Unsolicited Press

Publisher info

Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp.

Smashwords Interview

What do your readers mean to you?
Our readers are the bread and butter of our press. We offer a variety of different style of literature that stick to our gut notion to provide stellar literature to readers who are tired of reading commercial garbage.
What are you working on next?
We currently have six books coming out in the next year.
Read more of this interview.

Where to find Unsolicited Press online

Where to buy in print

Dream Pop Origami: A Permutational Memoir About Hapa Identity
Price: $6.99 USD. Words: 81,920. Language: English. Published: July 26, 2022 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Biography » Personal memoir, Nonfiction » Social Science » Ethnic Studies / Asian American Studies
"Dream Pop Origami" is a beautiful, ambitious, interactive, and engrossing lyrical memoir about mixed-race identity, love, travel, AAPI masculinities, and personal metamorphosis. This experimental work of creative nonfiction examines, celebrates, and complicates what it means to be Asian & white, Nisei & hapa, Midwestern & Californian, Buddhist & American at the same time.
What Have I Done?
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 22,600. Language: English. Published: March 8, 2022 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Biography » Personal memoir, Poetry » Female authors
Carrie Close’s "What Have I Done?" sings a feminist tune using sharply written prose and verse. Close writes of motherhood, sexuality, friendship & relationships with a messy honesty that’s hard to deny.
Lucky Ride
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 87,740. Language: English. Published: December 31, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Set in the Vietnam War era, LUCKY RIDE tells the story of a recent veteran, an unraveling marriage, and a hitchhiking trip steeped in hippie optimism, post-war skepticism, and drug-induced fantasy.
Pacific
Price: $6.99 USD. Words: 35,810. Language: English. Published: November 23, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Inspirational
PACIFIC by Trevor J. Houser discovers what a desperate father is willing to do to save his son’s life...even if it means braving deadly storms at home and on the run.
Stumbling Toward Grace
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 77,590. Language: English. Published: November 9, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Women's fiction » General, Fiction » Literature » Literary
In STUMBLING TOWARD GRACE, Rosalia Scalia explores how people who love each other struggle to reconnect their fractured relationships in the face of traumas, personal flaws, and unspoken hurts. Many of her stories explore loss and grief with humor and grace as characters navigate their unwise decisions, unexpected deaths, or their resentments polished into gems.
Salad Days
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 57,920. Language: English. Published: October 26, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Urban, Fiction » Women's fiction » General
"Salad Day" vacillates between youth-driven cultures of mid-nineties era Jersey and early aughts Portland. As the dual story unfolds, we witness the twenty-something protagonist, Ana, as she takes a crack at being an adult, navigating friendships and searching for intimate relationships, maintaining jobs and managing money. All the while, she does her best to repair a broken moral compass without
Who’s Going to Love the Dying Girl?
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 5,130. Language: English. Published: September 30, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General, Poetry » Themes & motifs » General
"Who’s Going to Love the Dying Girl?" tells the story of a woman diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis who is trying to navigate life and love in a body that is failing. These poems capture the collision of a reckless past and a foreshortened future with unwavering honesty. They confront the title question thrown at her one terrible night.
Light in Rosadero
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 67,390. Language: English. Published: September 21, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Western, Fiction » Adventure » General
An anti-Western about the American origins of global violence, "Light in Rosadero" is a reckoning with the dark legacy of the frontier.
Joker
Price: $6.99 USD. Words: 48,730. Language: English. Published: May 4, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Drifting in New York City, Lincoln searches for something, anything. His military service has left him nihilistic. Human connection only comes from a prostitute in Brooklyn, Edie. Aware he’s a cliche, he falls for her. It’s June, 2014, and ISIS cloaks Iraq in black. “It was all for nothing.”
A Winter Night
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 66,130. Language: English. Published: April 13, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Women's fiction » General, Fiction » Literature » Literary
Part psychological study and part romantic comedy, A Winter Night reintroduces the fictional Dugan family of upstate New York. Eldest daughter Angie may have found the man of her dreams, but has trouble believing a word he says. Told bluntly yet with tenderness and humor, A Winter Night brings Angie face-to-face with herself, her fears, and her ability to truly love.
Eagle Claw and Other Stories
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 103,370. Language: English. Published: April 6, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Biographical
