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.

22 Memoirs that Every Aspiring Memoir Author Should Consider Reading

As a writer, I’m a firm believer that you should also be a reader. I think the best way to learn the craft of writing is to read. I also believe that it’s important to be well-read in your chosen genre. It’s easier to pick up the tools of that genre if you are reading…

Golden Storyline Books: Now Accepting Manuscript Queries

Note: Usually we keep our updates in chronological order starting with the most recent at the top and the oldest at the bottom but because of the amount of updates required here, and their relationship to each other, we’ve condensed and reorganized all the updates to go here. The latest update for this note, is…

31 Publishers that Accept Direct Submissions of Speculative Fiction

Speculative fiction is generally defined as a genre of fiction where the setting is not in the world as we know it because of supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements. Three genres are covered by this umbrella term: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. This term is used to cover work that doesn’t fit exactly in one…

Blue Star Press: Accepting Proposals

Updated August 1st, 2024 Blue Star Press is based out of Bend, Oregon, and is distributed by Penguin Random House Publisher Services. The work they publish includes work focused “on the arts, creative processes, wellness, and witty non-fiction”. They were founded in 2015 in San Antonio Texas. They link to press coverage about their books…

Flyaway Books: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Flyaway Books is a children’s book publisher focused only on children’s picture books. The focus of their books is on “diversity, inclusivity, compassion, care for each other, and care for our world”. They are an imprint of Westminster John Knox Press which is part of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, but many of the books that…

21 Literary Journals Focused on Limited Demographics

This list focuses on a wide variety of journals that are seeking specific kinds of writers, including older writers, working class writers, the incarcerated, Italian Americans, veterans and their families, women writers, and Southern writers. Some of these limitations are geographic, some are not. Some publications have stricter guidelines than others. Not all are currently…

Repeater Books: Open to Manuscript Submissions

Updated August 8th 2024: They appear to have removed their submission guidelines from their website and appear to be no longer open to submissions. Repeater Books was founded in 2014 by Mark Fisher, Tariq Goddard, Etan Ilfeld, and others, as an imprint of Watkins publishing, which has been around since 1983. You can learn more…

G Editions: Now Accepting Book Proposals

G Editions is a small press that focuses on publishing books in the following areas of interest: fine art and popular culture, fashion and photography, architecture and design, cooking and gardening, children’s interests, and lifestyle. Their website is beautiful, easy to use, and well organized. It is focused on selling books, and you can get…

What is a Chapbook + 11 Chapbook Publishers

Chapbooks are very small books, usually between 15-30 pages in length, 50 at the most. They frequently have no spine and are often bound with staples but they can also be bound with ribbon or thread. They have been around for a long time, at least since the 16th century, when they were associated with…

Gingko Press: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Updated June 23, 2023 Gingko Press is a nonfiction publisher that has published work by a number of well known authors and brands. They are the official publisher of Marshall McLuhan and they have worked with his estate since 1999. You can read more about their other partnerships and imprints here. They were founded in…

The Unconventional Courier: Now Seeking Submissions

This literary magazine focuses on publishing stories and poems that “deal with human nature and philosophy.”  They accept short stories, novel chapters, poetry, and also dark/light academia themed work, philosophy themed work and human nature themed work. Their tag line is “heavy lit for heavy hearts and heavier minds”.  They also run a podcast and…

Tiny Ghost Press: Now Seeking Manuscript Submissions

Updated Sept 2, 2025 Tiny Ghost Press is a small press that focuses on publishing YA fiction that centers LGBTQIA+ characters. This means that in their own words, they want “YOUNG ADULT novels, written from a QUEER perspective, That is stories featuring a queer protagonist or from a queer author. We’re interested in everything from…

Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers this June

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….

52 Traditional Children’s Book Publishers Seeking Submissions (No Agent Required)

All of the publishers on this list publish children’s books. Some just publish picture books, some publish only middle-grade fiction, and some publish a wide variety of genres aimed at adults as well. Some are looking for educational work, others are open to anything. A number of these publishers are large and established. Others are…

Rogue Phoenix Press: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Founded in 2008 by a mother and son team, Rogue Phoenix Press is one of the few eBook focused and Print on Demand publishers that survived from that period. There’s an extensive thread on them in the water cooler at Absolute Write that is very informative. They originally forced authors to buy copies of their…

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