Mississippi Book Publishing Services for Writing That Carries Weight

Mississippi takes its writers seriously, and several of the programs below are free.

• Mississippi Center for the Book. Housed at the Mississippi Library Commission in Jackson, it is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. It has a program at the Mississippi Book Festival every year and names the state's Great Reads from Great Places picks.
• Mississippi Writers Guild. Its chapters meet in person around the state, several of them in public libraries: the Lee County Library in Tupelo, the Library of Hattiesburg and the B.J. Chain Public Library in Olive Branch. The Coastal Chapter gathers every third Wednesday at the Gulfport Arts Center.
• Mississippi Book Festival , Jackson. A free one-day festival in and around the State Capitol (September 26 in 2026). Its Authors Alley hosts dozens of self-published authors selling their books, and exhibitors can apply for space.
• Oxford Conference for the Book. Started in 1993 by the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture and Square Books, it runs each spring (March 24–27 in 2026), and nearly every session is free.
• Square Books, Oxford. The independent bookstore that co-founded the conference still hosts conference readings at Off Square Books on Courthouse Square (see the 2026 conference schedule).
• Mississippi Arts Commission. Professional writers living and working in Mississippi can apply for Artist Fellowships of up to $5,000, with literary categories that alternate each year. Applications close March 1.

Where we fit in: the Guild and the festivals give you readers, critique and a place to sell. We take care of the editing, cover, interior and store setup, so the book you carry to Authors Alley looks as finished as anything on Booksellers Row.

You have three routes. A traditional press pays for production and chooses only a few books. A hybrid publisher charges you and keeps part of the income. A self-publishing service is paid for its work, and the book and the accounts stay yours.

Mississippi's main traditional option is University Press of Mississippi in Jackson. Founded in 1970 and supported by the state's eight public universities, it welcomes proposals for scholarly and general nonfiction, including regional titles on Mississippi, Louisiana and the Gulf South, but it does not publish fiction or poetry. For shorter work, Mississippi Review at the University of Southern Mississippi has published fiction, nonfiction and poetry since 1972.

Before you hire anyone, ask three things: who owns the ISBN and the store accounts, whether royalties are paid straight to you, and whether you get a written quote. Kinetic Digital Publishers sits on the self-publishing side of that line.

William Faulkner bought an 1844 house in Oxford in 1930 and renamed it Rowan Oak a year later; it is now open to visitors. In Jackson, the Eudora Welty House and Garden, run by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, holds a virtual book club on Welty's fiction every Monday at noon. The Center for the Book also keeps an online Mississippi literary map of the state's authors.