Small press and university press publishing for nonfiction

What counts as a small press

There is no official size cutoff. In practice, a small press is a traditional publisher outside the large corporate houses: it takes on the cost of publishing and pays the author, rather than the other way round. Jane Friedman, who reports on the publishing business, calls small publishers the most vexing column of her publishing paths chart because they have so little in common. The category, she writes, includes some of the most prestigious publishers there are, with New York Times bestsellers, and also presses "that started up last year out of someone's home office" (Friedman, updated August 9, 2026).

For nonfiction, small presses are often specialists. A press that publishes only psychology self-help, only business books or only books about one region can reach its readers more reliably than a large house that publishes everything. Friedman notes this as a real strength: a well-branded press focused on one kind of reader can market each new book through channels it already has.

University presses

University presses are scholarly publishers, most of them part of a university; the membership of their trade body also includes learned societies such as the American Historical Association. The Association of University Presses lists 170 member presses on its site (AUPresses, counted October 21, 2026). They differ from trade small presses in three ways:

• Peer review. Outside experts read the proposal or manuscript before a contract. The University of Texas Press says an interested editor may start peer review on the prospectus, annotated table of contents and two sample chapters (UT Press).
• No agent needed. The University of Chicago Press says authors do not need an introduction and it is happy to hear from them directly (Chicago).
• Different money. Friedman's paths chart says university presses pay minimal advances and sell mainly to libraries and universities.

Many university presses also publish for general readers. UT Press, for example, describes a separate contract and review process for trade projects. A university press can suit an expert writing a serious book for a field, or a book about the press's region, where the imprint's credibility matters more than the advance.

What they pay

No public survey reports typical small press advances, so be wary of anyone quoting a precise average. What published sources do say:

Net versus list matters a great deal. The Authors Guild says net-based royalties pay roughly 40 to 50 percent less than list-based ones at the same percentage. A 15 percent royalty on net is not the same deal as 15 percent of the cover price; advances and royalties explained works through the arithmetic.

What an author should not pay: Friedman says that in traditional publishing the only costs an author should normally carry are indexing, permissions, and possibly editorial changes made after the publisher's deadline.

Finding presses that accept submissions

1. Mine your comparable titles. The publishers of recent books like yours, outside the Big Five, are your first list. They already sell to your readers.
2. Use the directories. The AUPresses member list covers university presses. Poets & Writers keeps a free Small Presses database with guidelines and a page of presses currently open for submissions; it is strongest for literary and creative nonfiction.
3. Confirm on the press's own site. Look for a submissions or prospective authors page, check whether it is open, and note what it wants. New Harbinger, for example, asks for two sample chapters and says evaluation typically takes two to three months (New Harbinger).
4. Check the recent list. A press that published your kind of book a decade ago may not now.

Your proposal is what gets you through the door; see how to write a nonfiction book proposal. For the wider no-agent route, read how to get published without an agent.

How to vet a small press

Friedman judges a press by four jobs a traditional publisher does: produce the best possible book, sell it into accounts such as bookstores and libraries, market it to the trade, and market it to readers. Turned into questions:

Two warnings from Friedman stand out. First, "distribution through Ingram" is not special: any author can get the same print-on-demand availability from Ingram and Amazon at little or no cost. What is hard is getting someone to actually sell the book to stores. Second, a press that publishes dozens or hundreds of titles a year with a very small staff is probably not investing much in each one.

Then check stability. Friedman warns that even long-running small presses can collapse or be sold without warning, and Writer Beware keeps a running archive of publisher complaints, from late royalties to bankruptcies. Search the press's name with the word "scam," as Friedman suggests, and ask one or two of its recent authors how it went.

Contract terms to push on

• Term. Friedman suggests a fixed term, three years or less preferred, from presses that offer little value, and avoiding a life-of-copyright contract when there is no advance. If you do sign for life of copyright, negotiate a way out when sales fall below a set level.
• Subsidiary rights. The less a press offers, the fewer rights it should hold. Friedman suggests keeping audio and film rights, especially if the press has no record of selling them.
• Option and non-compete. Avoid giving a small press first option on your next book or a broad non-compete, she says. For an expert who plans more books, these matter.
• Negotiability. A press that will not change any term may be protecting its administration, not you. Friedman calls a flat refusal to negotiate "not a good sign."

The rights and contract terms guide covers reversion, royalty statements and the other clauses to read twice. Friedman recommends a publishing lawyer, or the Authors Guild's contract review if you are a member.

Small press vs hybrid vs vanity press

The labels blur because some paid publishers call themselves small presses. The test is the direction of money. The hybrid and vanity columns follow Writer Beware's definitions, summarized in our hybrid publisher guide.

Friedman puts it plainly: if a small press makes you pay upfront for editing, design or production, or makes you pay for copies of your book, "they're not a traditional publisher, but a hybrid publisher or a publishing service." Some presses run both models and offer a paid deal to authors they reject. A paid path can still be legitimate; judge it with what a hybrid publisher is and how to vet one, and know the vanity press warning signs.

When a small press is the right choice

A small or university press is often a better fit than a large house or self-publishing when:

• Your book serves a defined field or region, and a press already reaches it.
• Your platform is real but modest. Friedman notes that a big house may want to sell as many as 20,000 copies in the first year, while a smaller press may be fine with a few thousand.
• You want a publisher's editing, imprint and credibility without paying for them, and can accept a small advance.
• Your timeline is flexible. Peer review and seasonal lists take time.

It is usually the wrong fit when you need a fixed publication date, want full control of the cover and price, or plan to use the book mainly to win clients and would rather keep every rights decision yourself. For those goals, compare self-publishing and paid paths on the comparison page.