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Featured Publications

Sounding Our Depths: The Music of Morgan Powell - Including a CD that spans his career, Starr's book reveals and interprets both Powell's aesthetic and ethical roots, and his unprecedented artistic methods.
$25.00
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Sounding Our Depths: The Music of Morgan Powell
by Ann Starr
Free Ferry - Free Ferry reveals the intrigue and secrecy around the first isolation of plutonium and its impact on an iconic “nuclear” family decades later.
$15.00
View

Free Ferry
by Ann Cefola
Concerning Poetry: Poems about Poetry - These lyric poems concern poetry as a medium that transforms the daily world.
$13.50
View

Concerning Poetry: Poems about Poetry
By Jonathan Bracker
She Can Find Her Way: Women Travelers at Their Best - Women from several generations tell true stories of their most memorable and challenging travel experiences. Read how they overcame adversity while traveling alone.
$25.00
View

She Can Find Her Way: Women Travelers at Their Best
One Hundred Years of Marriage (2nd Ed.) - In a series of interlocked stories, the author pierces the myths through four generations of one American family's mismatched marriages. Dark? Yes, but full of humor too.
$18.00
View

One Hundred Years of Marriage (2nd Ed.)
by Louise Farmer Smith
Morgan Powell On and Off the Score - This 70-minute CD features new solo works and a new release of Waterclown with the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra.
$15.00
View

Morgan Powell On and Off the Score
Audio CD
Saving Phoebe Murrow - Saving Phoebe Murrow, set amidst the complicated web of adolescent relationships, tells a story of miscommunication and malice, drugs and Facebook, prejudice and revenge.
$17.00
View

Saving Phoebe Murrow
by Herta B. Feely
My Virtuous Sister - The novella debuts MIA 20-year-old Welsh émigrée Peddie Smout, famous as a rock star at the end of the last millennium.
$15.00
View

My Virtuous Sister
By Nick Fowler
Cadillac, Oklahoma - Upper Hand Press is proud to publish Cadillac, Oklahoma by Louise Farmer Smith, author of award-winning One Hundred Years of Marriage.
$17.00
View

Cadillac, Oklahoma
by Louise Farmer Smith
Clyde Doesn't Go Outside - A large format, fully-illustrated collection of enchanted pictures and alluring limericks for children and cat lovers.
$18.00
View

Clyde Doesn't Go Outside
by Zachary Snyder
The Woman Without a Voice - The story of pioneer women who against their better judgment packed their children and other treasures onto wagons headed into the wilderness.
$10.00
View

The Woman Without a Voice
by Louise Farmer Smith
Shady Women: Three Short Plays - Three plays following women--and men--in the worst kind of trouble. All they can do is speak.
$15.00
View

Shady Women: Three Short Plays
By Elizabeth Primamore
The Crime of Being - The Crime of Being explores the effects of a racial incident—how it divides a seemingly homogenous community over the course of a summer and exposes its dark secrets.
$18.00
View

The Crime of Being
By Alice Lichtenstein
Rickie Trujillo - Rickie Trujillo details the events of one white-hot weekend in the life of a drifting Mexican-American teen.
$16.00
View

Rickie Trujillo
by Nicholas Bradley
Upper Hand Press Gallery
30 photos

Publications

All publications

$17.00
Details
Cadillac, Oklahoma
by Louise Farmer Smith
Released November 2016
Upper Hand Press is proud to publish Cadillac, Oklahoma by Louise Farmer Smith, author of award-winning One Hundred Years of Marriage.
$18.00
Details
Clyde Doesn't Go Outside
by Zachary Snyder
Released March 2016
A large format, fully-illustrated collection of enchanted pictures and alluring limericks for children and cat lovers.
$13.50
Details
Concerning Poetry: Poems about Poetry
By Jonathan Bracker
Released January 2018
These lyric poems concern poetry as a medium that transforms the daily world.
$15.00
Details
Free Ferry
by Ann Cefola
Released April 2017
Free Ferry reveals the intrigue and secrecy around the first isolation of plutonium and its impact on an iconic “nuclear” family decades later.
$15.00
Details
Morgan Powell On and Off the Score
Audio CD
Released January 2015
This 70-minute CD features new solo works and a new release of Waterclown with the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra.
$15.00
Details
My Virtuous Sister
By Nick Fowler
Released August 2019
The novella debuts MIA 20-year-old Welsh émigrée Peddie Smout, famous as a rock star at the end of the last millennium.
$18.00
Details
One Hundred Years of Marriage (2nd Ed.)
by Louise Farmer Smith
Released August 2016
In a series of interlocked stories, the author pierces the myths through four generations of one American family's mismatched marriages. Dark? Yes, but full of humor too.
$16.00
Details
Rickie Trujillo
by Nicholas Bradley
Released September 2017
Rickie Trujillo details the events of one white-hot weekend in the life of a drifting Mexican-American teen.
$17.00
Details
Saving Phoebe Murrow
by Herta B. Feely
Released August 2016
Saving Phoebe Murrow, set amidst the complicated web of adolescent relationships, tells a story of miscommunication and malice, drugs and Facebook, prejudice and revenge.
$15.00
Details
Shady Women: Three Short Plays
By Elizabeth Primamore
Released June 2018
Three plays following women--and men--in the worst kind of trouble. All they can do is speak.
$25.00
Details
She Can Find Her Way: Women Travelers at Their Best
Released November 2017
Women from several generations tell true stories of their most memorable and challenging travel experiences. Read how they overcame adversity while traveling alone.
$25.00
Details
Sounding Our Depths: The Music of Morgan Powell
by Ann Starr
Released August 2014
Including a CD that spans his career, Starr's book reveals and interprets both Powell's aesthetic and ethical roots, and his unprecedented artistic methods.
$18.00
Details
The Crime of Being
By Alice Lichtenstein
Released October 2019
The Crime of Being explores the effects of a racial incident—how it divides a seemingly homogenous community over the course of a summer and exposes its dark secrets.
$10.00
Details
The Woman Without a Voice
by Louise Farmer Smith
Released September 2017
The story of pioneer women who against their better judgment packed their children and other treasures onto wagons headed into the wilderness.

