She Writes Press Toward Equality in Publishing (STEP)

This is the submissions space for the She Writes Press Toward Equality in Publishing (STEP) program. Each year, we run our STEP contest to offer two authors publishing packages (plus a 500-book print run), one author per season, to publish on She Writes Press. The purpose of this contest is to support inclusivity across our publishing program, and to fortify our own mission to give voice to women writers.

Before moving forward, please make sure you qualify for this program.  

WHO CAN ENTER: One entry per person. Open to the U.S. & Canada (void where prohibited). Entries for the STEP program will be accepted from June 29, 2026 to September 10, 2026. Entrants must satisfy all the following requirements:

• Anyone over the age of eighteen
• Women only (Any writer identifying as female/woman, trans, non-binary, or genderqueer.)
• Women of color (by which we mean people whose heritage is African, Indigenous to the Americas, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, Arab, or people of mixed racial heritage with one or two parents who fit into the above groups).
• Agented or unagented work qualifies

If you meet the criteria, please fill out all the fields below, and submit via Word or PDF attachment both a chapter-by-chapter summary and either: 

• the first 50 pages of your manuscript

OR 

• a full nonfiction book proposal (that includes sample chapters)  

      Thank you and good luck!