Guidelines for Submission:

1. Please submit all manuscripts as Word Documents through our Submittable page. You will be prompted to create a free user account that will allow you to submit your manuscript and monitor its status.

2. Please submit manuscripts as a single file and include a title page (without a name). We ask that your name be removed from the manuscript for blind reading.

3. To be eligible for publication, you must be enrolled in as a graduate or undergraduate student (at any institution) during the 2026 Spring semester.

4. Prose manuscripts should be 20,000-60,000 words.

5. Poetry manuscripts should be between 50-125 pages.

6. Submissions will close April 1st 2026.

*University of Alabama employees are ineligible for publication

Red Rook Press is currently accepting submissions of picture book manuscripts, both illustrated and unillustrated. If your manuscript includes illustrations, please indicate whether you would be open to working with a staff illustrator. Red Rook’s design team is excited to work with any writer whose manuscript comes our way unillustrated—we are not actively looking for illustrators at this time.

We are most excited to read picture books that tell original stories with unique characters. We are eager to read your fantasy, sci-fi, or coming-of-age story for readers between the ages of 5 and 8 who are beginning to explore getting lost in stories on their own, or who love having a long story read to them before bedtime.

We are committed to publishing a wide array of voices. We strongly encourage creators with underrepresented and unique perspectives to submit their manuscript for consideration.

At Red Rook, we work with writers and creators who are enrolled as undergraduate or graduate students anywhere in the world at the time of submission. Please let us know where you go to school when you submit your work!

 Red Rook Press requires all writers to disclose any AI usage at the time of submission.

 To be considered for publication, picture books must be a minimum of 32 pages in length and fall somewhere within the range of 800 and 3,500 words. 

Submissions are open until March 1st, 2026.

Send us a short story or creative nonfiction up to 4,000 words or up to 3 flash pieces (each of which should not exceed 1,000 words). Please choose a standard font and don’t do anything crazy with formatting unless it’s central to the experience of the piece. Novel excerpts are fine so long as they can stand on their own.
If you’re sending multiple pieces, submit all of your work in a single file, use clear page breaks between pieces, and clearly identify each title in the title area of Submittable (Title A/Title B/Title C).
Make sure to tell us if you're submitting fiction or creative nonfiction in the cover letter.
Please double space your submission and wait a month before resubmitting.

*We don't accept work from anyone with current University of Alabama affiliation