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.

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

Updated October 21st, 2025 CLASH Books started in 2015. They publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They are looking for books with ” an exciting cultural hook”‘ 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…
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. 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. Writers that publish…
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

44 Literary Journals That Pay

“It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it.” W.H. Auden As someone who makes their living writing about writing and publishing, I can attest to how truthful Auden’s quote is. It is hard making a…
Calls for Submissions

Piccadilly Press: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

UPDATED MARCH 31st 2021: They are no longer considering direct submissions. Piccadilly Press is an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, one of the biggest publishers in the UK. They focus on publishing work for kids between the ages of 8-12. None of their other imprints are not open to unsolicited submissions, but Piccadilly is. They…
Children's Books Issue Three Hundred Thirty Three Manuscript Publishers

26 Manuscript Publishers With Geographic Restrictions

All of the presses on this list meet all but one of our guiding principles. All of these presses only accept work from writers with a specific geographic region or nationality. Because of that we have never reviewed these presses, but they are still good presses. This is our update of the initial list, which…
Special Issue

Jaded Ibis Press: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Jaded Ibis press allows international submissions from women, writers of color, writers with disabilities, queer writers, as well as other marginalized and disenfranchised writers. They currently publish prose, both in terms of fiction and non-fiction. They want work to be well written and also contain ideas that contribute to the progress of social justice. Jaded…
Issue Three Hundred Thirty Two Literary Fiction Manuscript Publishers

New Harbinger: Now Accepting Manuscript Queries

New Harbinger is an established publisher of self-help books that focus on psychology, health, and personal growth. The books they publish are grounded in science, research, and clinical practice. They publish self help books, psychology workbooks, professional books, memoirs, and gift books, all focused on mental health. Many but not all of their books are…
Issue Three Hundred Thirty One Manuscript Publishers Memoir Non Fiction

The Permanent Press: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Updated August 11th, 2023: They recently announced “To streamline the review process and become more efficient, we are now only accepting electronic submissions in the form of a PDF and ask for a $25 submission fee. We feel it’s a nominal fee to cover our printing and ink costs and relatively the same as if…
Fiction Issue Three Hundred Thirty Manuscript Publishers Mystery

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