April 9, 2026

Write Less to Write More: In Favor of Flash Narratives

Ratika Deshpande I love flash narratives and this is an appeal from me to you to write more flash fiction and flash nonfiction. The form came into existence long before attention spans and short-form content entered our daily vocabularies and I believe it’ll have value in the future as well. For flash (usually defined as…

April 6, 2026

44 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for April 2026

▾ Filter listings Fiction Poetry Contest Essay ✕ Showing all These are themed calls and contests for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some of the call themes are: rest is resistance; fledgling; paying tribute; war and geopolitical violence; power; paranormal noir; folk horror; savagery; November & December holidays; climbing high – speculative stories of female ambition;…

April 2, 2026

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Submissions in April 2026

This list focuses on ten publishers that we are excited about that are open to submissions this month. Some are only open for a short period of time, others will be open the whole month and beyond. At least four of these are presses we have not covered previously. Please note that if a publisher…

Creating Chemistry Between Your Characters

By Julie Shackman Chemistry between your characters in your writing is everything. If there’s no chemistry between the two, how can you expect your readers to believe that they find each other attractive and can fall in love? But how can you achieve chemistry between your characters? Light that Spark All romance novels need their…

Using Origin Stories to Sell More Books

By Rachel Carrington As crowded as today’s publishing market is, a good book may not stand out. Readers have so many options in their preferred genre. An outstanding description can catch their eye and help you make a sale, but oftentimes, if you’re a newer author, it’s difficult to get your foot in the door….

April 1, 2026

Grendel Press

Grendel Press’s tagline is that they are “dedicated to publishing the finest works in dark fantasy, horror, and dark romance”. You can learn more about the press here. They are named after the antagonist in Beowulf. They say “By choosing this name, we pay homage to the complexity of Grendel’s character and the questions his…

Affinity Rainbow Publications

This small press focuses on publishing lesbian and women’s fiction, mostly within the context of the romance genre. They do not publish work outside of these genres. They publish in two formats: eBooks and print on demand. You can go to their shop to see how many books they’ve published over the years, but the…

Modern Artist Press

This small Northern Virginia based press was founded in 2023. The press makes it clear that they are women owned and are committed to amplifying the work of writers and artists who are “women, nonbinary; Black, Indigenous, Latina/o/x, Arab, Asian; LGBTQ+; neurodivergent, disabled; multinational, multicultural, multidisciplinary; and those defining and redefining their identities”. They state,…