Absolutely not. We are not a vanity press or a self-publishing company, and while we are small, we work as any traditional publisher does — which means that authors get paid for publishing their work with us, not the other way around. We handle all aspects of the publishing process, and our books are professionally designed, edited, and produced.
We do charge a fee for The Siskiyou Prize, which goes toward a stipend for the final judge and a cash prize for the contest winner. Those who do not wish to pay a fee for entering the contest may submit a regular, non-contest submission free of charge.
We publish literature with themes related to the environment, ecology, animal protection, and wildlife. Other than the occasional call for special projects, we generally only accept book-length submissions, and we are particularly interested in novels with eco-themes. We recommend taking a look at our current and past titles to get an idea of what we are looking for; free excerpts are available for all of our titles. Please see our submissions page for complete guidelines.
We do not publish children's books (i.e., picture books or middle-grade books). We do, however, publish novels for young adults, as long as the themes align with our publishing interests. Check out our submissions page for complete guidelines.
We do not publish poetry.
Literary agents are welcome to send queries by e-mail, but otherwise we accept submissions only via the service Submittable. We do not accept printed copies of submissions under any circumstances; manuscripts received by mail will be automatically recycled. Please see our submissions page for complete guidelines.
Submissions that do not match our guidelines (for example, military thrillers) will be returned very quickly.
Appropriate submissions will be reviewed carefully, and this takes time. You’ll likely hear back from us within one to three months. If three months go by without a response, please feel free to email us.
While we're not able to offer editorial feedback to writers due to the volume of submissions, we do occasionally address specific writing questions on our blog. The Ashland Creek Press blog covers topics ranging from the environment, travel, and animal protection to writing, publishing, and the writing life.
No, writers may submit only one manuscript at a time during regular submissions. If more than one manuscript is submitted, only the first submission will be considered. For the Siskiyou Prize, writers may submit more than one entry; see the prize website for details.
Many of our authors have their own blogs and web sites, which we link to from the Ashland Creek Press author pages. Otherwise, while we don't give out author information, we are happy to forward messages to authors — feel free to e-mail a message to editors (at) ashlandcreekpress (dot) com, including the author's name in the subject line, and we'll forward it along.
Yes, we do. If you own the rights to your book, and if your book falls within the scope of our publishing interests, please feel free to submit it, along with all the details of its previous publication.
We may be small, but we have a combined total of more than four decades’ experience in publishing, editing, design, digital platforms, and marketing. We’ve worked for publishers large and small, and, as writers ourselves, we’ve experienced the vast changes in the publishing industry from the other side of the fence as well.
Ashland Creek Press titles have been nationally recognized by awards committees and have received reviews in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and Library Journal, among others. We consistently support our books and authors whether the pub date was two months earlier or two years earlier.
With traditional publishing undergoing so many changes, doors that are being closed to writers in some areas are being opened elsewhere. Our goal is to help writers who are passionate about their work and who have stories we believe in to get their work out into the world.
Ashland Creek Press is an independent, vegan-owned publisher of eco-literature, which includes books in all genres about animals, the environment, and the planet we all call home. We are passionate about books that foster an appreciation for worlds outside our own, for nature and the animal kingdom, and for the ways in which we all connect.
