About Uptown Press
Uptown Press is a small fiction imprint that lives close to character, place and lived experience. The house grew from one writer’s long practice of shaping other people’s words and a wish to give certain stories the care they rarely receive in commercial settings.
The person behind Uptown Press
For many years I worked as a ghostwriter and editor, often hidden behind other names. I shaped academic work, business books and private manuscripts, always aiming to lift someone else’s voice so they could speak with confidence. My name stayed off the cover, and that was part of the deal. Over time I learned how people sound on the page when something matters to them. I began to notice how fear creeps into a paragraph, how emotion hides in small lines, and how truth sits in the quiet moments of a draft.
I carried my own fiction through those years, mostly in notebooks and long files on my laptop. What kept pulling me back were stories rooted in city life, late nights, small rooms, people trying to find their way through work, love, loss or distance. My move to Harlem gave this focus a home. The neighborhood’s rhythm changed how I wrote, how I listened and how I understood place as part of character.
At some point the gap between the ghostwork I did and the stories I cared about felt too wide. That tension became the seed for Uptown Press. I wanted a space where fiction shaped by lived experience could grow without being bent into a market formula. This imprint is that choice made public.
Meet Jürgen Pretsch - founder and CEO of Uptown Press - today.
How Uptown Press began
Uptown Press grew from a clear need. Many writers with strong manuscripts were told their work was too quiet, too local, too heavy, too intimate or too unorthodox for big-house plans. Yet these stories stayed with me far longer than polished commercial pieces. They carried emotion, memory and the kind of detail that comes from lived life rather than trend cycles. They were the stories that really needed to be told.
The imprint exists to give these writers a steady landing place. The list stays small so each book can receive our full attention. Writers move through revision in conversation with me, not through a maze of forms. Contact is direct and immediate - I do not believe in bureaucracy, I believe in the human connection. Production stays careful, clear and sized to the writer’s needs. The catalog centers character-driven fiction, grounded romance, slice-of-life works and hybrid pieces that rise from real experience instead of quick market logic.
What Uptown Press stands for
What We Stand For
Uptown Press supports voices shaped by real conditions: immigrant families, diaspora histories, queer lives, caregiving, working-class jobs, addiction, mental health struggles, grief and the quiet push to stay afloat. These are not themes used as decoration. They come from life and shape the way characters speak, love, break and continue.
How it Works
Work here feels like a calm, patient exchange around a manuscript. You see every step, from first read to final proof. Feedback arrives in clear, direct language. Strengths are named without exaggeration. Weak spots are addressed with concrete suggestions. The goal is to help the story grow without stripping away the voice that makes it yours.
You keep control of your book. Edits are discussed, not imposed. If a note touches something personal or lands in a way that feels wrong, you can say so and we adjust. Revision takes the time it needs, aligned with your life, work and care responsibilities. Agreements set out scope, cost and rights in simple terms, so there are no surprises.
Our Promise
Uptown Press can promise careful reading, thoughtful feedback, transparent pricing, steady communication and a process that respects your story and your time. Your project will receive the care and love it deserves.
Uptown Press cannot promise bestseller lists, viral attention or sudden career leaps. No publisher can offer that with honesty. What we can create together is a book that feels true to you, shaped with patience, skill and commitment, and given a real chance to reach its readers. For many writers, especially those balancing jobs, caregiving, illness or other pressures, that step alone can feel like a quiet victory.
Get in Touch with us NOW
You share our vision? You feel like your idea, your manuscript, your dream deserves to be heard? Reach out now - we will be in touch within 48 hours.