"Eagle Claw and Other Stories" is a work of great variety. The title story is fiction about the aborted mission of the U.S. Army’s Special Forces to free the hostages held in Tehran under the Carter administration.
The Wind Under the Door
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 49,040. Language: English. Published: March 23, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
At forty, Ford Carson has forged a new life as a visual artist in the mountains of North Carolina. A chance meeting with Grace Burnett leads to a burgeoning love affair. But the romance is complicated by Grace’s estranged husband and the unexpected arrival of Ford’s own estranged son.
While the Kettle Boils
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 22,920. Language: English. Published: March 9, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Women's fiction » General, Fiction » Literature » Literary
WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS is a economical and diving collection 150 micro-fictions by S.B. Borgersen.
The Distance of Mercy
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 21,190. Language: English. Published: February 9, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Coming of age, Fiction » Historical » USA
When an Austrian university student raised in postwar Vienna betrays her father by moving to Chicago in 1967 to study the violin, she develops an unconventional friendship with an African-American woman that helps both women recover some of what war stole from them.
MeaningFULL: 23 Life-Changing Stories of Conquering Dieting, Weight, & Body Image Issues
Price: $6.99 USD. Words: 58,040. Language: English. Published: January 26, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Health, wellbeing, & medicine » Eating disorders, Nonfiction » Self-improvement » Eating Disorders
MeaningFULL: 23 Life-Changing Stories of Conquering Dieting, Weight, & Body Image Issues is a blend of motivational self-help, memoir, psychology, and health and wellness. Alli Spotts-De Lazzer is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, an expert in eating and body image issues, and a woman on the other side of her own decades-long struggle with food and body.
Biography of a Body
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 44,020. Language: English. Published: January 19, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Biography » Woman biographies, Nonfiction » Biography » Autobiographies & Memoirs
BIOGRAPHY OF A BODY is a lyrical meander through what it means to be a messy, flawed, imperfect human. In personal essays and snippets of verse, it probes the influence of religion on a person’s psyche, how the legacy of traditional femininity work their way under the skin, and the many pitfalls of living in a female body. Readers will find themselves here too, in a text that’s at once intimately
Swallowing the Stem of Adam’s Apple
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 5,960. Language: English. Published: January 12, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » Female authors, Poetry » American poetry » General
A journey in poems that explores the evolution of a woman traumatized as a child by an abusive, drug-addicted mother and absentee father as she advances into adulthood. The book hits upon many themes including love, lust, loss, religion, illness and death. Though the book never shies away from the dark and morbid facets of existence, it also offers glimpses of redemption and joy.
Fishermen’s Fingers
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 13,980. Language: English. Published: January 1, 2021 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Coming of age
"Fishermen’s Fingers" peeks into the underbelly of a remote coastal community, revealing how poverty, an unwanted pregnancy, and a bad start in life can lead to a precarious adulthood for those who are diļ¬€erent, like Lenny.
The Tin Can House and Other Stories
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 25,140. Language: English. Published: December 15, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Women's fiction » General
"The Tin Can House and Other Stories" is a remarkable short story collection by renowned Virginia author Susan Pepper Robbins.
To the River, We Are Migrants
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 8,420. Language: English. Published: December 8, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » Latin American Poetry, Poetry » American poetry » Hispanic American
"To the River, We Are Migrants" is Ayendy Bonifacio’s debut collection. In this nostalgic volume, the image of the river carries us to and away from home. The river is a timeline that harkens back to Bonifacio’s childhood in the Dominican Republic and ends with the sudden passing of his father.
From the Land of Genesis
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 79,500. Language: English. Published: November 17, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Adventure » War & military adventure
FROM THE LAND OF GENESIS is a profound collection of short stories centered on veterans whose lives have been permanently affected by the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq.
What Nell Dreams
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 42,930. Language: English. Published: November 16, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Women's fiction » General
ā€‹In sixteen short stories and a novella, award-winning author Anne Leigh Parrish explores the magic of life, love, and the soft boundary between fact and fantasy. WHAT NELL DREAMS won the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards Bronze Medal.
Feral Boy Meets Girl
