Top Book Publishers in Arkansas: Honest Reviews, Pros & Cons

Top Book Publishers in Arkansas: Honest Reviews, Pros & Cons

A Little Rock novelist spent eight months sending query letters to every publisher in Arkansas. She got one response. It said her memoir didn’t have enough regional ties to Arkansas. Her memoir was set in Little Rock.

That’s the publishing landscape in this state in plain terms. Good publishers exist here. Some of them are genuinely excellent at what they do. But what they do is so specific, so narrow, so tied to either a single genre or a geographic requirement or a faith tradition, that the vast majority of Arkansas authors don’t fit anywhere in the local market.

This guide tells you exactly what each publisher does, who they actually take, and what happens when you don’t qualify.

Arkansas Publishers at a Quick Glance

Seven publishers serve the Arkansas market in meaningful ways. One of them accepts all genres, all authors, all budgets, and has done so since 2004. The other six are either academic-only, faith-only, metaphysical-only, Arkansas-nonfiction-only, storytelling-only, or currently closed to new submissions entirely. The chart below makes that gap obvious.

Publisher	Accepts New Authors?	Genre Range	Open to All?
1. Writers of the West	Always open	All genres	Yes
2. University of Arkansas Press	Very rarely	Academic, poetry, regional	No
3. New Leaf Publishing Group	Yes, nonfiction only	Christian and faith only	No
4. Ozark Mountain Publishing	Yes, 6-month wait	Metaphysical and spiritual only	No
5. Et Alia Press	Rarely	Arkansas nonfiction and children’s only	No
6. Parkhurst Brothers	Rarely	Storytelling, psychology, social justice only	No
7. August House	Limited, now Atlanta-based	Folklore and children’s only	No
8. Oghma / Roan and Weatherford	Currently closed	Genre fiction	No

1. Writers of the West

Location: Houston, TX with offices in Los Angeles and New York, serving all of Arkansas | Founded: 2004 | Type: Full-Service Book Publisher

Writers of the West is the book publisher in Arkansas that most authors across the state end up choosing once they understand the landscape. Founded in 2004 by CEO Chris Holloway, BBB A+ accredited, and serving authors in Little Rock, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Springdale, Jonesboro, Rogers, Conway, Hot Springs, and across the state.

Read the seven publishers below and count how many you actually qualify for. For most Arkansas authors, the answer is zero. That’s why this one leads.

Pros: Every genre with no exceptions. Full service from ghostwriting through distribution under one roof. Authors keep 100% of rights and royalties. Zero-interest self-paced payment plans. 30-plus global platforms including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, and Target. 24/7 dedicated project manager. BBB A+ accredited. Veteran and first-time author discounts. Press releases, Library of Congress registration, social media campaigns, and video trailers built into publishing packages. Serves authors across every Arkansas city.

Cons: Service-fee model rather than advance-based traditional publishing. Not locally headquartered inside Arkansas.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Traditional AR Publishers	Writers of the West
Accepts all genres	No	Yes
Open to new authors	Most closed or very selective	Always open
Ghostwriting available	No	Yes
Global distribution, 30-plus platforms	Limited	Yes
Zero-interest payment plans	No	Yes
24/7 author support	No	Yes
BBB A+ accredited	Varies	Yes
Marketing included	Minimal	Full package
Veteran and first-time author discounts	No	Yes
Time to get started	Months of waiting	Immediate

Work with the leading ghostwriter in Arkansas and full publishing team at Writers of the West today.

Verdict: The only Arkansas-serving publisher on this list that accepts every author, every genre, every budget. For the vast majority of Arkansas writers, this is where the publishing journey actually starts.

Difficulty to get accepted: Open to all authors

2. University of Arkansas Press

Location: Fayetteville, AR | Founded: 1980 | Type: Academic University Press

Founded by poet Miller Williams and historian Willard Gatewood. Alumni include Jimmy Carter, Billy Collins, Daisy Bates, and National Book Award winner Ellen Gilchrist. Publishes roughly 25 titles per year across African American Studies, Arkansas and the Region, Art and Architecture, Food Studies, Sports Studies, and the Miller Williams Poetry Series.

Pros: The most prestigious publisher in Arkansas. Rigorous peer-reviewed editorial process. $5,000 Miller Williams Poetry Prize awarded annually. Accepts unsolicited proposals in core subject areas. Strong academic distribution globally.

