22 Best Novella Publishers (9 Open to Submissions Now)

Are you looking for novella publishers who will read your manuscript? Novellas are a hard commercial sell, but a good one packs a whole story into a small package, and a surprising number of journals and presses still want them.

Below you’ll find 22 places to send a novella, grouped by when you can send it. Nine take submissions right now, from Narrative’s dedicated novella category to Mocha Memoirs Press’s open call for speculative novellas. The other 13 read in set windows, run novella prizes, or have paused their open calls, so you know whose page to watch. For each one you’ll find what it publishes, the lengths it takes, any fees, and where its own guidelines live. If you are still deciding where your fiction belongs, browse my directory of over 2,000 publishing companies.

Submission policies change without notice, so check the publisher’s own page before you send anything, and never pay a reading fee. Last verified: October 1, 2026.

Novella publishers open to submissions now

1. Narrative

Narrative is a nonprofit online magazine that publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by established and emerging writers, and it is one of the few journals with a category built for novellas. Narrative accepts submissions year-round through its online system. Novellas and other long works under book length may run 15,000 to 40,000 words: send the first 15,000 words with a synopsis, and the editors will ask for the full manuscript if it suits them.

Unsolicited submissions carry a non-refundable reading fee, and Narrative pays $500 to $1,000 for the pieces it accepts. Its Fall 2026 Story Contest takes entries up to 15,000 words until November 13, 2026, for a $27 fee. Read Narrative’s submission guidelines.

2. Mocha Memoirs

Mocha Memoirs Press opened in 2010 to amplify marginalized voices in speculative fiction, and it has since published more than 400 titles. It is a Black, woman-owned press, and it received the Horror Writers Association’s Specialty Press Award in 2025.

Since September 1, 2026, Mocha Memoirs accepts submissions from BIPOC authors of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal novellas of 25,000 to 49,000 words, and novels of 50,000 to 95,000. Email the first three chapters and a synopsis as a Word file. It takes no previously published work and no AI-assisted writing. See the Mocha Memoirs open call.

3. The Missouri Review

The Missouri Review was founded in 1978 at the University of Missouri and publishes four print issues a year, along with online-only work. Most of what it prints comes from unsolicited writers, and it reads year-round.

Its fiction guidelines set no length restriction, which makes it one of the few major journals where a long story or short novella can go through the regular submissions route. It pays $25 per printed page and accepts submissions online or by post with a self-addressed stamped envelope. Expect a reply in 10 to 12 weeks. Read The Missouri Review’s guidelines.

4. AGNI

AGNI is the literary magazine housed at Boston University, named after the Vedic fire god. It publishes fiction, poetry, essays, and art, and nearly everything it prints comes from unsolicited submissions.

AGNI accepts submissions from September 1, and its current reading period runs to December 15. It sets no hard word limit for fiction. Online submissions cost $3 and postal ones are free, and it pays $30 per printed page for prose, up to $300. See AGNI’s submission page.

5. The Georgia Review

The Georgia Review has published from the University of Georgia since 1947 and is one of the most respected journals of arts and letters in the United States. It publishes fiction, poetry, essays, art, and reviews.

It accepts submissions online and by post from August 15 to May 15 and does not read outside that period. The online fee is $3, waived for subscribers, and paper submissions are free. It pays its contributors. Read The Georgia Review’s guidelines.

6. Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Beneath Ceaseless Skies is an online magazine of literary adventure fantasy: stories set in secondary worlds and written with a literary approach. It has been a professional, SFWA-qualifying market since its first issue in 2008, and it pays 8 cents per word.

It accepts submissions by email year-round and charges no reading fee. It strongly prefers stories under 15,000 words but will consider longer ones, so it suits a tight novelette or a short fantasy novella. It takes no science fiction, urban fantasy, or serials, and replies usually arrive within three weeks. Read the Beneath Ceaseless Skies guidelines.

7. Analog Science Fiction & Fact

Analog began in 1930 as Astounding Stories and remains one of the best-known science fiction magazines. It publishes six issues a year of stories in which future science or technology is integral to the plot.