Upcoming releases

August 2019
My Virtuous Sister
By Nick Fowler
Details
October 2019
The Crime of Being
By Alice Lichtenstein
Details

About Upper Hand Press

Editorial Board

Margaret
Hawkins
Maggie
Kast
Anna
Sequoia
Tina
Tocco

Margaret Hawkins


Web site Margaret Hawkins is a writer, critic and educator. She is the author of three novels: A Year of Cats and Dogs, How to Survive a Natural Disaster (both published by Permanent Press), and Lydia's Party (Viking Press, to be released by Penguin in paperback in 2015). She's also written a memoir: How We Got Barb Back: the Story of My Sister's Reawakening after 30 Years of Schizophrenia (Conari).
 
Hawkins wrote a column about art for the Chicago-Sun-Times for twenty years and currently teaches in the New Arts Journalism program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She received an MFA in painting from the University of North Carolina.

Maggie Kast

Maggie Kast's debut novel, A Free Unsullied Land, is forthcoming from Fomite Press on November 1, 2015. Her first book, The Crack between the Worlds: A Dancer's Memoir of Loss, Faith and Family, was published by Wipf and Stock. Maggie received an M.F.A. in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has published fiction in The Sun, Nimrod, Rosebud, Paper Street and others. Her essays have appeared in America, Image, Writer's Chronicle and elsewhere, and a chapter of her memoir won a Literary Award from the Illinois Arts Council and a Pushcart nomination. An essay on symbols in Numero Cinq is currently available online by clicking here. Maggie understands that independent publishing has never been more important than it is today, and we are delighted she is a part of Upper Hand Press.

Christine Grimaldi


Web siteChristine Grimaldi is a writer in Washington, D.C. In 2014, she published a widely shared feature story in Slate on straight spouses--straight men and women who used to be married to gay partners. She has also written about the language of sexual assault for DAME Magazine; her tough-guy dad, "Brooklyn Tommy," for The Toast; schadenfreude for The Morning News; and on a range of topics for other publications. A complete list of her published work is available on her website. When Christine isn't writing, she edits nonfiction book proposals as well as nonfiction and fiction manuscripts. She has an MA in nonfiction writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Anna Sequoia


Web siteAnna Sequoia is the author of ten non-fiction books, including the animal rights classic 67 Ways to Save the Animals (HarperPerennial), and the best-selling humor book, The Official J.A.P. Handbook (N.A.L.). Anna was a fiction reader for Atheneum Publishers and Charterhouse Books, a non-fiction reviewer for Publishers Weekly, and later reviewed both fiction and non-fiction for New Times magazine. A former co-chair of the Publishing Triangle, Anna was a charter member of the National Book Critics Circle. She was most recently Senior Creative Director for Product Promotion at Publishers Clearing House. Photo credit: Ray Ewing

Tina Tocco

Tina Tocco's work has appeared in Roanoke Review, Crab Creek Review, Harpur Palate, Passages North, Potomac Review, Portland Review, Fiction Fix, and other publications. She was a finalist in CALYX's 2013 Flash Fiction Contest and an honorable mention in the River Styx 2015 Schlafly Beer Micro-Brew Micro-Fiction Contest. Tina's poetry appears in the anthology Wild Dreams: The Best of Italian Americana (Fordham University Press, 2008). She earned her MFA from Manhattanville College, where she was editor-in-chief of Inkwell. Tina spends a lot of her time writing for children, watching sci-fi and British dramas, and fantasizing about living in rural New England.

