Signum University Press is currently OPEN to the following independent submissions:

  • Individual, previously-unpublished academic articles or chapters on topics relating to language and literature, in particular those focused on Afrofuturism, ecocriticism, fandoms, the Inklings, Germanic philology, medieval literature, and popular culture.
  • Scholarly monographs on the above topics, as well as translations and editions of literary works.
  • Individual, previously-unpublished short stories, especially fantasy, science fiction, mythopoeia, fairy tales, secondary worlds, dystopia, Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism, dark academia, superhero tales, and adaptations of classic myths.

All submissions should be emailed to [email protected] following the guidelines below. We prefer Word (.docx) or PDF files. Inquiries are welcome; contact [email protected].

Current OPEN and forthcoming Call for Papers:

Academic Projects
Popular Scholarship
Literary Projects

Academic Projects (Signum University Press)

While we are open to a wide variety of submissions of varying lengths, styles, and structures, our first consideration is always the quality of the composition. The writing must be technically flawless, the scholarship rigorous, the analysis thorough, the ideas brave and boldly followed to their conclusions. Works in this category will undergo peer review.

Developmental editing may be possible for promising proposals; however, emerging scholars are encouraged to take advantage of Signum University’s Writer’s Forge service or other similar programs of their choice.

While we are interested in smart, engaging, insightful works of scholarship in any area of literature, language, and linguistics, we are particularly keen to publish studies of:

  • Tolkien and the Inklings
  • Speculative fiction broadly (including fantasy, science fiction, mythology, folklore, fairy tales, and adaptations)
  • Historical, modern, and invented languages
  • Linguistics and philology
  • Digital humanities
  • Popular culture and fandoms. 

We will also consider proposals for editions, translations, and annotations of literary texts.

Some of our upcoming projects include an essay collection on recent Arthuriana and a study of early American and British science fiction television.

To Submit an Academic Project

SPU follows MLA formatting; however, your submission may be in any accepted academic style, with the understand that accepted works will be revised to MLA standards. Your submission must include the following:

  1. A casual message (instead of a cover letter) introducing yourself and pointing out the primary contribution made by your piece.
  2. For an article, an abstract of no more than 250 words; for a book, a précis of about 1,000 words.
  3. For an article, the complete work; for a book, an outline and two sample chapters. 

We are interested in smart, engaging, accessible works that invite readers to explore any literary topic; we are particularly keen to publish books that welcome new readers to aspects of Tolkien, the Inklings, fantasy, science fiction, mythology, folklore, fairy tales, languages, popular culture,  fandoms, and work by authors from minority cultures.

Some of our upcoming popular scholarship projects include a primer on The Silmarillion, Corey Olsen’s Exploring The Lord of the Rings, an apologia for the liberal arts, and A Brief Guide to Tolkien’s Second Age.

While works under this category will not undergo peer review, they will be vetted and fact-checked by an editorial team, then will have an opportunity for beta-reading by a committed community of enthusiastic subscribers.

To Submit a Popular Scholarship Project

Your submission must include the following:

  1. A casual message (instead of a cover letter) introducing yourself and pointing out the primary contribution made by your piece.
  2. A summary of the book in about 1,000 words.
  3. An outline and at least two sample chapters of the book. 

Literary Projects (Quickbeam Books Imprint)

We accept literary works, such as poetry, short stories, novels, and creative nonfiction. Our readers particularly enjoy fantasy, science fiction, mythopoeia, fairy tales, secondary worlds, dystopia, Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism, dark academia, superheroes, mythic narratives, archaism, formalism, and epic poetry. We have recently accepted a fantasy novel about a dryad and a collection of short stories and essays by Dr. Verlyn Flieger.

We are not accepting submissions of romance, erotica, horror, or fanfic.

To Submit a Literary Project

Your submission must include the following:

  1. A casual message introducing yourself and your submission.
  2. A summary, overview, or explanation of the submission in about 500 words. This should address its genre; contents and structure (is it one long work, a collection of short, unrelated works, etc.); and any publishing considerations of note such as unusual formatting, illustrations, or permissions required.
  3. The completed manuscript. 

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