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We do not publish romance, science fiction, true crime, mystery, cookbooks, how-to books, horror/paranormal or specific-religion inspirational books. We do not publish books for young people (YA, middle grade or childrens).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:

Fiction: March 1-15, October 1-15

Nonfiction: March 16-31, October 16-31

BIPOC Writers Open Call: September 1-30

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.