Submission windows

our women-ONLY SUBMISSIONS WINDOW is now open

9 October – 10 November 2023

Welcome to the Galley Beggar Press submissions page. You will find key information below. For this particular submissions window, here’s a little extra information:

This special women’s-only submissions window has been opened because in our spring submissions window – and while there were many excellent books, and from a wide variety of writers – we did not find any that ultimately fitted what we are currently looking for. As we read, we also became aware that around 80% of the submissions were from men – which is why we now feel this particular need to open a dedicated window, encouraging female writers.

This isn’t about excluding anyone: it’s about extending an invitation to people we hear less from.

To get a sense of the writers we’ve been lucky enough to publish so far, you might find it useful to read extracts from the following novels and collections: Selby Wynn Schwartz’s After Sappho (extract accessible through our shop here, and a review telling you more about Selby’s novel here); Uschi Gatward’s English Magic (extract here and review here); Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport (extract here, review here); Pret Taneja’s We that are young (extract here, review here); and Eimear McBride’s A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing (extract here, review here). For non-fiction and more genre-bending works, take a look at Megan Dunn’s Tinderbox (extract here, review here) and Lucy Ellmann’s essay collection Things Are Against Us (review here). Between them, we are proud to say that these works have been longlisted, shortlisted, and the winners of a wide range of awards, from the Booker Prize to the Folio Prize, the Women’s Prize to the Orwell Prize, the James Tait Black to the Goldsmiths Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize and beyond.

Before you submit, please read the general submission guidelines below. Thank you for reading!

Key information

  • We publish adult literary* fiction (novels and short story collections) and narrative non-fiction. We are not currently considering other genres (e.g., poetry, lifestyle, commercial fiction).

  • (*We regard the term ‘literary’ as covering a broad church; it can cover anything from fantasy to crime, the realist to the surreal – and what we really mean is that we like books that are very, very good, and enjoy form and language as much as story.)

  • Before submitting, please familiarise yourself with our list. In your covering letter, it will help if you can tell us which of our authors you have read and why you feel your work is suited to Galley Beggar Press. You can read some first chapters here, or better still, buy a book here.

  • You can also get a flavour of Galley Beggar Press by reading some of the past winners, as well as the past long- and shortlist writers, on our annual short story prize. Just head here.

  • Manuscripts should be submitted in full, with a covering letter/email. Synopses are welcome but not essential.

  • We welcome submissions from agented and non-agented writers – and actively encourage submissions from everyone, no matter who you are or where you come from.

  • You do not have to live in the UK to submit to us: we welcome submissions from across the world.

  • As much as we would like to, we cannot enter into correspondence on submissions, or individual work.*

  • We do not accept or return posted manuscripts.

  • Do subscribe to our newsletter, to get a feel for the company and keep updated on future submission windows.

    * This is because we are a very small team: resources are at a premium, especially time. We value all submissions and we know how much effort it takes to write a book, and the courage it takes to send it in. But we can’t enter into correspondence about titles, offer feedback, or answer email inquiries. (We get 200+ emails a day, and as much as we’d like to give everyone time, we simply can’t. If we did, there would be nothing left for our writers, or publishing the kind of wonderful books that alerted you to us in the first place.)

    If we have questions about your work, you will hear from us within six months. If you don’t – do please take heart and remember that we have a small list. We publish three to four titles a year – and there is, inevitably, some excellent work that we have to let go. We also have very particular tastes. An editor is first and foremost a reader – and what doesn’t work for one reader will often appeal to another. And don’t just submit to us: approach other publishers and literary agents. Keep writing, and good luck.