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.

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

Theme of Absence: Now Seeking Speculative Fiction

Theme of Absence publishes speculative flash fiction and the occasional longer piece. All styles are welcome, including humor, as long as the story includes elements of horror, science fiction, or fantasy.  Spine tingling ghost stories are just as welcome as robots and spaceships. Theme of Absence is an online literary journal that is approachable. They…
Fiction Genre Issue One Hundred Ninety Three Literary Journals

The Next Great Horror Writer Contest

The Next Great Horror Writer Contest is a fee free competition running this spring. It is being hosted by the HorrorAddicts.net podcast. Think of The Next Great Horror Writer Contest as Project Runway for horror writers. Except it is a podcast, so there is no need for anyone to be on camera. Writers are put…
Issue One Hundred Ninety Three Special Feature

9 Famous Authors Who Didn’t Get Published Until Their Fifties (Or Older)

Often people tell me they are too old to become a writer. Sometimes these people are in their thirties or forties, sometimes they are in their fifties and sixties. But the fact remains the same, no matter how old you are, you are not to0 old to become a writer. Many authors started writing later…
Issue Two Hundred Thirty Five Special Feature

28 Traditional Publishers Seeking Children’s Books

Updated Dec 12th, 2019 Our updated and expanded 2018 list of traditional children’s book publishers is available here. All of the publishers on this list publish children’s books. Some just publish picture books, some publish only middle-grade fiction, and some publish a wide variety of genres aimed at adults as well. Some are looking for…
Special Issue

Forever Yours: Now Accepting Book Submissions

Forever is the romance imprint of Grand Central Publishing. Grand Central Publishing is an imprint of the Hachette Book Group, one of the big five publishers. Forever Yours is the digital sister of Forever, they focus on publishing unagented authors, and often publish authors without a publication history. They publish eBooks, but they an option…
Issue One Hundred Ninety Two Manuscript Publishers Paranormal Romance

25 Literary Journals That Publish Genre Writing

Most literary journals are interested in literary work, by which they mean, not genre work. The dictionary definition of genre is “a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.” However, in the context of writing, genre can refer to poetry, prose or nonfiction in…
Special Issue

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