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.

The One Simple Tool that Helped Me Sustain a Writing Practice

Over the last few years, I have found it harder and harder to carve time for myself to write. While sometimes I was able to sneak in a poem (or 30 during April, due to a supportive poetry month writing group), I particularly struggled with focusing in on longer manuscript length projects. As someone who…

10 Manuscript Publishers Open to Submissions in January 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…

The Other Side of the Desk: Collected Interviews

In December 2023, I launched a series of interviews that was very different than anything Authors Publish had ever done. We’ve always focused on reviewing presses and literary journals as well as sharing the stories of authors who were submitting and publishing their work. Our focus has never been on the perspective of editors (even…

A Quick Start Guide to Children’s and Young Adult Publishing

Writing for children and young adults is very different than writing for adults. Audience expectations are different. Picture books, for example, have completely different sub-genres than adult books. Whereas adult books have genres like science fiction and fantasy, picture books have sub-genres like fairy tale, alphabet, and bedtime books. There is a whole body of…

Verso: Accepting Proposals

Verso is the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world. They publish 100 books a year, and have editors based in Brooklyn, London, and Paris. They participate in all of the major book fairs. The majority what they publish is is nonfiction, and they are not open to unsolicited submissions of fiction of…

Quills & Quartos Publishing: Accepting Submissions

Quills & Quartos Publishing was founded in 2019. They started with a very specific vision, to focus on publishing the best Austenesque romance fiction. This is of course a niche market within a niche market, so if this is not the right fit for your work, please don’t submit or read further. However if you…

University Press of Mississippi: Accepting Submissions

The University Press of Mississippi was founded in 1970. They are currently the largest and only nonprofit publisher in the state. They are supported by Mississippi’s eight state-run universities. They publish work on a variety of subjects and are open to submissions in all nonfiction categories. They are not interested in fiction or poetry submissions….

Elk Lake Publishing Inc: Accepting Proposals

This small press’s motto is “Publishing the Positive”. They were founded in 2016 by Deb Haggerty, whom you can learn more about here. Elk Lake focuses on publishing positive Christian books. Their website is a little out of date, and poorly organized. Although the main page clearly focuses on highlighting recent books, I didn’t find…

77 Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (December 2024)

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….

24 Manuscript Publishers Always Open To Submission

Some publishers open and close their doors to submissions on a routine basis. It can be hard to determine if they are open or shut to submissions, and when you should submit. The following publishers, however, are always open to submissions from writers without agents or previous publishing experience. All of these publishers meet our…

Nine Manuscript Publishers Open to Submissions in December 2024

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…

Eight Exciting New Literary Journals (November 2024)

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…

Expanse: Accepting Submissions

Expanse is an imprint of Entwined Publishing, which focuses on publishing Romance that falls within the Science Fiction sub genre. Entwined Publishing used to be called The Totally Entwined Group. You can learn more about Entwined Publishing here. I really encourage you to read that review also for larger context about the company. One of…

Lawley Publishing: Accepting Submissions

Lawley Publishing is an Arizona-based press focused on publishing books for children. Their motto is “Kids’ books with heart”, and their logo, a book with a heart in it, echoes that sentiment. They publish children’s fiction and nonfiction picture books, early reader fiction and nonfiction chapter books, as well as middle grade fiction and nonfiction….

Parlor Press: Accepting Submissions

Parlor Press’s motto is “equipment for living”. They are an independent publisher and distributor of scholarly and trade books. They publish work in print, and digitally. They are only interested in submissions that are targeted specifically towards one of their existing book series. Their current series are as follows, but please double check their website…

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