Welcome to the Submittable Page for Book Submissions to Green Writers Press & Green Place Books. 

Thank you for your interest in our small, indie publishing house located in rural Vermont. Our reading period for adult/juvenile fiction, nonfiction, and poetry is open March 1, 2024 until June 1, 2024.

Green Writers Press, an independent, women-owned, Vermont-based publishing company, is dedicated to spreading environmental awareness and social justice by publishing authors who promulgate messages of hope and renewal through place-based writing, racial justice, and environmental activism. In the past nine years, Green Writers Press has expanded significantly, publishing authors such as Julia Alvarez, Chard deNiord, John Elder, Dr. M Jackson, former Vermont Governor Madeleine Kunin, Congresswoman Becca Balint, Sharyn Skeeter, Ha Kiet Chau, and Clarence Major. The start-up publishing company was invited to be part of the Women’s Convention in 2017, was a finalist for the Association of Writers and Writing Program’s Publisher of the Year Award in 2019, and was a recipient of The Vermont Literary Inspiration Award in 2019. Recently, Founder Dede Cummings was invited to appear on “The Innovation Station,” at the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) at the U.S. Department of State. The mission of the press is to spread a message of hope and renewal through the words and images we publish. Throughout we will adhere to our commitment to preserving and protecting the natural resources of the earth. To that end, a percentage of our proceeds will be donated to environmental activist groups and social justice organizations. Read more at  www.greenwriterspress.com.

We are a literary press that publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and youth literature from middle grade to young adult. Our focus is nature, environment, social/racial/environmental justice, gender/and all forms of collective liberation and activism. Our imprint Green Place Books curates books that tell literary and compelling stories with a focus on writing about place—these books are more personal stories, memoirs, and biographies.

We value your work, as our submitters, and we do not charge a reading fee (only for a contest or book prize). We try to respond in a timely manner (but, honestly, we can't always keep up). Since we are a small organization, and so swamped with inquiries, we don't want you to feel lost if we don't get right back to you! 

OUR IMPRINTS

Our Juvenile imprint Green Sprouts is for our picture books for younger readers (like our award-winning Josie Goes Green series, Salamander Sky, and Mason Goes Mushrooming). Unfortunately, our small size and lack of capital make it especially hard for us to afford to publish children's 4-color and hardcover picture books. (Note: check out our Green Place Books imprint below if you want to look at other children's picture book options for your proposal. For example, our FOREST DAYS KINDERGARTEN book was printed with help from a grant from Antioch University.)

We also have an imprint called Green Place Books that curates books that tell literary and compelling stories with a focus on writing about place—these books are more personal stories/memoirs, spirituality, education, caring for our elders, and biographies. If you want to designate your book for GPB, mention that in your cover letter. 

We now offer a Hybrid Publishing Partnership program to help us raise money, help authors, and publish books we love. We have partnered with Antioch University, The Sundog Poetry Center, First Light Foundation (Maine), Saddler's Woods Conservation Association, and individual writers. The way it works is the author or organization pays for editorial work (editing, copyediting, and proofreading), design of the cover and interior, pagination of the book, and printing. We are selective in this process and the books are submissions we would acquire if we had a large budget and a full-time staff. Our publicity and marketing platform is included in this partnership and is very grassroots and effective: a frontlist catalog including a catalog page one-sheet, press release creation, web page on our site with purchase link, book launch support, and book festival participation. Helping writers and nonprofit foundations do great work is a shared goal and the collaboration is so rewarding. The books we publish through this partnership are of the highest quality, printed sustainably, and distributed nationally and internationally. Independent Publishers Group (IPG) in Chicago handles our global distribution for all our books and they are very good at what they do and keep impeccable records. The nice part is that bookstores and libraries order all of our books direct from IPG (usually with a 40-50% discount), via Ingram (must include the not-desirable Amazon here), or Follett/Baker & Taylor. If you are interested in talking to us about a partnership email dede@greenwriterspress.com. 

Visit our Bookshop.org affiliate page to see some of our books!

PRIZES & SPECIAL SUBMISSIONS:

Our Howard Frank Mosher Book Prize in Fiction is a publication prize for a novelist or short story writer from Vermont or one who writes about Vermont and/or the themes that resonate so well with Howard's work: love, friendship, forgiveness, nature, Vermont, solitude, that are part of Howard's literary legacy. Vermont residency is not required. We will open the prize for submissions, hopefully in 2024.

The Hopper

In 2014, we founded an environmental literary magazine called The Hopper. We love the magazine and it is now independent of our small press. To find out more, you can go to this link to find details about submitting poetry, fiction, essays, and artwork. Some of the Hopper authors publish books with us, too! 

Whole Terrain

In 2022, we co-published our first issue of Whole Terrain, Antioch University New England’s nationally acclaimed journal of reflective environmental practice, which is dedicated to the experience of those who have chosen the environment as the basis of their work. Whole Terrain cultivates reflective thought and mindful awareness in an effort to create a balance between humanity and the Earth.

Information about submitting to Whole Terrain can be found here. 

Sundog Poetry Center

Sundog Poetry Center is pleased to continue publishing work by Vermont poets with an annual book award for a first or second poetry manuscript, in partnership with Green Writers Press, which will design, print, and distribute the book nationwide. The final judge for the inaugural Sundog Poetry Book Award was Vermont Poet Laureate, and award-winning poet, Mary Ruefle. The 2021 judge was Dartmouth College professor and poet Vievee Francis. This contest is open to all Vermont-based poets. Submissions of manuscripts of a first or second book by a Vermont poet. A cash prize of $500 will be awarded along with 50 copies. Sundog Poetry will provide assistance with promotion through a featured book launch and readings scheduled throughout the state. Manuscripts should be between 48 and 64 pages. All submissions must be authored by a poet who resides in Vermont; proof of residency will be requested along with a $20 application fee online via Submittable. 

Information about our Sundog Poetry Prize can be found here.

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Our themes revolve around the environment and doing something to save it from greed and destruction. We like dystopian novels, fantasy (Polly and the One and Only World by Don Bredes), literary fiction about intensely personal subjects (Hidden View by Brett Stanciu), adventure (Native Air by Jonathan Howland), eco-lit fiction (The Ice Sings Back by M Jackson); humor (The Full Vermonty), Young Adult with a Queer and #ownvoice racial- social justice focus (the silent, subtle ever-present perils of life by Alcy Leyva); science (While Glaciers Slept: Being Human in a Time of Climate Change). Most of all, we like good writing.

You can read about our awesome freelance team on our website and we have the best interns on the planet. We march, we grow our own food, we care about social and migrant justice, we want to live with the smallest carbon footprint possible, we went to Standing Rock and stand with the Native American water protectors, we care deeply about the environment and the fate of Mother Earth. Oh, and we love to read and most of our editors are also working writers!

Please join us, as readers, writers, activists, artists . . .
We look forward to reading your work!
THE EDs.