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.

9 Exciting New Literary Journals

In the last 6 months the following journals opened their metaphorical doors for the first time. A number of magazines on this particular list have specific focuses and areas of interest. It is great to submit to new journals as the editors tend to have more energy and enthusiasm. They also tend to be more…
Special Issue

The Sea of Tranquility: A Self-Publishing Success Story

The Sea of Tranquility was initially self-published by Katja Millay in 2012. Within only three weeks of being self-published, the novel was picked up by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. It went on to win the American Library Association’s Alex Award and A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. She…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Nine Special Feature

Unnamed Press: Now Accepting Manuscript Queries

Updated February 2025 Unnamed Press is an independent publisher of literary fiction and nonfiction, based in Los Angeles and founded in 2014. They have excellent distribution, their books have been reviewed in most major publications, and they know how to promote the books they publish. The books they publish focus on challenging conventions and assumptions….
Issue Three Hundred Forty Two Literary Fiction Manuscript Publishers Non Fiction

Jam & Sand: Accepting Submissions Year Round

Jam & Sand is a new electronic literary journal based out of Canada. They are open to international submissions. They publish poetry, flash fiction, and short stories. They also publish interviews, book reviews, and other articles, but they ask that you pitch those first. They have a beautiful online presence and the images they choose…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Two

The 10 Major Publishing Trends of 2019

I am starting off this article with a disclaimer. This article is not going to tell you what publishing trends are up and coming. I don’t know whether books about fairy pirates are going to be the new children’s book trend or not. That isn’t my area of expertise, and it is not where my…
Calls for Submissions Special Issue

Blue Moon Publishers: Now Accepting Manuscript Queries

Updated March 26, 2021: Their website is still operating but they have not published a new book in almost a year, I would not recommend submitting to them. Blue Moon is a boutique Canadian Publisher. They focus on publishing Literary Fiction and Women’s Fiction, as well as Young Adult and Middle Grade works. The stories…
All Genres Issue Three Hundred Forty One Literary Fiction Manuscript Publishers Science Fiction Women's Fiction Young Adult

Schaffner Press: Open to Manuscript Queries

Schaffner is an established press with distribution through IPG. They publish literary fiction, short fiction collections, and crime fiction. They also publish a wide variety of non-fiction including memoir, autobiography, biography, journalistic expose or narrative, true crime, art, culture, pop culture, world history, current events, science, and music. Schaffner Press is owned and managed by…
Fiction Historical Fiction Issue Three Hundred Forty Manuscript Publishers Memoir Mystery Non Fiction

Author Platforms: One Size Does Not Fit All

An “author platform” is your position as a writer, not just in terms of social media, but in terms of real-life connections and associations. More publishers and agents are asking for writers to talk about their author platforms as part of the query letter, and more small presses and agents are approaching authors that already…
Issue Three Hundred Forty Two Special Feature

17 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…
Special Issue

Three Rooms Press: Open to Submissions

Updated March 7th, 2024 Three Rooms Press is an independent press that is inspired by “Diversity, Dada, Punk, and Passion”. They were founded in 1994. They have good distribution and I’ve encountered their books in libraries and bookstores. You can learn more about their history here. They stress that. “Our press is inspired by diversity,…
All Genres Fiction Issue Three Hundred Thirty Nine Literary Fiction Manuscript Publishers Memoir Mystery

CLASH Books: Now Open to Manuscript Submissions

CLASH Books started in 2015, they also publish CLASH Magazine. They publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. CLASH Books is a small press but they attend major conferences like AWP and they host readings. They also offer wholesale discounts and they have provisional distribution via Ingram Spark. Their submission guidelines are very bare-bones and are as…
Issue Three Hundred Thirty Eight Literary Fiction Manuscript Publishers Non Fiction Poetry

Encircle Publications: Now Accepting Manuscript Queries

Encircle Publications is a small press that focuses primarily on publishing mainstream fiction and mystery novels. But they also publish some other genres including poetry. They’ve only been around since 2016, but they’ve published a fair number of books at this point. They started out only publishing mystery novels, but one of the owners is…
Fiction Issue Three Hundred Thirty Seven Manuscript Publishers Mystery Poetry

What is a Chapbook + 8 Chapbook Publishers

Chapbooks are very small books, usually no more than 30 pages in length, 50 at the most. They frequently have no spine and are often bound with staples. They have been around for a long time, at least since the 16th century, when they were associated with fiction, but now they almost always function as…
Special Issue

Bookouture: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Bookouture is a digital publisher that was purchased in 2017 by Hachette (you can learn more here). Bookouture was extremely successful in their own right. They started out in the UK but they have outposts in a number of countries now. They focus on publishing commercial fiction. They primarily publish women’s fiction, romance, thrillers, and…
Chick Lit Issue Three Hundred Thirty Six Manuscript Publishers Mystery Women's Fiction

Blink Publishing: Now Accepting Manuscript Queries

Updated March 16th 2020: No longer open to direct submissions. One of Blink Publishing’s taglines is “From the high profile to the leftfield, we publish across a broad spectrum of tastes and interests.” This does seem rather accurate based on their catalog. They publish a lot of memoirs, by people like Lilly Allen and Ollie…
Issue Three Hundred Thirty Four Manuscript Publishers Non Fiction

« Older Entries Newer Entries »