Welcome to Tortoise Books
Remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare? We all learned as kids that slow and steady wins in the end. But the publishing industry’s dominated by the hares. You’ve seen them: fast-reading, fast-selling books with a big name on the front. They loom large on the doorway displays one month and are relegated to the bargain bin thereafter—unloved, unremembered, and easily replaced by next month’s Next Big Thing. (Hare today, gone tomorrow, you might say.)
We’re looking to change that.
Tortoise Books focuses on quality, not quantity. Or more accurately, we know quality will bring quantity down the road, in the slow and steady race to win discerning readers. We’re a small, independent publisher that’s using the best attributes of the old industry (extensive editing, heavy pre-publication publicity work, and a financial structure where we’re invested in the future success of our authors) plus the best attributes of publish-on-demand (the ability to get something good out there without regard to whether or not someone thinks it has a market, or whether it fits into some multinational conglomerate’s busy schedule) to build a brand readers will trust.
read our books and see why Rick Kogan of Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio recently called us “one of the best, most provocative, and rewarding publishing houses in the entire country” AND SAID “If you see Tortoise Books—and I’m telling you this as a consumer—you know you’re going to get something good, interesting, or provocative to read.”
We are usually accepting a limited number of submissions via the luxury submission and critique process. Free submissions will be available intermittently; please check this page periodically or follow us on BlueSky @tortoisebooks.bsky.social for updates.
Featured Titles
The Surge by Adam Kovac
An unforgettable classic of the Forever Wars, The Surge chronicles a wounded veteran at a forward base in Iraq who’s leading a team of inexperienced soldiers eager for their first taste of combat—and doomed to get their wish.
"Adam Kovac captures that strange, messy time with verve and the sort of dark truthfulness only fiction can provide. The Surge is a very fine novel that deserves wide readership."
— Matt Gallagher, author of Daybreak
Delirium Vitae by David LeBrun
An unforgettable memoir about a young author who travels to Costa Rica to live and write cheaply (and, of course, drink and drug every day) then has to hitchhike back north when his money runs out far sooner than expected.
"LeBrun writes with the peculiar velocity of Denis Johnson. This is a book rich with wild language and a big-hearted journey into human confusion."
— Joshua Mohr, author of Model Citizen
Play, Rewind by John Vurro
A lovely tale about a video store clerk in the dying days of VHS who’s stuck caring for a mother with dementia—and longing for a life that seems forever out of reach.
“When you reach the last page, you’ll want to rewind it and play it again.”
— Katherine Dykstra, author of What Happened to Paula