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.

ORO Editions: Accepting Book Proposals

ORO Editions publishes beautifully presented illustrated books with a focus on architecture, urbanism, landscape, art photography, academia & applied research among other things (they recently published a tarot deck, for example). Before reading any further I would suggest you visit their catalog here. It should make it abundantly clear if your proposal would be a…

Tuttle Publishing: Accepting Book Proposals

The Tuttle Publishing company was originally founded in 1832 in Vermont. This makes it one of the oldest American publishers still in operation. In 1948, the company established a publishing outpost in Japan, and since then they have become much more focused on producing English-language books about the arts, languages and cultures of Asia. In…

65 Specialized Publishers Open to Manuscript 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…

Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (February 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….

An Argument for Short Stories

“Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.’ — Ray Bradbury “A good [short story] would take me out of myself and then stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit.” -David Sedaris Writers who are serious about improving and developing their…

76 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…

9 Manuscript Publishers Open to Submissions in February 2025

This list focuses on nine 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…

Five Questions You Need to Ask Yourself Before Adopting a Pen Name

One of the questions I get asked the most is, “Should I use a pen name?” As someone who has used a pen name for over a decade, I think most people shouldn’t use a pen name. Now there are some legitimate reasons to use pen name, but for most writers pen names cause a…

Hurst: Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Hurst is a UK-based independent publisher that was founded in 1969. They only publish nonfiction and the core of their list focuses on “African Studies, Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies, South Asian Studies, History, War & Conflict, and International Relations.” Nonfiction work outside of those areas of study are not a good fit for them….

Harlequin Historical: Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Harlequin Historical is an imprint of Harlequin Romance, which is an imprint of Harper Collins. We have also reviewed a number of their other imprint previously, including Afterglow Books, Carina Press, Mills & Boon, Love Inspired & Love Inspired Suspense. All of the different imprints have clear focuses, and separate submission guidelines, and clear word…

Rockpool Publishing: Accepting Submissions

Rockpool Publishing is an established press with international distribution, largely through Simon & Schuster. They are based in Australia and their primary imprint is focused on “Mind Body Spirit; Health and Wellness; Self-help and Gift titles”. They publish books as well as Tarot, Oracle, and Affirmation card sets. Through their Gelding Street Press imprint they…

Hashtag Press: Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Hashtag Press was established in the UK in 2016 by Abiola Bella and Helen Lewis. They focus on publishing “commercial fiction books for young people that are plot driven with relatable, inspiring characters and great friendships”. You can get a feel for what they publish here. They very much prioritize stories about characters from underrepresented…

Cupid’s Arrow Publishing: Accepting Submissions

An imprint of Paper Angel Press, they are open to submissions, both of novel-length work and shorter pieces, in the Romance genre. For more information about how their press operates overall, please read our full review of Paper Angel Press, which we link to above. They are interested in all kinds of romance stories except…

102 Poetry Manuscript Publishers Accepting Submissions (2025 Update)

Most traditional poetry manuscript publishers charge their readers a fee to submit. You can read about why that is the case here. This article focuses on a number of poetry manuscript publishers who do not charge submission fees to writers, which is good news for poets. This is the longest and most accurate list of…

How to Find the Right Literary Agent for Your Book

Researching agents can be a time-consuming process, but you should never submit to an agent without first doing significant research. To me, research is the most important step of the submission process. It is vital because there is no point going through all the work of writing your manuscript and submitting, just to end up…

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