Georgia Book Publishing Services for Authors Building Something That Lasts

• Georgia Center for the Book. Hosted by the DeKalb County Public Library, it is the state's affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. It publishes the "Books All Georgians Should Read" lists and picks Georgia's titles for the National Book Festival.
• Georgia Writers Association. Founded in 1994 and housed at Kennesaw State University, it runs the Georgia Author of the Year Awards, the Red Clay Writers Conference and the John Lewis Writing Grants for Black writers in Georgia.
• Atlanta Writers Club. Active since 1914, the club holds the Atlanta Writers Conference twice a year, an annual Atlanta Self-Publishing Conference and monthly member meetings.
• Local Author Day at Gwinnett County Public Library. A showcase only for self-published local authors. It is held at the Lilburn Branch, with entry by online submission; check the library calendar for the next date.
• Decatur Book Festival and Savannah Book Festival. Decatur has brought readers and authors together each fall since 2005. Savannah's festival fills the Historic District in the first week of February; the 2027 dates are February 4–7.
• Charis Books & More, Decatur. Open since 1974 and known as the South's oldest independent feminist bookstore, Charis keeps a busy calendar of author events.

A note on grants: Georgia Council for the Arts funds organizations only; its FY27 guidelines list individuals as not eligible. For individual writers, the Georgia Writers Association's grants and awards are the place to look.

Where we fit in: Georgia's clubs and festivals give you critique groups and a first crowd of readers. Our job is the editing, cover, formatting and publishing setup, so the copies on your festival table look professionally made.

Search for book publishers in Georgia and three kinds of company appear together. Traditional publishers cover the costs but accept very few books and usually take the publishing rights. Hybrid publishers split costs and royalties. Self-publishing services such as Kinetic Digital Publishers are paid for the work, and the rights stay yours.

Two university presses in the state take submissions directly. The University of Georgia Press in Athens reviews nonfiction proposals by email, but it publishes fiction and poetry only through its competitions, such as the Flannery O'Connor Award. Mercer University Press in Macon accepts unsolicited book proposals sent to its director.

Before signing with anyone, check who owns the ISBN and store accounts, whether royalties are paid straight to you, and whether you get a written quote. With us, the first two are yours.

Two famous Georgia novelists left places you can visit. Andalusia, Flannery O'Connor's farm home in Milledgeville, is cared for by Georgia College & State University. In Atlanta, the Margaret Mitchell House (https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/atlanta-history-center-midtown/), now part of Atlanta History Center Midtown, is where Mitchell's first and only book, Gone With the Wind, was born.