Analog pays 8 to 10 cents per word for short fiction up to about 20,000 words, and 6 cents per word for serials of 40,000 to 80,000 words. Analog accepts submissions through its online system only, with no simultaneous submissions and nothing written or assisted by AI. Replies usually take two to three months. Read Analog’s writers’ guidelines.

8. Ploughshares

Ploughshares has published from Emerson College in Boston since 1971. Its standalone digital Solos series has ended, and its long-form prose now appears in the fall Longform issue.

Ploughshares accepts submissions from June 1 to November 15. Regular prose runs up to 6,500 words, while the Longform issue takes prose up to 15,000 words and pays $450. The online fee is $3.75, free for subscribers, and you may send one submission per reading period. Read the Ploughshares guidelines.

9. Albert Whitman & Company

Albert Whitman & Company is an independent publisher of children’s books founded in 1919. If your novella is written for young readers, this is a real option: its middle-grade limit is 35,000 words.

Albert Whitman accepts unagented submissions by email for picture books, middle-grade fiction, and young adult novels up to 70,000 words, and it publishes no adult fiction. Send a query letter, a synopsis, and the full manuscript. It replies only if interested, so assume a pass after six months. Read Albert Whitman’s guidelines for unrepresented authors.

Novella homes to watch for the next window

10. The Massachusetts Review

The Massachusetts Review has published fiction, poetry, essays, and art since 1959. Its print fiction runs to 7,500 words, but its digital Working Titles series takes prose of 7,000 to 25,000 words, which is where a novella belongs.

The journal is closed to submissions until its October 2026 reopening and does not read from May 1 to September 30. Electronic submissions cost $3 per reading period, mailed ones are free, and contributors receive a $100 honorarium. Check The Massachusetts Review’s submission page.

11. New England Review

New England Review is published by Middlebury College and is one of the most distinguished literary journals in the country. It says plainly that it takes novellas, with fiction up to 20,000 words.

NER reads in two windows, March 1 to May 1 and September 1 to November 1, and closes a genre early once it reaches its allotted number. Fiction filled its autumn 2026 quota on September 17, so the next chance is March 1. It pays $20 per page, with a $50 minimum. Read NER’s submission guidelines.

12. Alaska Quarterly Review

Founded in 1980, Alaska Quarterly Review is one of the premier literary magazines in the United States, publishing fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction, and short plays. It has a long record of printing long fiction, including short novellas.

AQR reads through Submittable only, with a $3 fee and a separate dated window for each genre. No autumn 2026 fiction window is posted yet, so watch its submissions page for the next one. See AQR’s submission windows.

13. A Public Space

A Public Space is an independent nonprofit magazine founded in Brooklyn in 2006 by Brigid Hughes, and it won the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize in 2018. It welcomes fiction, essays, translations, poetry, and work that fits no category.

The magazine opens several reading periods a year through Submittable and announces them on its site, newsletter, and social media, and none is open at the moment. Its book imprint, A Public Space Books, does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. See A Public Space’s resources page.

14. Giganotosaurus

Giganotosaurus publishes one longish fantasy or science fiction story a month, longer than a short story and shorter than a novel. Its 5,000-to-25,000-word range covers novelettes and short novellas, and one of its stories won the 2024 Locus Award for Best Novelette.

Giganotosaurus is currently closed to submissions and announces each new window on Bluesky. When it opens, it pays $200 per story, charges no reading fee, and takes no simultaneous submissions or reprints. Read the Giganotosaurus guidelines.

15. Miami University Press

Miami University Press in Oxford, Ohio, publishes poetry, poetry in translation, and novellas. Each year it awards the Miami University Novella Prize to an original fiction manuscript of 18,000 to 40,000 words.

The winner receives $1,000, a standard contract, publication, and 20 copies. Entry costs $25 through Submittable, and the prize follows the CLMP Contest Code of Ethics. The 2027 window closed on September 1, 2026, so the press is not accepting submissions until it announces the next round. Read the Novella Prize guidelines.

