Fly on the Wall Press specialises in political fiction, poetry and cross-genre anthologies on pressing issues, from exceptional international authors.

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Fly on the Wall Press won Small Press of the Year in the North of England at the British Book Awards 2024. Our books have been recognised internationally for their quality from poetry awards (The Laurel Prize, The Julie Suk Award) to short stories and fiction (Saboteur awards, the Edge Hill Prize.)

 

2024 opening dates:

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1st May 2024 - 28th July 2024

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Please do not submit outside of these dates,

or your manuscript will not be read.

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Before submitting, we require writers to be familiar with our mission and to have supported our publishing schedule and our authors by purchasing a book from our shop in the year of submitting a manuscript. Alternatively, international writers may wish to donate £8 or above

via our PayPal.

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We encourage you to have read a book published by Fly on the Wall Press prior to submitting, as this will help you assess if your work would fit in well within our family of authors. We are completely reliant on book sales and receive no funding so a big thank you for supporting us.

We wouldn't be where we are without your enthusiasm and warmth!

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 What are we looking for?

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Novels/Novellas/Short Story Collections/Poetry collections

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• We are seeking manuscripts with a strong narrative voice that explore human nature and the pressing issues of our time. We are drawn to writing with a distinct, bold style and writers who are unafraid to make a statement or leave a mark.

• Our primary interest lies in works that incorporate elements of social consciousness and political engagement. This can manifest through direct social commentary, observation of societal issues, overtly political storylines, or simply a unique viewpoint that emerges from the writer's existence within a particular setting.

• This year, we are particularly interested in works that explore themes of climate anxiety, dystopian and utopian worlds (similar to Diane Cook's "The New Wilderness"), as well as stories of migration and cross-culture identity.

• We value writers who have engaged with Fly on the Wall Press before as readers and understand our ethos as a publisher. While we welcome thought-provoking and socially conscious works, we also believe in accessibility and aim to publish engaging writing that resonates with a broad audience.

• Ideal submissions should have a cohesive theme or story arc (applying to all genres) and reveal something profound about the human experience through the writer's distinctive voice and perspective.

 

Why Fly on the Wall Press for my book?

 

• Each stage of the publishing process is managed by Managing Director, Isabelle Kenyon, who works closely with her writers to ensure that they are happy with the way their work is presented, and will suggest ways of improving the work, where it can be even stronger.

• We work with a range of contacts to sell translation, audio and film rights to our titles.

• We work with The Literary Consultancy to offer writers on benefits developmental support during the editorial process.

• All books are marketed to the highest standard, and we work hard to promote them! This includes entering writers into major awards, social media coverage, attending book fairs, review copies to journalists, interview coverage and advertising. This is not standard for a small press and something we take pride in investing our time within. (However, it is worth saying that as we very rarely have a team larger than one, all book marketing requires a team effort.)

• We are proud to be a member of Inpress LTD distribution and the Northern Fiction Alliance. Our books benefit from the expertise of our book reps and regional partnerships.

• We publish quality over quantity. ​

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​We would love a third person biography with your submission which helps us to learn about your past publication history in reputable literary journals and any competition successes. We are looking for writers who are willing to engage with the marketing of their own work, so any ideas that you have for this are also of interest!

 

We are working with you as a person as well as with your words and we want the process to be fun so, in this initial submission, we like to get any idea of who you are as an individual. Are you part of any writing groups, or do you attend any open mic nights? All interesting for us to know!

 

We have created a cover letter for you to fill out - feel free to do things your own way, however this cover letter template (for the body of your email) really will tick all our boxes! You can download this here.

Novels and Novellas

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1. Send us the first 30 pages of your novel or novella and a synopsis to flyonthewallpress@hotmail.com with the subject line 'Novel: First Name/Last Name'. Attach both in one word document.

2. Synopsis length should be minimum 100 words - maximum 800 words. 

3. We will read your 30 pages and request to read the full novel or novella if required within 8 weeks.

4. The full novel should not be under 50,000 words or over 90,000 words.

5. Please use your common sense for formatting, there is no need to email about this prior to submitting! Isabelle is human and really does not mind, as long as the word document is readable. Preferred font: Perpetua 12pt. Preferred page size: A5. Speech marks preferred as double " ". Single-spaced preferred.

 

Short Story Collections:
 

1. No limit on individual story length. Total length of manuscript between 25,000 and 55,000 words with the subject line 'Shorts: First Name/Last Name',  in a word document to flyonthewallpress@hotmail.com 

2. Please use your common sense for formatting, there is no need to email about this prior to submitting! Isabelle is human and really does not mind, as long as the word document is readable. Preferred font: Perpetua 12pt. Preferred page size: A5. Speech marks preferred as double " ". Single-spaced preferred

 

Poetry Collections

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1. No line limit on individual poems. Please use a page break so that each new poem starts on a new page.

2. Each collection should be a minimum of 40 pages of poetry and a maximum of 80 pages. 

3. Please use your common sense for formatting, there is no need to email about this prior to submitting! Isabelle is human and really does not mind, as long as the word document is readable. Preferred font: Perpetua 12pt. Preferred page size: A5. Single-spaced preferred.

 

I very much look forward to reading your work and appreciate your time in considering Fly on the Wall Press as a home for your book. Your manuscript will be read with care.

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Top Tips for Fly on the Wall Press Submissions

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1. Submitting a collection? We ask that 50% of the collection remains unpublished in literary journals.​​

2. We accept simultaneous submissions.

3. You can only send one manuscript each year, so if you have a novel AND a poetry collection, please choose one. 

4. We are always happy to see translations and international submissions.​​

5. We aim to reply within 2 months after the reading period closes. We send updates on our progress in our newsletter, so that is the best place to look if you’re wondering when you might hear back from us. We do reply to everyone, and we read all of the submissions very thoroughly, so thank you for being patient with us.​​​

6. We will email everyone to let them know the verdict on their submission, but we can’t offer individual feedback except via our paid feedback option below.

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Want feedback and a submission outcome within 3 weeks?

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This is not a line by line editing service - for that, see our Author Services - however, we will advise you on elements holistically such as collection arc, sentence structure and character development as well as a shortlisting decision if we feel it is suitable for the Press (if not, we will suggest alternative publishers).

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For individual stories, this feedback is £50 (fiction up to 11k words) and for short story collections, full poetry collections and novels, this feedback is £80 via the Donation button (up to 70 poems, fiction up to 25k words - we appreciate novels will be of a longer length, however as this is a 'quick' feedback service, we will stop reading at this point in the manuscript. )

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For feedback on the first twenty pages of your novel/novella, this feedback is £55 in the form of an editorial report and line by line notes.

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If you have any issues with the donate button please also find the link here.

Please indicate that you have paid for feedback in your submissions email.

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You can still apply for feedback while our submission period is closed.