Open Reading Period from 11/1/2025 to 12/31/2025
★ RESULTS FORTHCOMING ★
The
Accents Publishing team is excited to announce a two-month open reading period! The goal of the reading period is to discover and select the core of our 2027 catalog.
We are looking for unpublished manuscripts of every genre imaginable. We are excited to read novels, short story collections, memoirs, nonfiction, young adult, children's books, craft books, lyrical essays, full-length poetry collections, as well as chapbooks, plus any genre in between. We will also consider translation projects, but please inquire first.
We are turning our focus towards growth. We want to expand the variety of titles Accents Publishing is offering, and we also aim to increase our geographical reach and readership appeal. Therefore, if you think that your manuscript is nothing like what we've published before, that's even more reason for sending us your work.
Timeline: We accept manuscripts in November and December and hope to announce our selections before the end of March 2026.
Fees: In lieu of a reading fee, to have a manuscript considered, we are requesting that you buy a recent Accents Publishing book directly from our
website.
Process: Buy a recent (publication years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025) Accents Publishing book directly from our
website. Forward the receipt to
accents.publishing@gmail.com and attach your manuscript in a pdf or word format and include your brief bio. You are welcome to submit more than one manuscript, though a separate book purchase is required for each.
James Baker Hall Book Award for Creative Nonfiction
Accents Publishing is pleased to continue the partnership with the
James Baker Hall Foundation for the prestigious yearly James Baker Hall Book Award. The 2026 edition of the award will honor an unpublished, book-length manuscript of Creative Nonfiction by a Kentucky author at any stage of their career. Creative Nonfiction may include memoir, personal essays, biography, travel writing, and other forms grounded in factual storytelling. We define Kentucky author as someone who lives in Kentucky, has lived in Kentucky, has strong ties to Kentucky or whose work features a prominent Kentucky theme. The author of the winning manuscript will receive a $3000 award and the manuscript will be published the following year by Accent Publishing, with the standard Accents Publishing contract.
The winner of the inaugural James Baker Hall Award was Wesley Houp for his poetry book,
Strung Out Along the Endless Branch, which was selected by
Greg Pape.
The 2025 award went to the short story collection
Honeysuckle Season by Willie Davis, selected by
Toni Ann Johnson.
Fees: None. There is no submission fee.
Eligibility: Writers 18 or older. Current students of the judge, as well as personal friends and family may not submit.
Manuscript preparation: The submitted manuscript must be anonymous. The author's name should not appear anywhere in the text.
Deadline: Manuscripts can be submitted between April 1
st and June 30
th. Winner and finalists will be announced in the Fall.
Award: $3000 plus publication with the standard Accents Publishing contract.
Submission: Only electronic submissions will be considered. Email your anonymous manuscript to
accents.publishing@gmail.com. Include a brief bio in the body of the email.
Judging: Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame inductee
Richard Taylor will be the final judge.
The James Baker Hall Foundation
The mission of the James Baker Hall Foundation is to preserve and protect our legacy of past great Kentucky writers by investing in future great Kentucky writers.
Following the James Baker Hall Book Award each year, our Kentucky On-The-Road program offers the winner and finalists ongoing opportunities to promote their work across the Commonwealth while helping to nurture the next generation of Kentucky writers. Need based grants are available to support travel and mentoring.
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Richard Taylor is the author of numerous collections of poetry, two historical novels, and several books relating to Kentucky history, including
Elkhorn: Evolution of a Kentucky Landmark. A former Kentucky poet laureate, he has received two creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as an Al Smith Award from the Kentucky Arts Council. He has received publication awards from the Kentucky Historical Society and the Thomas C. Clark Medallion for his Elkhorn book as well as receiving a Distinguished Professor Award at KSU. Recently retired after fourteen years from Transylvania University as Keenan Visiting Writer, he is co-owner of Poor Richard's Books and lives on a small farm outside Frankfort, Kentucky.
