Editor Interview: Blair

Underrepresented voices

We are a small nonprofit publisher that publishes literary fiction (novels and collections) and diverse nonfiction (including some nonfiction for the gift and travel markets and some focused on the U.S. Southeast), with an emphasis on publishing traditionally underrepresented voice--for us that includes women, writers of color, LGBTQ+ authors, writers with disabilities, and writers from the U.S. South.

The very best advice I can give to people who would like to submit to Blair--or to any press, for that matter--is to read some of the books we have recently published. I'm always amazed when I make this suggestion and people who say they are writers tell me they "don't have time to read." If you don't have the time or inclination to read our books, then you will never really know whether or not we are a good fit for your work.

Shockingly, the thing contest submitters get wrong most often is to leave their names in the body of their manuscript when the submissions guidelines clearly state that we read our submissions without identifying information and their submission will be disqualified if their name appears in the manuscript. Following submissions guidelines is very important!

For our contests, we don't read cover letters at all during the first rounds of reading. However, once we narrow it down to potential finalists, the cover letter becomes more important, and a more experienced or more often published author may have a bit of an advantage if it comes down to a choice between two writers for one remaining finalist slot. That's because it is sometimes easier to work with a more experienced author, and that author may already have an established audience or platform.

My typical day involves reading and responding to emails, reading contest submissions and submissions from literary agents, phone and in-person meetings and consultations with others at the press, and occasionally in-person meetings and events with outside consultants, press board members, and authors. In a perfect world, I would spend all of my workday reading, but this is rarely the case and I find myself spending some nights and weekends trying to squeeze in all of the reading.

We edit extensively, providing substantive editing, line editing, copy editing, and professional proofreading for every book before we publish it. Our authors review edits at all levels of editing and production.

Yes, we frequently nominate our books for regional and national book awards.