We’re Reading
This submissions page is your starting point. Find the call that fits your work, read the guidelines carefully, and send us what you’ve made.
Simile Press is an independent publisher based in Johannesburg, South Africa. We publish fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by South African writers, on terms we believe are worth agreeing to.
Before You Submit
We never charge a reading fee. Not for any submission, to any call, ever.
We work directly with authors. No agents required — and we prefer it that way. Our agreements are written in plain language and we will walk you through every step.
We accept simultaneous submissions. You may submit to other publishers at the same time. If your work is accepted elsewhere before we respond, please notify us immediately.
We respond to everything. Every submission receives a personal response. We do not send form rejections without at least a line of genuine feedback.
We operate on a profit-share model. After production costs are recovered, every rand of profit is split 50/50 between Simile Press and the author or contributors. No advances, no royalty rate that never activates — just a clean, transparent split. For a full explanation see our Publishing Model page.
Always Open
Simile Press does not operate on submission windows. We do not open and close our doors on a schedule. If you have written something you believe in, you can send us a query today — in March, in August, on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of winter.
This is a deliberate choice. We are not interested in missing the right book because it arrived in the wrong month. Every query comes to us through a short online form first — it takes you minutes to complete and allows us to read quickly and respond honestly before asking for more. If your query interests us, we will ask for a proposal or manuscript. If it does not, we will tell you why.
The door is open. It stays open.
VELDT — Fiction Magazine
VELDT is a handmade South African fiction magazine from Simile Press, printed in-house in Johannesburg. We are reading flash fiction, short stories, novellas, and poetry for Issue One. Debut work only — everything in VELDT is appearing for the first time, anywhere. You may keep work under consideration elsewhere until a first publication date is confirmed. South African writers. English and Afrikaans. Query form first.
Novels & Single Author Short Fiction Collections
We are reading novels and single-author short fiction collections from South African writers — any genre, any approach, any setting. We also specifically welcome children’s fiction (not picture books) and teen and young adult fiction. The only question we ask of a book is whether it works. South African writers. English and Afrikaans. Query form first.
Poetry & Experimental Fiction
We are reading poetry collections and experimental fiction — work that resists easy categorisation, plays with form, or refuses to sit quietly on a single shelf. If your work is hard to describe, tell us what it is in your own words. We would rather read a good explanation than miss a good book. South African writers. English and Afrikaans. Query form first.
What We Are Not Currently Reading
We do not currently have open calls for the following. Subscribe to the newsletter to be notified when new calls open:
- Themed anthology pitches
- Children’s picture books
- Screenplays or stage plays
- Academic or scholarly texts
- Memoirs and non-fiction
Not Sure Where Your Work Fits?
If your project doesn’t map neatly onto any of the categories above — a hybrid work, an unusual format, something genuinely hard to classify — it may belong on our Poetry & Experimental Fiction page. That is where we handle work that resists easy description.
→Poetry & Experimental Fiction submissions
Simile Press is committed to building a catalogue that reflects the breadth and depth of southern African writing. We look forward to reading your work.