Brain Mill Press is an independent publisher of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and graphic novels, as well as essays on our digital magazine platform, VOICES.
Our acquisition priority is work by authors of color, women, LGBTQIA+, disabled authors, and First Nations authors.
This page is where our editors will open calls for queries, open reading periods, magazines, and essays. Please follow the guidelines provided by each editor for any open calls.
We do not accept queries, pitches, or manuscripts via snail mail or email. Please use the Submittable platform. If you have any questions or barriers to using this platform, please email us at inquiries@brainmillpress.com. Brain Mill Press accepts directly solicited queries, pitches, and manuscripts via the "Invited Submissions" portal. Do not use this portal unless you have communicated with an editor at Brain Mill Press who has directed you to submit via this portal.
Brain Mill Press accepts agented submissions directed to one of our editors or to the publishers via inquiries@brainmillpress.com.
Beyond the Grave
A call for mystery novellas for a Brain Mill Press mystery novella series
Brain Mill Press, a traditional publisher of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by marginalized and underrepresented authors is opening submissions for mystery novellas 20,000-40,000 words on the theme of “beyond the grave.” Brain Mill Press will select up to six novellas to be published separately in the “beyond the grave” series releasing over a year.
Selected authors will be offered a negotiable, royalty-bearing contract and be published in print and ebook editions distributed in all major book retail outlets, with marketing for both the series and individual novella.
The novellas must strongly embody the theme, but may be in any subgenre of mystery fiction (cozy, noir, procedural, detective, amateur, historical), or have cross-genre elements (romantic elements/romance, paranormal, speculative).
Brain Mill Press centers marginalized and underrepresented authors. We are looking for submissions from Black authors, Indigenous authors, authors of color, women, LGBTQIA2S+ authors, and disabled authors.
Submit complete, previously unpublished novellas (including self-published) on the theme of “beyond the grave” via the Brain Mill Press Submittable portal. Editors will consider all submissions and may invite authors of the mystery genre to review submissions for final selection. Submissions that do not comply with the submission guidelines on this call and in the Submittable portal will be disqualified. Agented submissions are welcome and can reach out to mainbrain@brainmillpress.com directly.
Ashes, Bones, and Relics
A call for horror novellas for a Brain Mill Press horror novella series
Brain Mill Press, a traditional publisher of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by marginalized and underrepresented authors is opening submissions for horror novellas 20,000-50,000 words on the theme of “ashes, bones, and relics.” Brain Mill Press will select up to six novellas to be published separately in the “ashes, bones, and relics” series releasing over a year.
Selected authors will be offered a negotiable, royalty-bearing contract and be published in print and ebook editions distributed in all major book retail outlets, with marketing for both the series and individual novella.
The novellas must strongly embody the theme, but may be in any subgenre of horror fiction (Gothic, paranormal, psychological, social, body, supernatural), or have cross-genre elements (romantic elements/horror romance, mystery, historical, speculative).
Brain Mill Press centers marginalized and underrepresented authors. We are looking for submissions from Black authors, Indigenous authors, authors of color, women, LGBTQIA2S+ authors, and disabled authors.
Submit complete, previously unpublished novellas (including self-published) on the theme of “ashes, bones, and relics” via the Brain Mill Press Submittable portal. Editors will consider all submissions and may invite authors of the horror genre to review submissions for final selection. Submissions that do not comply with the submission guidelines on this call and in the Submittable portal will be disqualified. Agented submissions are welcome and can reach out to mainbrain@brainmillpress.com directly.