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 60,770. Language: English. Published: October 27, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literary collections » American / General, Fiction » Literature » Literary
Adventurous, magical, and often dark, the stories that comprise "Feral Boy Meets Girl" by William Jablonsky are about outsiders in their own communities, homes, and even intimate relationships.
Even the Milky Way is Undocumented
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 9,150. Language: English. Published: September 22, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General
Amy Shimshon-Santo's EVEN THE MILKY WAY IS UNDOCUMENTED is a testament to the lost, the loved, the courageous. Each poem is the past and the future. Each page turns for those built by families that span political borders -- families that see borders as nothing more than lines drawn by an invisible hand that's long forgotten that we belong to the earth and not the other way around.
The Omnipotent Sorceror
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 20,580. Language: English. Published: September 15, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General
The Omnipotent Sorcerer by Roger Aplon is a poetry collection to be reckoned with -- touching on themes such as relationships, grief, politics, and other provoking topics.
22 Lunes
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 450. Language: English. Published: August 11, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General, Poetry » LGBTQ+
22 LUNES is a serene chapbook comprised of lunes by poet Caleb Nichols.
The Last Tiger Is Somewhere
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 7,670. Language: English. Published: August 7, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General, Poetry » Themes & motifs » General
In "The Last Tiger Is Somewhere," two poets from the West bring their work together and take apart the news.
And Yes She Was
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 57,480. Language: English. Published: August 6, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Women's fiction » Feminist, Fiction » Literature » Literary
The diary of Annette, a young wife, "And Yes She Was" is a funny, painful, and insightful account of a marriage disintegrating before our eyes.
Dash!
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 50,350. Language: English. Published: August 4, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » African American fiction » General
(5.00 from 2 reviews)
DASH! by Irshad Abdal-Haqq tells the countless stories of the oppression of black Americans.
Cairn
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 14,870. Language: English. Published: July 22, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General, Essay » Literature
CAIRN speaks from these two hemispheres of the human experience in a way that aids those who start out with discomfort around poetry. It quickly demonstrates that poetry need not be a strange or inaccessible medium after all. ā€‹ā€‹Intertwined with the poems are essays that echo back to the poems in images of nature, human nature, and the sacred.ā€‹ā€‹
Letters to Minnehaha Creek
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 6,340. Language: English. Published: June 30, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » Themes & motifs » Death, Poetry » American poetry » General
Letters to Minnehaha Creek illustrates a vivid path towards healing and rebirth. The poetry collection wrestles with death and grief as the speaker learns to deal with the passing of her friend.
The Poet's Garage
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 7,630. Language: English. Published: May 12, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General, Poetry » Themes & motifs » General
The Poet’s Garage by Terry Tierney is a provocative poetry collection enriched by deep images that refuse to remain static.
Peripheral Visions and Other Stories
Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 58,370. Language: English. Published: May 5, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Women's fiction » General
In "Peripheral Visions and Other Stories," the characters choose to play the best game they can with the cards they’ve received.
My Childrens
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 11,260. Language: English. Published: May 4, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » Hispanic American
"My Childrens" is a chapbook written by Adela Najarro. The chapbook features poems that are accompanied by educational resources to help students think about poetry in a different way. The chapbook is in collaboration with the Puente Project.
Blood Fire Vapor Smoke
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 50,740. Language: English. Published: May 1, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
A cycle akin to the seasons of a life, Blood Fire Vapor Smoke asks questions of the ancient struggle between life and death amidst landscapes new and old. Does ultimate forgiveness answer to ultimate violence in the world?
The Vigilance of Stars
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 96,280. Language: English. Published: April 30, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Four stories twine together in this novel set in both contemporary and 1950’s Maine. Kiya, a Portland hair stylist in her early 20's, becomes unexpectedly pregnant and determined to keep the baby as she struggles to recover from her brother's suicide.
To Drown a Man
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 4,140. Language: English. Published: April 26, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General, Poetry » Themes & motifs » General
At once delicate and visceral, the poems in TO DROWN A MAN read like dispatches from the front lines of a soul at war with itself.