Cons: Twenty-five titles a year for the whole state. No fiction of any kind. Outside six subject areas, the door is closed entirely. Months for a response. Near-closure in 1997 due to fiscal insolvency reveals an underlying financial fragility common to university presses.

Verdict: Best publisher in Arkansas for the narrowest slice of authors. Academic scholarship, regional history, serious literary poetry. Everyone else should move on.

Difficulty to get accepted: Very High

3. New Leaf Publishing Group

Location: Green Forest, AR | Founded: 1975 | Type: Christian Traditional Publisher

Operates out of a town of 3,000 people in Carroll County. Three imprints: New Leaf Press for Christian living, Master Books for creation science and apologetics (the largest creation-focused publisher in the world), and Attic Books for vintage Christian reprints. Revenue of $5.1 million in 2025. Team of 32 people. Not BBB accredited.

Pros: Dominant authority in creation science and apologetics. Three imprints with distinct audiences. Currently accepting nonfiction in apologetics, Christian living, home education, and inspirational categories. Non-denominational. Decades of established faith-market bookseller relationships.

Cons: Biblical worldview or nothing. In 2023, a connected literary agency parted ways with agent Jordan Hamessley affecting 45 authors, with the Authors Guild engaging over how authors were handled. Not BBB accredited. Faith-channel distribution only limits crossover reach. Lean 32-person team across multiple imprints means limited per-author marketing.

Verdict: Right home for committed Christian authors in their lane. Outside that lane, irrelevant.

Difficulty to get accepted: Moderate, nonfiction Christian content only

4. Ozark Mountain Publishing

Location: Huntsville, AR | Founded: 1992 | Type: Niche Independent

Founded by the late Dolores Cannon, hypnotherapist and author of 17 books. Books translated into over 20 languages. Two imprints and home to the oldest continuously running UFO conference in the United States.

Pros: Over 20 language translations from a small Arkansas town. Annual UFO Conference gives authors a built-in live audience. Founder legacy carries enormous weight in spiritual communities globally. Dedicated and growing readership.

Cons: Spiritual, metaphysical, UFO, New Age, meditation, past-life, healing only. Six-month response time. Limited mainstream bookstore and library placement. Small team, limited per-title marketing. Audience size has a ceiling regardless of international reach.

Verdict: Genuinely one of the stronger niche options in the country for metaphysical authors. Total genre requirement. Anyone outside that space has nothing to submit here.

Difficulty to get accepted: Moderate, niche genre only with 6-month wait

5. Et Alia Press

Location: Little Rock, AR | Founded: 2010 | Type: Independent Small Press

Founded by Erin Wood, a former attorney who moved back to Arkansas after her father passed away. Focuses on Local Histories preserving Arkansas cultural memory, Health and Wellness titles, and first-book authors. Won the 2025 Arkansiana Award from the Arkansas State Library Association.

Pros: The most personal editorial relationship available in Arkansas. Authors report twice-weekly communication during revision. Consistent award recognition at national and regional level. Festival presence from Arkansas through Louisiana to Columbia University. All books printed in the US.

Cons: Arkansas ties required, no exceptions. No fiction, no poetry, no YA of any kind. One person runs everything. A handful of titles per year means acceptance rates are extremely low. Limited marketing footprint by nature of a one-person operation.

Verdict: One of the warmest publisher-author relationships in Arkansas. Almost no one qualifies. The slot count is tiny even for perfectly matched manuscripts.

Difficulty to get accepted: Very High, Arkansas tie required, limited genres

6. Parkhurst Brothers Publishers

Location: Little Rock, AR roots, now operating from Michigan | Founded: 1979 | Type: Independent

Ted Parkhurst ran August House before founding this press to serve the American storytelling movement. Three editorial areas only: storytelling collections and memoirs by professional storytellers, social justice, and behavioral psychology. Translation rights sold in Japan and Poland.

Pros: Founder personally involved in author guidance throughout the process. The only Arkansas publisher focused on oral tradition translated to print. Storytelling World and Anne Izard Storyteller’s Choice awards. Listed in Storytelling Magazine and storynet.org. International translation deals.

