About Us
Central Avenue Publishing is a home for fiction and poetry about us at our worst – and best.
We are proud to publish books that have resonated widely—appearing on bestseller lists, earning awards, drawing support from literary heroes and celebrities, and finding readers around the world.
At Central Avenue Publishing, our mission is to publish fiction and poetry that reflect the best and worst of the human condition—stories that move readers, challenge perspectives, and leave a meaningful impression.
Trade, Press & Clubs
The Poetry Shelf: We offer a monthly publisher-agnostic poetry assortment list and shelf schematic free of charge. View it here.
For media inquiries, readers’ guides and special edition, charitable donations, and pricing for book clubs, please email us.
We periodically send out offers and free digital reading copies. Click here to subscribe to our mailing list.
Central Avenue books are printed on acid-free paper in the United States of America.
Content Warnings: Please note that some of our books contain scenes and subject matter that some may find disturbing. We encourage readers to consider this and take care while reading.
Distribution & Rights
Our books are distributed by:
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
US: (800) 223-2336 Purchaseorders@simonandschuster.com
Canada: (800) 268-3216 Canadian.Orders@simonandschuster.com
Translation, Foreign, and Audio Rights Represented by:
Murray Weiss, Catalyst Literary Management
559 Lido Lane, Woodmere NY 11598
+1 (516) 569-1808
murray@catalystlit.com
Send licensing requests to our general email address.
Policies on Use of Generative AI
All books produced by Central Avenue are done so by humans without the use of generative AI or large language models. This includes all aspects of writing and editing (acquisition, developmental, copy editing and proofreading.)
Imagery, typesetting, and covers are generated by humans, either by artists drawing in analog or digitally, or by designers using Adobe Creative Suite. Designers may use built-in AI functions where appropriate. We purchase commercial license fonts and images from various sites and do what we can to find those that are human generated.
Audiobooks produced in-house are 100% human generated. Rights sold to audiobook publishers are done so with the stipulation to use human actors and producers.
While we do not currently translate books in house, any new translation project we take on will be done so by a human.
Marketing copy such as book descriptions, author bios, and publicity pitches are human generated and edited. We disclose the use of LLMs for alteration of marketing copy. An example would be reducing an author bio to a very specific word count for submission to an award, trade show brochure, or some such specific piece that requires specific character or word counts. Before a book has been printed, we may use LLMs to generate ‘lifestyle’ shots of our books, or to create a mock-up.
Our Team
Michelle Halket, Publisher: Michelle Halket is a proud techno- and bibliophile with a background in economic and market research. After seventeen years at the helm of Central Avenue, she is happily immersed in words, paper stock, and devices of all kinds. She’s the sort of person who asks a lot of questions, tries most things at least once, keeps a growing collection of started-but-unfinished projects, and does her best to learn something useful from every misstep along the way.
Jessica Peirce, Editor – Fiction: Jessica studied English literature for her undergrad degree before embarking on a widely varied career that always brought her back to the publishing world. She bases her editing and writing work out of her home in Toronto, which she shares with her husband, her two mostly grown daughters, and her oversized shaggy dog. She is a lover of books, music, cooking blogs, chocolate covered almonds, tea not coffee, and thinks some people are pretty nice too.
Beau Adler, Editor – Poetry: Working beside the sea in the Pacific Northwest, Beau Adler has worn many different hats, but a fervent passion for literature led them to the publishing world—where they intend on staying. When they aren’t reading and writing emails, Beau is jogging, hiking with their dogs, or binge-watching sitcoms on Netflix.
Molly Ringle, Editor: Molly has written stories on the side throughout her day jobs and her studies in anthropology and linguistics, and recently also earned a certificate in editing as a way to keep working closely with language and books. When not diving deep into dictionary entries, she likes spending time in forests, gardens, libraries, theaters, and cafes that sell amazing chocolate creations. She has spent most of her life so far in the Pacific Northwest, and currently lives in Seattle with her spouse, kids, pets, and plants.
Neil Graham, Operations: Neil is a logistics and finance guru who ensures Central Avenue finances and titles are where they’re supposed to be at all times. When he’s not managing inventory, data, or cashflow, he’s either gardening, mountain biking, or golfing.
Submission Guidelines
Submissions of poetry and full length novels are open to agents only. We are particularly interested in upmarket, character-driven stories, creative memoir, or genre fiction in the magical realism and historical fiction/romance genres. Please email pitches to info@centralavenuepublishing.com.
Download a Catalog
Giving
Central Avenue believes promoting reading and making books help make the world a better place. Our founders are also highly aware of the privilege of where they were born and raised. Here is a partial list of the organizations that Central Avenue supports on an ongoing basis:
Mailing Address
5062-C 48th Avenue
Delta BC V4K 1V8
Canada
254-1582 Gulf Road
Point Roberts WA 98281
US
info@centralavenuepublishing.com