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.

Page Street Publishing: Now Accepting Book Submissions

Page Street Publishing is a publisher of full color, mostly hardcover, gift books, cookbooks, and craft-books. Most of them have an important visual component. To get a good feel for what they have published in the past you can go here. They are distributed through Macmillan in every country but Canada (where they have a…
Children's Books Cookbooks Gift Books Issue Two Hundred Four Manuscript Publishers Young Adult

Clarion Books: Now Accepting Book Submissions

Updated January 2019 – Clarion Books seems to have permanently closed to direct submissions. Clarion Books is an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books, a publisher you have almost certainly heard of, as they are established, and have published many classics. None of Houghton Mifflin’s other imprints are open to unsolicited submissions, just Clarion. Clarion…
Children's Books Issue Two Hundred Three Manuscript Publishers

Capstone Publishing: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Capstone Publishing’s motto is “Loved by kids. Trusted by librarians.” This is for a reason: For a long time they have been one of the most trusted publishers in terms of helping children learn to read and learn to love reading. They have been focused on this specific market for over twenty years. It is…
Children's Books Issue Two Hundred Two Manuscript Publishers

BlazeVOX: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Update January 2023: They have a history of not responding to submissions they are not interested in, even though this is not part of their submission guidelines. Many authors find this frustrating, so please keep this in mind when approaching them. BlazeVOX [books] presents innovative fictions and wide ranging fields of contemporary poetry. Our books…
Issue Two Hundred One Literary Fiction Manuscript Publishers Poetry

The Black Napkin: Now Seeking Poetry Submissions

The Black Napkin, an online poetry journal launched in 2016, is now seeking submissions for their upcoming issues. They are looking for poetry penned with urgent strength, poetry that needs to be heard. They like writing that disrupts the borderlines of genre and identity, and they actively seek work by marginalized poets–people of color, people…
Issue Two Hundred One Literary Journals Poetry

Parvus Press: Accepting Full Manuscript Submissions

UPDATED April 7, 2021: Their site is listed as under maintenance. This is a probably a bad sign but could be a good one. Updated August 25, 2020 – They are taking this summer to re-assess their strategies and decide which route to take forward. They will not be responding to submissions till early fall….
Fantasy Issue Two Hundred Issue Two Hundred Ninety Three Manuscript Publishers Offers Advances Science Fiction

Fifteen Literary Journals That Respond Within A Month

Submitting to journals with a quick response time is one of the best ways to stay motivated, not in terms of writing, but in terms of submitting. After all, if you submit to a journal and don’t hear anything (for up to a year) it is hard to feel motivated about submitting elsewhere. Yet journals…
Special Issue

Level Best Books: Accepting Submissions

 Updated October 31st, 2025 – We’ve received one report of an improved situation at Level Best, with new editors and staff hired, and a more predictable schedule. It seems like things might be stabilizing, but we’d love to hear more. If you or anyone you know, knows more we really encourage you to reach out…
Issue One Hundred Ninety Nine Manuscript Publishers Mystery

Black Lyon Publishing: Accepting Book Manuscripts

Black Lyon Publishing is a small but established publisher of out of Oregon. They started out publishing Romance, and then expanded into nonfiction. Currently they are only accepting submissions of Thrillers as well as a variety of non-fiction. I am not a huge fan of the covers or of the design of the website, but…
Issue One Hundred Ninety Eight Manuscript Publishers Non Fiction Thrillers True Crime

Diversion Books: Now Accepting Book Submissions

UPDATED April 16 2021: Writer’s Beware has additional details in depth and substantiated about the issue. There is a later update on the post that makes it clear some authors received payment but it’s not clear if the issue was fully resolved. UPDATED April 11 2021: International Thriller Writers has suspended Diversion from its list…
Fantasy Fiction Horror Issue One Hundred Ninety Six Manuscript Publishers Mystery Non Fiction Science Fiction Young Adult

Loveswept & Flirt: Now Accepting Book Manuscript Queries

January 2019: Loveswept announced over Twitter, that they are going to close. Website not updated yet. No updates on Flirt, but they are not included in the 2019 Manuscript Publishers Guide. Loveswept and Flirt are Random House’s digital only imprints focused on romance and women’s fiction. They are accepting queries for submissions in contemporary romance,…
Chick Lit Erotica Issue One Hundred Ninety Five Manuscript Publishers New Adult Women's Fiction

11 Book Publishers Open to Simultaneous Submissions

A common complaint: It takes too long to publish a novel via traditional publishing. First you have to find an agent, then that agent has to find you a publisher, and none of the publishers or agents take simultaneous submissions, so all this takes years. In fact that is not true. You can use an…
Special Issue

SMP Swerve: Now Accepting Book Submissions

UPDATED: They appear to be no longer open to unagented submissions. St Martin’s Press is an imprint of Macmillan, one of the big 5 publishers. SMP Swerve is the digital first romance publishing imprint of St Martin’s. ‘Digital first’ is a term applied to publishers and imprints that initially publish eBooks and then depending on…
Issue One Hundred Ninety Four Manuscript Publishers Romance

The Seven Most Common Manuscript Submission Mistakes

When I talk to agents, writers, and editors I always hear them complain of the same mistakes over and over again. The other day I was reading a back issue of Poets & Writers, and based on the question “What kind of submissions do you not take seriously?” (I am paraphrasing here) I was able…
Special Issue

Alibi: A Digital First Imprint of Random House

Updated January 2019 – They have not been open to direct submissions for over a year and their web page is down. I do not think they are going to re-open to direct submissions at this point. Alibi is Random House’s digital first imprint that focuses on publishing mysteries and thrillers. This is a great…
Issue One Hundred Ninety Three Manuscript Publishers Mystery

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