Submissions

Thank you for thinking of ECW Press! We proudly publish an eclectic list of nonfiction, poetry, and fiction — but we don’t publish in every category under the sun. Before sending in your proposal, please familiarize yourself with our recent titles to see if your book fits with our publishing program. For example, we do not publish books for children. We are especially seeking submissions from underrepresented voices, including Black, Indigenous, and people of colour; LGBTQ2IA+ people; people living with disabilities; and women.  

ECW accepts fiction and poetry submissions by Canadians only; there are no citizenship restrictions on writers submitting non-fiction.

Please email submissions@ecwpress.com with your manuscript's title in the subject line and include:

  1. A cover letter explaining what type of book you're pitching (e.g., novel, memoir, poetry collection), a short description of your book, and why you think it’s a good fit with ECW. Find more tips on writing a good query letter here.

  2. A brief bio, including your city of residence and publication history.

  3. A sample of the manuscript of 15–25 pages.

  4. For non-fiction, please also send an outline of the entire work as you currently envision it. (For tips on writing a good non-fiction proposal, check out this sample from our author Michael Hingston.)

    Please note that we will consider a novel, poetry manuscript, or memoir only once it has been completed, though you need only send 15 to 25 pages with a query. 

      For tips on the submitting, to ECW and others, and writing a good query letter, you can watch a Facebook live video with Senior Editor Jen Knoch.

      We accept only electronic submissions; sending by email will save you time, resources, and money. We prefer .doc, .docx, or PDFs. 

      We read and consider each submission we receive, but it does take some time. Emails to our submissions account will, however, receive an electronic submission confirmation. (If this does not appear, please check your Spam folder.) Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we are not able to personally reply to each submission: if you do not hear from an editor within three months, please assume that your book is not the right fit for our list.  

      If you are submitting a Pop Classics proposal, specific guidelines can be found here. 

      If you are applying for the BIPOC Writers Mentorship program, specific guidelines can be found here.

       

      Meet the Acquiring Editors 
      David Caron
      Jack David
      Jen Albert
      Jennifer Knoch smiling in front of a bookshelf

      Jen Sookfong Lee
      Jennifer Smith
      Michael Holmes
      Pia Singhal