The Things You Left
Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 33,010. Language: English. Published: April 7, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Cultural & ethnic themes » Cultural interest, general
THE THINGS YOU LEFT is a thirty-seven story collection built on magical realism and seemingly inconsequential moments between sweet and strange loners that meet in the space between the heart and the mind.
Dictionaries Out of Order
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 65,160. Language: English. Published: April 7, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
"Dictionaries Out of Order" defies simple description. Its stories, which intersect at Portland’s “City of Books,” range from the silly to the sublime, veering expertly from philosophy to farce.
Are You Ready to Love Yourself a Black Man?
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 3,050. Language: English. Published: March 23, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General, Poetry » American poetry » African American
Built with lyric in mind, the underbelly of each poem is rhythm. This beat tells the story of the Black Man, and his relationship with the world. Completely relevant and in desperate need of reflection by a society that still hasn’t fully experienced the love of a man of color, "Are you Ready to Love yourself a Black Man?" is meant to be read by all regardless of color, race, religion, or gender.
The Way We Get By
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 115,680. Language: English. Published: March 5, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
THE WAY WE GET BY is a novel of triumph over despair. A story of coming home to heal among those we know best.
Singing Back to the Sirens
Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 9,780. Language: English. Published: March 3, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General, Poetry » Female authors
"Singing Back to the Sirens" explores the many ways that desire and love, loss and grief, can shape a woman’s life.
Stages of Blue
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 28,960. Language: English. Published: February 29, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Biography » Personal memoir, Poetry » Female authors
Stages of Blue is a nonfiction collection that deals with the harrowing effects of mental illness.
Better to Have Lost
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 2,430. Language: English. Published: February 21, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General
Bekah Stogner's "better to have lost" is a dramatic yet human experience that deals with loss.
The Conditions We Live
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 15,520. Language: English. Published: February 4, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General
The Conditions We Live follows a loose narrative of growing up in modern society where we are constantly torn between our better and baser natures, how to live in an increasingly fractured world, and how to find solace in the moments. When the big picture looks bleak, the moment holds a transcendent beauty nonetheless.
The Definitive Whole Body Transformation Guide: A 8-Week Guide to Shred Body Fat without Cardio
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 13,260. Language: English. Published: February 4, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Nonfiction » Health, wellbeing, & medicine » Dieting, Nonfiction » Health, wellbeing, & medicine » Exercise
Are you looking for a lifestyle change that promotes wholesome eating and an active lifestyle? Hate cardio? "The Definitive Whole Body Transformation Guide: A 8-Week Guide to Shred Body Fat without Cardio" is going to change your life -- if you have the guts.
Heckler
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 71,050. Language: English. Published: January 21, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Three men seeking forgiveness pass through The Shelby Hotel as part of their painful journey. While the family that runs it must contend with ghosts who won’t leave.
Who Killed Buster Sparkle?
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 77,780. Language: English. Published: January 11, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Mystery & detective » General
(3.00 from 1 review)
A drag queen. A Mississippi ghost. Two lives from two worlds. "Who Killed Buster Sparkle?" moves beyond the contemporary conversation on gender fluidity and into the liminal space that makes us human.
Anatomy Museum
Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 2,190. Language: English. Published: January 7, 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General
Through the story of a young woman’s transition into adulthood, the poetry of Anatomy Museum, puts on display the hidden secrets of our past that both plague and define us. Erin Cisney’s debut chapbook reflects on the innocence of youth and the pain of losing it with simple, unflinching honesty and quiet introspection.
and for too long after
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 11,950. Language: English. Published: December 31, 2019 by Unsolicited Press. Categories: Poetry » American poetry » General, Poetry » Female authors
Marrying poetry and memoir, and for too long after tells the story of a woman making peace with her past. The narrative begins with two sisters in a diner, the eldest discovering her first gray hair. The gray hair spurs a series of poems and stories by the narrator, a woman who never expected to see her adult years due to a lifelong battle with mental illness.
View more books by this publisher...

