Writing is a long, solitary, and often thankless business. You already know that. What you deserve, at the end of it, is a publisher who takes your work as seriously as you do — who is straight with you about how things work, fair with you about money, and genuinely invested in getting your book into the hands of readers who will love it.
That is what Simile Press is trying to be. This section is for you.
Submit Your Work
If you have something worth reading, we want to know about it. Simile Press is currently open for submissions across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, experimental fiction, and VELDT — our handmade fiction magazine. All submissions start with a short online query form. No reading fees. No agents required.
We publish novels, single-author short fiction collections, children’s fiction, teen and young adult fiction, poetry collections, experimental fiction, and non-fiction with relevance to South African readers. If your work is hard to categorise, that is not a reason not to submit — it may be exactly the kind of thing we are looking for.
→See all current submission calls
How We Work
Simile Press operates on a profit-share model. After production costs are recovered, every rand of profit is split equally between the press and the author. You keep your rights. You receive transparent bi-annual reports. There is no ceiling on what you can earn.
We work directly with authors — no intermediaries, no layers between you and the people making decisions about your work. Our agreements are written in plain language. We will walk you through every step.
The Editorial Process
Acceptance is the beginning of the work, not the end of it. We work collaboratively with every author through structural editing, line editing, and proofreading — always in service of your work, never in place of your voice. You will see and approve cover designs and layouts before anything is finalised. Nothing significant happens to your book without your knowledge and agreement.
→ Read about the editorial process
Author FAQ
How long does it take to hear back? What happens if your book doesn’t recoup its costs? Can you order copies of your own book? What does rights reversion look like in practice? We have answered the questions we get asked most often, plainly and without evasion.
Author Resources
Practical guidance for writers at every stage — how to format a manuscript, how to write a query letter and synopsis, how to read your sales report, what Simile Press does to market your book and what we ask of you in return. Also links to useful South African industry organisations and resources.
→ Browse author resources
Marketing and Sales
A published book is only half the work. Finding its readers is the other half — and that requires genuine effort from both sides. Simile Press handles distribution, maintains your title page, runs newsletter and social media announcements, and coordinates review copies and press outreach. We also help every author establish a professional web presence on their own domain — because the one thing every author needs, more than a social media following, is a permanent address on the internet that belongs to them.
→ Read about marketing and your author website
If you have a question that isn’t answered anywhere here, contact us. We are a small press and we read everything ourselves.