Submissions are now open
Publishing weather alert: Severe risk of being completely snowed under
It’s that time again: Valley Press is open for submissions. Read on for the full details, or jump straight to our website’s submissions page for concise instructions on how to send in your work.
(Apologies for the off-topic photo, by the way. It was taken just a couple of hours ago, so it’s current at least, and does feature Valley Bridge, the company’s namesake. It’s not easy to visualise the topic of submissions; I was going to draw a cloud snowing envelopes, but as we don’t allow postal submissions anymore, that didn’t seem relevant either…)
When to submit
Submissions are open now, and will close on 31st January at 11pm GMT.
What we’re looking for
Fiction, non-fiction and poetry, with literary merit and the potential for wide general appeal. Each work should be of a length to be published on its own; enough for at least 36 printed pages (so no individual poems or short stories, please).
Who can submit
Anyone, anywhere, at any stage of their writing career. The one qualifying feature is as follows: you must have made a purchase through the Valley Press website since September 2025. I discussed the reasons for this in a blog post last month; I hope you’ll forgive me for adding a little friction to the process. If you need to make a purchase prior to submitting, you can browse our extensive catalogue here.
How to submit
Please send your entries via email to submissions@valleypressuk.com, and attach a file including as much of the text of your book as you are willing to share, in whatever format you prefer. In the body of the email, please include:
The order number from your qualifying purchase (four digits, starting with 1).
The title of your book and your author name (actual or pseudonym, as preferred).
Your book’s genre and current word count.
A paragraph explaining what your book is about.
A paragraph of highlights from your writing career so far (if applicable).
A note on the ideal audience for your book, and where we might find them.
I would be absolutely delighted if you could number your paragraphs as above, for the most efficient initial reading – but that’s not a dealbreaker.
If you would like to submit more than one typescript during this window, please send separate emails for each entry, and include either a) separate order numbers for each, or b) one order number for a purchase of multiple books.
What happens next
We will write back to you quickly to confirm receipt of your submission, and then get reading – aiming to make decisions and notify everyone before the end of March. You are allowed to submit your work elsewhere while you are waiting.
We typically receive 300-400 entries during these windows, and I’ll be looking to select only 3-4 authors to move forward with; so bear those odds in mind, especially if and when the dreaded rejection email comes your way. I won’t be able to offer useful or detailed feedback, but will try to put in a few encouraging pleasantries and a reason you didn’t make the cut (usually “I liked these three other ones slightly more”, though I’ll have found a better way to phrase it by then).
Our selections from this window will be published in 2027/2028 – so if you are looking to rush your work onto the shelves for some reason, this might not be the opportunity for you. You should expect the next Valley Press submissions window to open in late 2028, when I’ll have completed work on the selections from this one. A date to work towards, for those of you who have just written the first sentence of your masterpiece!
I think that’s everything you need to know, but please do get in touch if you have any questions about the submissions window, using our website, or anything else.
I’ll end by thanking you for your interest in our humble publishing efforts out here on the Yorkshire coast. If this is the first you are hearing about Valley Press, please do stick around; you can subscribe to this newsletter/blog for free, or for a few £/$ a month if you’d like to support what we do (otherwise entirely unfunded!) Hope to see you again soon – keep warm.