June 8, 2017

Writing Original Fiction: Avoiding Clichés, Tropes, and Stereotypes

Writers are constantly pressured to create fresh new stories for an ever demanding and critical market. Almost every theme, plot or storyline has been used and it is next to impossible to find one that’s waiting to be written into a best-selling book. Avoiding clichés, overused tropes, and exhausted stereotypes can be difficult but it…

Flux: Now Seeking Young Adult Book Manuscripts

Flux is an imprint of North Star Editions that publishes exclusively young adult fiction. Their motto is “Where Young Adult is a Point of View, not a Reading Level”. Most of the books they publish focus on the older end of the young adult market. They publish edgier, darker stuff, than other young adult publishers. …

The Masters Review: Now Accepting Submissions

The Masters Review is a print and online publication for new and emerging fiction and narrative nonfiction authors. They are seeking the most gifted new authors in hopes of showcasing talent that will continue to produce excellent work. They also publish reviews of books by brand new authors, interviews with established authors, critical essays, and…

June 5, 2017

22 Calls for Themed Submissions (Short Stories, Poetry, and Essays)

This is a list of themed submission calls for a variety of topics, genres and audiences – fiction, poetry, non-fiction, interviews and reviews. Topics include compassion for the natural world, romance, colonizing other worlds, reconciliation and decolonization, stories about ruins and chefs, post-apocalyptic horror, themed stories for children, work by and about underrepresented communities, and…

June 1, 2017

Harvard Square Editions: Now Accepting Submissions

Updated March 2, 2023: They published one book that I could find last year and their last tweet is over a year old. I would not approach them with a submission at this time. Harvard Square Editions is a publishing company founded by a group of Harvard Alumni.  They accept novel and novella submissions with environmental…

Frontier Poetry: Now Seeking Submissions

A new limb of The Masters Review, Frontier Poetry is an online platform for emerging poets. Highly selective yet ecumenical, Frontier Poetry is a quality journal for new poets of all types, as well as a resource for other writers, publishers, and literary agents. They are looking for work that pushes the boundaries of language,…

It’s Okay to Be Selfish with Your Writing

By Adrienne Reiter Anthony Bourdain claims his best writing is done first thing in the morning half asleep over coffee. Truman Capote claimed to write best hungover when half his brain was out of the way. Writing isn’t just about creation. It’s equally about destruction. As writers, we dismantle our original ideas and fabrications to…