Articles by Emily Harstone

Emily Harstone is the pen name of a published writer. Her work has been published in ten countries, four continents, by over fifty different journals. She is a professional submissions adviser and editor. If she owned a dog it would be named Wystan.

Nine Terrific New Literary Journals (October, 2025)

In my experience, there are many reasons to seek publication in journals that have been around for less than a year. When a literary journal is new, the editors tend to be a lot more passionate. I have gotten handwritten thank you cards from editors of new publications, something that has never happened when my…

90 Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (October 2025)

This list of publishers meet our guiding principles, but are only open to free submissions from historically underrepresented writers or focus on publishing content produced by historically underrepresented writers. Some of these publications are open to a wide range of writers including writers of color, gender non-conforming and LGBTQ+ writers, and those living with disabilities….

22 Terrific Small Presses Open to Direct Submissions

We review a lot of wonderful small presses here, and we also list even more here, here, and here (although some of these lists include large presses also). We also feature a lot of these presses in our biannually updated guide, which you can download here. This list doesn’t include all of our favorites, but…

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in October 2025

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…

Fractured Mirror Publishing: Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Fractured Mirror Publishing is a small press founded in 2020. They focus on publishing novels that fall in the speculative fiction category. This includes, but is not limited to, the following genres: dystopian, fantasy, urban fantasy, and science fiction. You can get a good feel for what they are interested in by visiting their catalog…

Deep Hearts Jr.: Accepting Manuscript Queries

Deep Hearts YA, an imprint of Deep Desires Press, is launching a new sub-imprint called Deep Hearts Jr. Deep Hearts Jr. will focus on publishing middle grade (or MG) books for readers between the ages of 8-12.  They will be focusing mostly on publishing LGBTQ+ middle grade fiction, in all genres and sub-genres. The other…

Toplight Books: Accepting Book Proposals

Toplight Books is an imprint of McFarland & Company Inc. The books Toplight publishes focus on “helping readers improve their understanding of the body, mind and spirit. Toplight’s interests include uplifting and positive books about psychology and mindfulness, religious studies and spirituality, coping with chronic pain and chronic stress, and alternative health treatments, among other…

Exposit Books: Accepting Book Proposals

Exposit Books is an imprint of McFarland & Company Inc. Exposit books focuses on publishing work that focuses on a popular topics, like serial killers, and approaches that subject seriously. They encourage proposals for nonfiction manuscripts on a wide range of true crime subjects, including but not limited to: murder, serial killers, heists, robberies, abductions, kidnappings,…

72 Specialized Publishers Open to Manuscript Submissions

All of the presses on this list meet all of our guiding principles, but some of them have such a specific focus that we cannot justify writing a full review and sending it to our full list of subscribers. Some of them we have full reviews on. There is no particular organization to this list….

Fifteen Wonderful Canadian Literary Journals

Authors Publish was founded in the United States, but has since moved to Canada. Our subscribers are based all over the world, with a majority based in the United States. A lot of the journals and publishers we cover are still based in the United States for two reasons. Some of the journals on this…

Querencia Press: Seeking Manuscript Submissions

Querencia Press is a small press that describes themselves by saying “Querencia Press is an independent publisher from the Chicago-land area amplifying marginalized voices & creating a safe space for writers and artists to share their stories. We are especially interested in work that has been looked over in the past and challenges conventional genre…

Harlequin Special Edition: Seeking Manuscript Submissions

Harlequin Special Edition is an imprint of Harlequin, which is an imprint of Harper Collins. We have also reviewed a number of their other imprints previously, including Afterglow Books, Carina Press, Mills & Boon, Love Inspired & Love Inspired Suspense, Harlequin Historical, Harlequin Heartwarming, Harlequin Medical Romance, and Harlequin Intrigue. All of the different imprints…

Lund Humphries: Seeking Book Proposals

Lund Humphries’ tagline is “Publishers on Art, Architecture, and Design since 1939”. It is easy to get a feel for what they publish here. They are an established and respected independent publisher. Their books are beautiful and widely distributed. They publish books by Visual Arts scholars, professionals, students and art enthusiasts. It’s easy to see…

Castle Books: Seeking Book Proposals

Castle Books is an imprint of the Quarto Publishing Group. While you can still submit to the publishing group as a whole, their submission guidelines encourages authors to determine which imprint is the best fit for them, and to include that information as part of the submission process. Castle Books says “our mission is to…

84 Manuscript Publishers with Geographic Limitations

We generally only review presses that accept work without geographic limitations on who can submit, but this list includes many publishers who do have geographic requirements. We have never fully reviewed most of these presses because of their geographic limitations, but they are still good presses. Most of the presses on this list accept work…

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