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 Ten Best Manuscript Publishers: 2016 Edition

There are a lot of publishers out there and it can be overwhelming to find the right ones. We help authors by reviewing one publisher a week. Some of these reviews are glowing, others are deservedly mixed. This year we were excited about most of the publishers we reviewed. We reviewed a larger proportion of…
Issue One Hundred Eighty Eight

Ten Wonderful New Literary Journals

The following is a list of 10 very new literary journals. There are many reasons to seek publication in these journals. In my experience, the benefits can be greater than publishing in a well established journal. When a literary journal is new the editors tend to be a lot more passionate. I have gotten handwritten…
Always open to submissions Creative Non Fiction Fiction Genre Literary Journals Music Paying Market Poetry Special Issue

Lyrical Press: Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Updated September 2025 Lyrical Press is an electronic only imprint of Kensington, a large independent publisher. Kensington and Lyrical both publish mainstream novels and seem to put a fair amount of pressure on the author to promote their books. They publish a large number of books per year. Lyrical publishes books in all romance genres…
Issue One Hundred Eighty One Manuscript Publishers Romance Women's Fiction

How to Make Time for Focused Writing

“All writers have this vague hope that the elves will come in the night and finish any stories.” ― Neil Gaiman Time for writing doesn’t make itself. This might seem like a ridiculously obvious statement, yet it is a trap writers fall into all the time, myself included. If you have a good writing habit…
Issue One Hundred Eighty One Special Feature

12 Great Publishers of Literary Non-Fiction

Literary nonfiction is an interesting genre. It can involve anything from a research based essay to a short personal story, to a combination of the two. Literary nonfiction can even have a fictional element, for the sake of the story of course. If you are writing a nonfiction book manuscript, particularly one that is a…
Special Issue

How Publishing Really Works

When I first approached publishing every part of it seemed overwhelming. Like most people I didn’t understand how publishing really worked. This is partially because it is portrayed inaccurately in most novels, for example The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair and I Regret Everything: A Love Story, and movies including The Proposal and Girl…
Special Issue

Turner Publishing Company: Now Seeking Submissions

Updated August 13th, 2025: Please note that the vanity press Turner Book Writers is in not linked to Turner Publishing and Turner Publishing has added a note about this to their about page and their submissions page, so they are aware of the situation. Turner publishes books in a wide range of categories and formats—fiction…
Children's Books Fiction Issue One Hundred Seventy Nine Non Fiction

Thirty Literary Journals That Pay Their Authors

“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…
Special Issue

HarperLegend: An Imprint of Harper Collins Is Now Accepting Submissions

UPDATE January 2019 – They have not been open to direct submissions for over a year and it seems unlikely that they will reopen to submissions at this point. HarperLegend is a digital first imprint from HarperOne which is itself an imprint of Harper Collins. What I mean by digital first is that they publish…
Issue One Hundred Seventy Eight Manuscript Publishers

21 Publishers Seeking Young Adult Manuscripts

Young adult is one of my favorite genres to read now, even though when I was a young adult myself, I really struggled finding good books. These days the young adult genre is profitable, diverse, and covers a wide variety of genres, from science fiction to romance and everything in between. A lot of young…
Special Issue

Chicago Review Press: Now Seeking Book Submissions

Last Updated October 2023 Chicago Review Press was founded over 40 years ago. They are an established independent publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction and memoir. They also publish books for children (but not picture books). They are only open to non-fiction in terms of  unsolicited submissions. They were founded by Curt Matthews and his wife,…
Children's Books Issue One Hundred Eighty Two Literary Fiction Manuscript Publishers Memoir Non Fiction

Arthur A. Levine Books: Now Accepting Book Manuscripts

Updated March 21st: Arthur Levine is leaving Scholastic and while his backlist will probably continue to be published by them, it seems unlikely that they will continue to publish new books. Levine will start a new publishing company in the next year. To learn more go here. An imprint of Scholastic Inc. Arthur A. Levine…
Children's Books Issue One Hundred Eighty Manuscript Publishers

Charlesbridge Publishing: Now Seeking Submissions

Charlesbridge publishes high quality books for children and young adults with the goal of creating lifelong readers and lifelong learners. In 2010 Charlesbridge acquired Imagine Publishing which expanded what they were able to offer. They now have extensive audio offerings. They also publish adult nonfiction, cookbooks, and puzzle books. Charlesbridge is still best known for…
Children's Books Issue One Hundred Seventy Six Manuscript Publishers Non Fiction Young Adult

Quirk Books: Now Seeking Book Manuscripts

This Philadelphia based press publishes just 25 books a year in a whole range of genres, from children’s books to nonfiction to science fiction. Unlike most publishers that tackle a large range of topics, Quirk books has a clear marketing plan and to a certain degree their books have a cohesive feel, because they all…
Children's Books Fantasy Fiction Issue One Hundred Seventy Four Manuscript Publishers Non Fiction Science Fiction Young Adult

3 Obvious Mistakes New Poets Make

This article is devoted to talking about and examining common mistakes new poets make. I should clarify the phrase “new poets” as used in this context. What I mean is poets new to publishing their work in literary journals. I actually made these mistakes for the first decade I wrote poetry. I did not understand…
Issue One Hundred Eighty Special Feature

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