At The Humble Essayist Press an author’s career is not a string of books, but a statement delivered over a lifetime. It is the author’s presence in the literary world and can take a variety of forms including teaching literature and writing, making significant contributions to the genre, helping other writers and aspiring writers, writing for a variety of venues including magazines and blogs, editing magazines, textbooks, and anthologies, and, naturally, writing books.

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Some of these books are suitable for commercial publishing, and others for a variety of reasons are not. Though crucial to an author's career, books in this latter category can fall through the cracks of the current literary marketplace, and that is where The Humble Essayist Press comes in, filling the gap. It publishes accomplished personal prose by experienced writers regardless of commercial concerns.

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The editors of the press, which was originally called Post-Script Press, decided in 2021 to affiliate with The Humble Essayist, a website devoted to personal nonfiction, and to change its name in order to reach more readers in the genre. The mission, though, has remained the same. 

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The Humble Essayist Press plans to publish two or three books each year. For now it does not accept submissions except by invitation. Each manuscript is carefully reviewed by the editors, and if it is accepted, the press provides scrupulous and detailed editing by an experienced writer and teacher as well as guidance on the production of the book. The press also provides space on this website for a rich trove of supplemental information on each book and a handbook of extensive suggestions for promoting and marketing which the writer is free to use.

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The Press is indebted to Ovenbird Books, the creation of Judith Kitchen and Stan Rubin who initiated the idea of a press as a platform for publishing “books deemed ‘too literary’ by the publishing world.” What sets The Humble Essayist Press apart, though, is that it is solely for writers with an established publishing record and a career of supporting personal nonfiction. Its main asset is the cumulative reputations of its authors which will increase as the press grows.

 

The Humble Essayist Press is not a traditional publisher. Rather it is a writers’ collaborative platform: writers acquire, edit, publicize, and promote each book. It does not make a profit or depend on sales. It charges no fees, and the copyright and all royalties go to the authors.