as an e-book. We are looking only for full length works, rather than single stories, essays, or poems. We will automatically reject works with evidence of AI authorship.
About our Open Submission Periods:
Hub City Press opens for unagented manuscript submissions during the following submission periods:
Fiction: March 1-15, September 15-30
Nonfiction: March 16-31, October 1-15
Open Call for BIPOC-Identifying Writers: September 1-15
You may only submit queries during these months. (Agents: it's best to contact Kate McMullen directly to pitch us a book.)
What to send us:
- A brief, informative query letter about your manuscript (include the title, genre, length, description of the work, author background and publication history)
- Any credentials that particularly qualify you to write your book. If you have access to special markets or promotional opportunities for your book, we’d like to know about them as well.
- Your full manuscript (.doc and .docx preferred) Please note incomplete manuscripts will be automatically rejected.
We can no longer accept queries for poetry collections or short story collections during our open submission period unless otherwise specified. Please wait to submit in these genres through our New Southern Voices Poetry Prize (open every other spring) and C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize (open every other fall). We do occasionally open for poetry and short story manuscript queries, so keep an eye out on our social media for dates. If you are a South Carolina fiction writer, we hope you’ll consider submitting your novel to the South Carolina Novel Series.
Due to the size of our staff and the volume of queries we receive, we are unable to respond to every query. We will be in touch with you if we have interest in your work. If you have not heard back within six months of your query or manuscript submission, assume your manuscript was not a good fit for us. Please feel free to withdraw and resubmit to another open submission period after 12 months if you have made revisions to your project and have not heard back from us.
The South is the most diverse region in our country, and yet the publishing industry doesn't always reflect this. In truth, Hub City's own historic catalog has not always reflected the diversity of our region. We are trying with each season to publish works that better reflect the whole South. Hub City Press believes strongly that the entire publishing industry must promote a more diverse range of experiences.
We have set aside the month of September for an open call for prose manuscripts (novels or nonfiction projects) for completed, full length Southern book projects from Black, Latinx, SWANA (South West Asian/ North African), Asian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous writers. We are interested in projects that stretch the bounds of what “the South” can mean, and in representing Southern-ness where it is often overlooked. Projects could include: historical and contemporary novels; narrative nonfiction; memoir and essay collections; accessibly written books of cultural criticism; hybrid genre works.
Please check out our catalog of titles at hubcity.org/books for an idea of the kind of manuscripts we love to see in our open calls. Please note that we are not looking for short story or poetry collections during our open call.
If you do not identify as BIPOC, you may submit your manuscript during our standard open calls. A shortened call for fiction will open September 16. Our nonfiction call will open as usual in October.
About us:
Hub City Press publishes books of literary fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, regional nonfiction, nature, and art. We are seeking new and extraordinary voices from the American South who have written well-crafted, high-quality works. We are particularly interested in books with a strong sense of place. Hub City is a small press, publishing eight to ten titles per year. In general, our publication schedule operates at least 12-18 months in advance of release.
We do not discriminate or tolerate discrimination on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.
When submitting your query, please have ready:
- A one-page query letter about your novel, including: the title, genre, length, description of the work, author background and publication history, any credentials that particularly qualify you to write your book (if you have access to special markets or promotional opportunities for your book, we’d like to know about them as well), and;
- Your full manuscript (.doc and .docx preferred). Please note incomplete manuscripts will be automatically rejected.
- Your biographical information and a list of writers you know who might be willing to support your book. (This is optional information that helps us know where your manuscript might fight in the publishing marketplace.)
We are looking for:
Well-crafted literary works by new and established authors with an emphasis on the Southern experience and a strong sense of place. We will expect to read completed manuscripts, and we rarely accept unfinished work.
Hub City publishes writers living in or from the South. What's the South? A complicated issue, to say the least, but the short answer for our purposes: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia. We're interested in boundaries, borders, and in-betweens, but your manuscript needs to be primarily focused on the American South.
We are committed to spotlighting lesser-heard Southern voices including members of LGBTQ and gender diverse communities, people with disabilities and neurodivergent writers, as well as ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.
We are not looking for:
Submissions in the following categories: books for young people (YA, middle grade, or childrens), romance, science fiction, mystery, how-to books, horror/paranormal or specific-religion inspirational books. We do not publish novels in series. Please do not send us a query if your book has already been self-published, even only as an eBook. We will automatically reject works with evidence of AI authorship.
What to expect from us once you have submitted:
Due to the size of our staff and the volume of queries we receive, we are unable to respond to every query. We will be in touch with you if we have interest in your work. If you have not heard back within six months of your query or your manuscript submission if we have asked for it, assume your manuscript was not a good fit for us. If we pass on your project and you go on to make revisions, the best way to tell us about it again is to re-submit your project in a new query period.