Our mission

Upper Hand Press continues to grow through the commitment of Ann Starr, its founder, publisher, and sole underwriter. An editorial board advises Starr in the selection of manuscripts, but the Press bears the stamp of her eclectic background and tastes. Starr brings to her work a liberal arts foundation (earned in the first class of women at Kenyon College) and varied personal history that includes work in higher education administration; eighteen years at home raising children; twenty years as a widely-exhibited visual artist; several years as a lecturer and teacher in medical humanities; author of an internationally acclaimed blog about contemporary art; and book author and editor.

Upper Hand Press publishes books that move, delight, challenge, and magnify the worlds of our readers. Our books invite repeated readings. Unlike many presses, we do not limit ourselves by genre or topic: Fascination knows no bounds.

Our authors include autodidacts and learned, novices and previously published all pulled together into one mutually-supportive family. Each author’s investment of heart, intellect, time, and craft createsthe authenticity that’s fundamental to gaining the Upper Hand.

Submissions

Upper Hand Press reopens for submissions on April 1, 2019 and closes on September 1, 2019. We look forward to manuscripts from new and previously published authors both.
Remember to send your manuscript both on paper and in electronic form!

Upper Hand Press is open to good books that good writers bring to our attention. So far we've published fiction, criticism, an author-illustrated book, a short story collection, and poetry. We don't consider ourselves interested in sci-fi, romance, or fantasy, but the right manuscripts could change our minds.

Upper Hand Press is owned, edited, published, and entirely funded by Ann Starr (read her Starr Review blog). We have an outstanding consulting editorial board, but Starr is the first reader for every submission.

Be sure to read our Submission Checklist before you send materials. Note especially that we accept only EXCLUSIVE SUBMISSIONS. We make every effort to inform you of our decision within three months. We do not work with agents.

If you wish to query the publisher, please write directly to Ann Starr. Please do not inquire about matters fully explained in the website.

If you think Upper Hand Press may be a good fit, we look forward to hearing from you.

Submitting your book is a big step. Having a book accepted for publication is even bigger, but it is only the beginning. These are some of the things accepted authors must undertake (PDF).

Nice Things Writers Say About Upper Hand Press Submissions

It is our policy to write letters that detail the major reasons for turning down manuscripts.
“Thank you falls short for all the care and effort you’ve given me. I am most appreciative and grateful! I’m happy to share that [my book] will be published in autumn of 2019 by [another publisher]. I look forward to following and supporting the excellent authors at Upper Hand Press. With gratitude.”
“I want to thank you for your kind letter. It’s not often that a writer receives a reply from a publisher as candid and detailed with regard to a decision on one’s manuscript.”
“Thank you for your dedicated response to my submission. It was marvelous to have your specific feedback and a strong sense direction to the next level of my work.”
“While everyone in the publishing world is entitled to an opinion, your reply letter of 18th May goes much further. It is certainly the most helpful and professional input that I have had in regard to [my book]. I will take your criticism in the light and attempt to improve the overall result.”
“Thank you for taking the time to not only read my pages but also give feedback about developing characters and situations rather than ‘rushing past opportunities to develop characters and plot.’ I am most appreciative of your words.”
“Thanks so much for your extremely insightful and detailed comments you mailed to me about my novel—I so appreciated them! ...I can’t even tell you how much your close reading of the novel and your astute comments will help me shape this further.”

Your submissions checklist

  • Prose excerpt of under 30 pages, beginning with the book’s first page.
  • Poetry submission of 12 poems (or other reasonable sample, depending on the form)
  • Digital version of the same submission sent to staff@upperhandpress.com
  • One-page introductory letter specifying your audience. Please acknowledge that yours is an exclusive submission.
  • Include your full contact information: email and postal addresses and telephone number.
  • A non-refundable $10 submission fee,* payable by check or money order to UPPER HAND PRESS, LLC, should accompany the paper submission.
  • Cover letters of less than professional quality (mechanics, organization, and presentation) will undermine your prospects at this press.
  • Mail your materials to Submissions, UPPER HAND PRESS, P. O. Box 91179, Bexley, Ohio 43209.
* Yes, the submission fee is required. For one perspective, see an applicant's blog.

Contact Upper Hand Press

Upper Hand PressTM
P.O. Box 91179, Bexley, Ohio 43209
614.886.2462

We welcome your questions or thoughts about Upper Hand Press, our books, and our plans. Use of this contact box is the most efficient way to reach us, and the one to insure the promptest response. Get in touch!

If you are a member of the Press seeking an interview or appearance, or if you are a bookseller wishing more information about our books, please note that in the subject line.

While the telephone is not the best way to reach us, our phone will generally be covered between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday, major holidays excepted. If you need to leave a message, we'll try to call you right back.

E-mail us



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