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.

Ethicool Books: Do Not Submit

UPDATED NOV 21st, 2023: It has been brought to our attention that some authors who submitted to Ethicool, have been told their work is a potentially a good fit with revisions and directed to a portion of Ethicool’s site labelled Manuscript Assessment. We do not condone this, and feel this is unethical behavior. Which is…
Children's Books Issue Five Hundred Forty Six Manuscript Publishers

riddlebird: Now Accepting Submissions

riddlebird is a beautiful electronic and print-based literary journal that was founded in 2022. They are focused on publishing creative nonfiction and short stories. They are not interested in flash or poetry. They publish a very small percentage of what they receive. Even though they are a newer journal, they are already respected. They nominate…
Creative Non Fiction Fiction Issue Five Hundred Forty Six Literary Journals

23 Memoir Publishers Open to Direct Submissions

Memoir publishers that don’t require an agent to submit are few and far between. However, there are still options out there.  Some are old and respected, others are new and still figuring things out. Not all the publishers on this list are currently open to submissions, but most are. Persea Books Persea Books is an…
Memoir Special Issue

Agora Books: Now Accepting Manuscript Queries

Update April 28th 2024: They have closed their doors along with Polis Books. All that we know is shared in an update to the Polis Review. Agora Books is a  diversity-focused imprint of Polis Books, devoted to crime and noir fiction. In 2018, Publishers Weekly published this article about the initiative, and in 2019 Agora…
Issue Five Hundred Forty Five Manuscript Publishers Mystery

Hamilcar Publications: Now Accepting Manuscript Proposals

Hamilcar Publications is a small Boston-based nonfiction publisher. They are primarily focused on the following categories: professional boxing, true crime, hip-hop, and jazz. It was founded by an experienced editor, and an experienced book designer. You can learn more about the company here. They are distributed by the Two Rivers Press imprint of Ingram, which…
Issue Five Hundred Forty Four Manuscript Publishers Non Fiction

Ylva Publishing: Accepting Manuscripts

Updated September 9th, 2025: They are having serous website security issues at this time. Ylva Publishing is the home of lesbian fiction and fiction about women-loving-women, and not surprisingly given the context, they only publish women.  They mainly publish romance genre, but they are open to other genres, including historical fiction, crime, action, mystery, young…
Historical Fiction Issue Five Hundred Forty Four Manuscript Publishers Romance Young Adult

Nine Exciting New Literary Journals (Fall, 2023)

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…
Special Feature

Tenebrous Press: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Updated November 4th, 2025 Tenebrous Press is a publisher of “New Weird Horror, and New weird SF&F, and other dark and strange genre mashups.” They know this genre is one that needs further definition, because they have an entire page of their website devoted to defining it. You can see that webpage here if you…
Horror Issue Five Hundred Forty Three Manuscript Publishers

Orbit Works: Open to Direct Submissions

Orbit Works was founded in April 2023, as a new imprint of Hachette/Orbit that is focused on digital publishing. This includes both eBooks and audiobooks. You can read the PR statement about the imprint here. It is led by Orbit Executive Editor Brit Hvide and Editor Stephanie Clark. Orbit Works, like Orbit, is based out…
Fantasy Issue Five Hundred Forty Two Science Fiction

24 Respected Literary Journals and Magazines

The literary journals and magazines on this list reject the vast majority of what is submitted to them. Sometimes established authors’ works are rejected for years, decades even, before they receive an acceptance. But these literary journals are respected and trusted. Most have a large readership and good distribution in libraries and bookstores. Many of…
Special Issue

Mirror World: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Update July 22, 2025: On July 21st Mirror world sent out the following email to their subscribers, announcing that they are closing their doors at the end of the year, as well as alluding to an incident on FB, I don’t know the details of. I have cut and pasted the email below. We were…
Fantasy Issue Five Hundred Forty One Manuscript Publishers Romance Science Fiction

Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers this October

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….
Issue Five Hundred Forty One

50 Specialized Manuscript Publishers that Accept Direct Submissions

All of the presses on this list meet all of our guiding principles, but most of them have such a specific focus that we cannot justify writing a full review and sending it to our full list of subscribers. But they are still good publishers. Instead, we have compiled this list of mini-reviews. I have also…
Special Issue

Love Inspired & Love Inspired Suspense: Now Open to Manuscript Queries

Love Inspired is an imprint of Harlequin that focuses on the Christian romance market. They describe themselves as publishing “Contemporary inspirational romances that feature Christian characters facing the many challenges of life and love in today’s world. You can see the catalogue for this imprint here. Love Inspired Suspense is an imprint of Harlequin that…
Christian Issue Five Hundred Forty Romance

Agent Scams: Increasingly Widespread

Over the summer and in the past few months, it has been increasingly common for legitimate agent websites to look a little like this: The Book Group website, screenshot taken October 2nd, 2023. In the past there has always been an issue with fake literary agents charging money (you can read more about that here),…
Issue Five Hundred Forty

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