West Virginia University Press publishes literary short fiction, fiction, and creative nonfiction by both new and established writers. Historically, WVU Press has published literary fiction with a focus on Appalachian culture, and although this continues to be an important part of its mission, its scope now expands beyond this region as it seeks to publish original voices from across the globe. With this in mind, WVU Press is dedicated to publishing literature that deals with diverse aspects of all cultures and bears a strong sense of place.

We accept unsolicited proposals from authors of all backgrounds (previously published or not) via email only. In return, we ask that you familiarize yourself with our publishing list in order to determine if your manuscript is a good fit for WVU Press. You may email queries and submissions to submissions@wvupress.com.

West Virginia University Press no longer publishes creative work under the Vandalia Press imprint. All creative work will be published under West Virginia University Press.

At this time we are not accepting proposals for historical fiction, novellas, unsolicited poetry, young adult fiction, or children's books. We do accept proposals for other genres, especially short story collections and novels. Creative nonfiction may be considered.

To submit:
Please provide, at minimum, a synopsis of the project, a short personal bio, and two chapters for a novel or creative nonfiction, or two stories for a story collection. You may also provide more information through a proposal.

We do our best to respond to submissions in a timely manner, but due to our staff size and the steady flow of proposal submissions, our review of your proposal may take several weeks or months. Email inquiries to submissions@wvupress.com only. We cannot respond to phone calls or to mailed proposals or manuscripts. If the editorial director would like to read your full manuscript, you will be contacted.