16. The Malahat Review

The Malahat Review has published from the University of Victoria in British Columbia since 1967 and is one of Canada’s leading literary journals. Every second year it runs a Novella Prize, open to Canadian and international writers.

The prize takes fiction of 10,000 to 20,000 words and pays CAD $2,000 plus publication. The 2026 prize has been awarded, and the next deadline is February 1, 2028. Its regular windows cap international fiction at 4,000 words, so the prize is the novella route. Read The Malahat Review’s guidelines.

17. Gold Line Press

Gold Line Press was founded in 2010 by graduate students in the University of Southern California’s creative writing PhD program. It champions emerging poets and fiction writers and the chapbook form, publishing perfect-bound chapbooks with ISBNs.

Gold Line Press doesn’t accept unsolicited manuscripts. Its chapbooks come through an annual contest, which takes prose of 7,500 to 15,000 words, including novelettes. The winner receives $750 and 50 copies, and the fee is waived for writers of color, Indigenous writers, and writers facing financial hardship. The 2026 contest closed on September 30. Read the Gold Line Press contest guidelines.

18. Luna Press Publishing

Luna Press Publishing is an award-winning independent Scottish publisher of speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and dark fantasy, in both fiction and academia. Author Francesca T. Barbini founded it in 2015.

Luna Press is currently closed to submissions. Watch its submissions page for the next opening. Check Luna Press’s submissions page.

19. Fairlight Books

Fairlight Books is an independent Oxford publisher of literary and book-club fiction. Its Fairlight Moderns are pocket-sized short novels with a strong sense of place, a natural home for novella-length work.

Fairlight is closed to submissions of novels, novellas, and story collections for now. It still reads individual short stories of up to 5,000 words for its free online platform, unpaid, and its current call for winter-themed stories closes on October 17. Read Fairlight’s submission page.

20. McSweeney’s

McSweeney’s is a nonprofit publisher founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and based in San Francisco. Its book list covers novels, story collections, nonfiction, and poetry, and its print journal, Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, publishes mostly fiction.

McSweeney’s Books is closed to submissions with no reopening date. The Quarterly considers unsolicited work sent by post, leaves the length up to you, and pays $400 per story. It takes no previously published or AI-aided writing. Read the McSweeney’s book guidelines.

21. World Castle Publishing

World Castle Publishing has published ebooks and trade paperbacks since 2011, across mystery, horror, romance, fantasy, science fiction, and fiction for younger readers. It defines a novella as 15,000 to 39,999 words, and it says it never charges authors to publish.

World Castle is closed to submissions from new authors until further notice and now lives at worldcastlepublishing.com. When it reopens, it wants complete manuscripts by email, with no simultaneous submissions. Check World Castle’s submission guidelines.

22. Avon Books

Avon Books, a HarperCollins imprint, has published romance and commercial fiction since 1941 and is widely credited with launching the historical romance genre.

Avon does not accept unsolicited manuscripts: HarperCollins editors take submissions only through literary agents and never ask authors for payment. Avon has run one-off open windows for unagented romance writers before, so an agent is the reliable route for a romance novella. Visit Avon’s page at HarperCollins.

Names you may be looking for

The Gettysburg Review

Gettysburg College published The Gettysburg Review from 1988 until its final issue in December 2023, when the college ended the journal.

Big Fiction

Big Fiction was a magazine of the long story and long essay. Its last issue appeared in fall 2022, and its website no longer loads.

The Fantasist

The Fantasist published fantasy novellas from 2016 and has been on hiatus since 2020, with its general submissions closed.

Final Thoughts

Novellas sit between the short story and the novel, and most writers see them as shortened novels. They are a tough sell in print, but journals like Narrative, The Missouri Review, and New England Review give long fiction real room, and presses like Mocha Memoirs and Miami University Press build lists and prizes around the form. Pick the two or three whose recent work looks most like yours, follow their guidelines exactly, and mark the next windows of the rest in your calendar. If your work runs shorter, try my list of flash fiction publishers, and for true stories, these magazines and websites that accept personal essays. When you are ready to see your book in print, my guide to becoming a published author covers the next steps.