Unsolicited Press' tag cloud

2020    2020 poetry    22 lunes    a winter night    alli spottsde lazzer    american    american fiction    american novel    american poetry    american writer    amy shimshonsanto    anatomy museum    and for too long after    and yes she was    anne leigh parrish    antiwestern    aplon book    are you ready to love yourself a black man    asian essay    ayendy bonifacio    bay area author    bekah stogner    better to have lost    billy blanks    biography    biography of a body    black writer    blood fire vapor smoke    body acceptance    body positivity    border    borgersen    bree rolfe    cairn    caleb nichols    california poetry    cameron r miller    cardio    carrie close    children    chris bremicker    chris drabick    contemporary    cystic fibrosis    dash    david coyle    david michael slater    death    depression    dictionaries out of order    diet    dieting    disease    dominican republic    dream pop origami    dystopian    ea johnson    eagle claw    ellie white    emotional    erin cisney    essay    essay book    essays    even the milky way is undocumented    family    family fiction    family novel    fat loss    feminism    feminist    feminist books    feminist poetry    feral boy meets girl    fiction    fiction book    fiction ebooks    fiction love    fiction novel    fishermens fingers    fitness    flash fiction    food disorders    frances badalamenti    friendship    from the land of genesis    ghost    gothic    grief    hapa    heckler    hispanic poetry    immigrant    immigration    injustice    intuitive eating    irshad abdalhaqq    jackson bliss    jason graff    jay kristensen jr    jewish    john w bateman    kayla jeswald    kris godspeed amos    laura kiesel    lbgtq    letters to minnehaha creek    light in rosadero    literary    literary fiction    literature    lizz schumer    loss    love    lucky ride    lunes    lyrical    margaret deritter    meaningfull    memoir    mental illness    micro fiction    military    miller    modern novel    multicultural    my childrens    nancy christie    nanowrimo    nature    new poetry    nonfiction    novel    novella    nutrition    occult    omnipotent sorceror    oppression    pacific    patricia odonnell    peripheral visions and other stories    personal essays    poems    poems by women    poems love    poems of life    poems poetry    poet ebook    poetry    poetry book    poetry books    poetry general    poetry life    poetry on life    political    portland    portland author    powells    queer    race    racial change    racism    raki kopernik    refugees    relationships    rob carney    roger aplon    romantic comedy    rosalia scalia    rural story    salad days    sb borgersen    science fiction    scott poole    sea story    sexuality    shann ray    shelly drancik    short fiction    short stories    short story    short story collection    singing back to the sirens    slater fiction    small press fiction    spirituality    stages of blue    stephen j oshea    stumbling toward grace    survival    susan pepper robbins    swallowing the stem of adams apple    terry tierney    the conditions we live    the distance of mercy    the last tiger is somewhere    the poets garage    the things you left    the vigilance of stars    the way we get by    the wind under the door    thomas calder    tin can and other stories    to drown a man    to the river we are migrants    trans    transformation    trevor j houser    tsipi keller    tyler james russell    unsolicited press    urban life    vegan    veteran    veterans    victoria lin    vietnam era    vietnam war    war    weight loss    western    what have i done    what nell dreams    while the kettle boils    who killed buster sparkle    whos going to love the dying girl    william jablonksy    women    women author    women authors    women poetry    women writers    womens fiction    womens lit    womens novel    womens poetry    workout    zumba   

Unsolicited Press' favorite authors on Smashwords

Christopher G. Bremicker
Latest book: Dual Diagnosed.
Published May 3, 2018.
Ohan Hominis
Latest book: Scattered Allegories.
Published December 28, 2016.
Sean Murphy
Latest book: This Kind of Man.
Pre-release—available May 7, 2024.