Cons: Three lanes and nothing adjacent to them. Submitted materials are never returned. Very few titles per year. Four-week minimum response window, often longer in practice. Niche community marketing reach only.

Verdict: Focused and respected for a specific kind of author. Professional storytellers and behavioral psychology writers should look here. Everyone else is wasting a submission.

Difficulty to get accepted: High, very narrow focus with low annual output

7. August House Publishers

Location: Originally Little Rock, AR, now Atlanta, GA | Founded: 1978 | Type: Independent

Was once the only Arkansas publisher with a national sales force and coast-to-coast bookseller representation. Published a Washington Post bestseller during the Clinton inauguration. Moved to Atlanta. Now focused almost entirely on children’s folklore and educational content.

Pros: Twenty-five years of Arkansas publishing legacy and name recognition. Historical coast-to-coast bookseller relationships. Solid school and library market presence for children’s folklore. Strong backlist of award-winning multicultural children’s literature.

Cons: No longer in Arkansas. Narrowed almost entirely to folklore and children’s content. Not BBB accredited with no rating available. No clear path for adult authors in any genre.

Verdict: Real Arkansas roots and an impressive history. Now neither local nor broadly accessible. Children’s folklore authors may find a home here. Everyone else should treat this as a historical reference.

Difficulty to get accepted: Moderate, folklore and children’s only, no longer Arkansas-based

8. Oghma Creative Media / Roan and Weatherford

Location: Bentonville, AR | Founded: 2013 | Type: Independent Small Press

Started by a group of Fayetteville writers in 2012 who wanted to build a fairer publishing model outside New York. Grew faster than the team could sustain and rebranded as Roan and Weatherford. Imprints cover Westerns, science fiction, mainstream fiction, suspense, thriller, horror, literary fiction, mystery, and historical fiction.

Pros: The only local Arkansas publisher acquiring genre fiction across multiple categories. Author-first philosophy built around equal opportunity. Traditional model with no author fees. Editors, designers, and marketers included.

Cons: Currently closed to new authors entirely. Only accepting submissions from agents and previously published authors. Major rebrand signals significant structural changes worth investigating. No public author reviews to evaluate independently. Limited marketing resources for a Bentonville independent.

Verdict: The right idea for genre fiction in Arkansas, currently inaccessible to new authors. Check back when submissions reopen. Not a current option.

Difficulty to get accepted: Currently Closed to New Authors

The Real Picture

The UA Press takes 25 authors a year statewide in academic subjects only. New Leaf takes Christian nonfiction only. Ozark Mountain takes metaphysical content only with a six-month wait. Et Alia takes Arkansas-connected nonfiction through one person with almost no slots. Parkhurst serves storytellers and psychologists. August House left the state. Oghma is closed.

That’s maybe 50 Arkansas authors served per year combined, mostly academics, clergy, and writers who fit extremely specific requirements.

For everyone else, the leading book editor in Arkansas and full publishing partner is Writers of the West.

Final Verdicts

Arkansas academic, historian, or literary poet: University of Arkansas Press. Long odds but real prestige.

Christian nonfiction in apologetics, homeschooling, or Christian living: New Leaf Publishing Group. Go in with clear eyes about the 2023 controversy.

Metaphysical or spiritual writer: Ozark Mountain Publishing. Budget six months for a response.

Arkansas nonfiction or children’s book with deep state ties: Et Alia Press. One person, very few slots, Arkansas connection non-negotiable.

Professional storyteller or behavioral psychologist: Parkhurst Brothers. Narrow but respected.

Children’s folklore: August House, now Atlanta-based, still active in this space.

Fiction writer in Fayetteville, Bentonville, or anywhere in Arkansas: Oghma/Roan and Weatherford was the answer. Right now it’s closed.

Everyone else: Memoir, self-help, business, romance, fantasy, mystery, Christian content outside New Leaf’s lane, children’s books that aren’t folklore, debut authors without agents. Writers of the West is where Arkansas authors who are serious about getting published actually go. The local publishers on this list serve maybe 50 Arkansas authors per year combined. Writers of the West serves everyone else.

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Writers of the West provides professional book publishing services, ghostwriting services, and book editing services to authors across Arkansas including Little Rock, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Springdale, Jonesboro, Rogers, Conway, Hot Springs, and surrounding communities. Start the conversation today.