8 Best Publishing Companies in West Virginia (Submissions)

Nestled among the majestic Appalachian Mountains, West Virginia offers breathtaking natural beauty and harbors a flourishing literary community.

If you are a writer in West Virginia looking for a publisher, this list covers eight options: a university press, a nonprofit literary press, a sport-science imprint, a romance publisher, and several companies that charge authors for publishing or custom publishing services. Each entry says whether it is open to submissions right now and whether you would be paying, so you can tell a publisher that buys your book from a service you would hire.

Submission policies change without notice, so confirm on the publisher’s own page before you send anything, and never pay a reading fee. Last verified: October 3, 2026.

Here are the best publishing companies in West Virginia:

1. West Virginia University Press

West Virginia University Press publishes scholarly, creative, and regionally focused books and is part of the WVU Libraries. It covers Appalachian history and culture, literature, and academic research, and it also considers literary fiction and creative nonfiction. It is a traditional publisher, so you pay nothing to be considered. Send a proposal by email to submissions@wvupress.com with an overview, an annotated table of contents, sample chapters, and your CV. Do not phone or mail hard copies, and expect the review to take several weeks or months. Submission guidelines.

Working on a book of your own? You can publish it yourself with PublishDrive (affiliate link).

2. Populore Publishing Company

Populore Publishing Company is a paid publishing service in Morgantown, WV, not a traditional publisher. It helps people publish and sell their own books, such as family histories, memoirs, novels, poetry, and children’s books, with editorial, layout, and printing oversight. Pricing depends on the length of the book, e-book or print, and photos, so ask for a quote and a free consultation before you commit. There is no manuscript submission process because you are the client. See how pricing works.

3. Mountain State Press

Mountain State Press is a nonprofit, traditional literary press that has published writing from Appalachia, with an emphasis on West Virginia, since 1978. It prefers fiction (literary, contemporary, and genre), short story collections, and creative nonfiction such as memoir and personal essays. It rarely publishes poetry and does not take children’s books, YA, or erotica. Authors send a query through an online form rather than a full manuscript, and the press asks for about three chapters if it is interested. The query form currently shows as temporarily closed, so check the page before you plan around it. Submission guidelines.

4. FiT Publishing

FiT Publishing is a Morgantown, WV, academic publisher of books and textbooks on sport management, marketing, and sport science. Since late 2025 it has been an imprint of West Virginia University Press, and its former journals now appear with Sage. Book orders go through the Chicago Distribution Center. The site does not publish book submission guidelines, so contact the imprint through WVU Press before you send anything. It is a niche fit unless your book is about sport business or sport science.

5. HQ Publishing Co.

HQ Publishing Co. is a custom publisher in Huntington, WV, founded in 1989. It produces print and digital magazines, books, annual reports, directories, and newsletters for clients, including writing, editing, photography, design, and printing. That makes it a service you would hire rather than a publisher that acquires manuscripts, and it does not publish author submission guidelines. If you need a company history, directory, or corporate publication produced, start with its contact page.

6. Changeling Press

Changeling Press is a publisher in Martinsburg, WV, that specializes in erotic romance and fantasy fiction. It currently wants high-heat contemporary, paranormal, and sci-fi romance for adult women readers, in the range of 20,000 to 40,000 words. It takes unagented submissions by email only, as RTF or TXT files, with no simultaneous or previously published work, and it does not consider AI-generated submissions. Submission guidelines.

7. Headline Books

Headline Books has published books from Terra Alta, WV, since 1988 and reports more than 1,000 national and international book awards across its titles. Its submissions page says the press is closed to new submissions for 2026 and lists an email address for the future, so check back for an update before you write. The site does not say whether authors contribute to costs, so ask about the publishing terms before you agree to anything. Submission guidelines.

8. Diamond Media Press

Diamond Media Press is a paid author-services company in West Virginia offering editing, proofreading, cover design, and formatting, with traditional, self-publishing, and hybrid options. You work with a consultant on a package, so expect to pay. Its manuscript page asks authors not to send manuscripts unless requested, and to email authorslinedmp@gmail.com to request an appointment instead. Manuscript submission page.

Conclusion

West Virginia has two publishers that read author submissions, West Virginia University Press and Changeling Press. Mountain State Press and Headline Books are the other traditional options, and both are currently closed. Populore, HQ Publishing, and Diamond Media Press are paid services, so compare quotes and read any contract before you pay. Whichever route you choose, confirm the current submission rules on each company’s own page before you send anything.