Our Story

SFWP is an independent press founded in 1998 by Andrew Gifford. We publish exciting fiction and creative nonfiction of every genre, maintain an online literary journal, and run an annual internationally-recognized Awards Program. All of our titles are distributed globally by the Independent Publishers Group. We aggressively pursue subrights, working closely with the Susan Schulman Literary Agency, and have sold audio, translation, and film/TV/streaming rights. Please direct all rights inquiries to Andrew Gifford. Our books are available worldwide, in every format, everywhere books are sold. We have extensive, long-term relationships with trade publications, sales reps, subrights agents, and bookbuyers worldwide.

Submissions are currently closed.

Our history, and our mission, goes far beyond publishing. We stand by our authors and we stand by our books, embracing new trends and ideas beyond those of the current publishing industry and seek to champion diverse voices. Since 2000, we have hosted an internationally recognized Literary Awards Program. Since 2002, we have maintained an online Literary Journal which provides a home for published and unpublished authors, featuring fiction, creative nonfiction, book reviews, and experimental work. We publish our winning authors, and 95% of our previous Awards Program winners have gone on to publication. Our titles have been translated into Chinese, French, Spanish, and Turkish.

Why Santa Fe?

While our founder has family ties to New Mexico and we maintain a small presence there, we are a global publisher with authors from all over the US, the UK, and Europe, and a distribution system that guarantees our titles are available wherever books are sold anywhere in the world. We are not a regional press and we do not embrace a regional focus. The New Mexico landscape has been inspirational for our founder and for much of his family for many decades, so the name reflects that appreciation. For more details, please see the radio and print interviews with our founder listed below.

Listen to an interview with founder Andrew Gifford on Real Fiction Radio: Part One and Part Two.

Read IPG’s Publisher Spotlight about SFWP and our mission.

Read a profile about our founder in the Washingtonian.

Read a profile about Andrew from the Washington Post Magazine

SFWP continues to explore ways to champion books, writing, and writers. With over 50 successful titles, we’ve unflinchingly adapted to the changing world of publishing and we challenge the norms by embracing short stories, novellas, translations, reprints, and the avant-garde. We maintain an exciting imprint – Alan Squire Publishing, specializing in boutique books and poetry.