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.

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

March 3rd, 2026: They are currently paused to submissions for the first time since we reviewed them almost a decade ago. They plan to share an update in Spring 2026. 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…
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

12 Publishers That Offer Advances to Most Authors

An advance is a signing bonus  that is paid to the author before the book is published. It is paid against future royalty earnings. So for every dollar you receive in an advance, you have to earn a dollar from book sales before you receive any additional royalty payments. Most independent publishers do not offer…
Special Issue

Escape Pod: An Audio Science Fiction Magazine

Escape Pod publishes all of its stories in audio and text formats. They are a science fiction market but as they say in their submission guidelines “our mandate is fun.” They allow some flexibility to exist within the genre and they have published the occasional steampunk or superhero tale. But they are not interested in…
Fiction Genre Issue One Hundred Seventy Three Literary Journals

Three Themed Calls for Submissions

These three different calls for submission are all very different. The first one is my personal favorite and it is a paying market. The First Line: “In the six years I spent tracking David Addley, it never occurred to me that he didn’t exist.” The First Line is a literary journal that publishes short stories…
Issue One Hundred Seventy One

The Novice Mistake Most Writers Make When Submitting to Publishers

There is one mistake that most authors make when submitting their work to literary journals and magazines for the first time. It is a mistake I made the first time I submitted. It is a mistake that most of the serious authors I know made. What is that mistake? Is it a terrible cover letter?…
Issue One Hundred Seventy Eight Special Feature

Soft Skull Press: Now Seeking Book Manuscripts

Updated March 2020 Soft Skull Press is a small publisher of literary fiction and nonfiction currently based in New York. They publish a wide variety of quirky and well written work. They have published a number of well-known authors, including Maggie Nelson. They are a niche press. Their distributor is Publishers Group West. They are now…
Issue One Hundred Seventy Manuscript Publishers Memoir Non Fiction Offers Advances

How Often Should You Expect Rejection?

Various readers have emailed me over the years asking about how often they should expect to be rejected. They phrase it different ways. Sometimes they ask if a ratio of four rejections to every one acceptance is good. Sometimes they ask if one acceptance a year is good. The one single factor that affects your…
Issue One Hundred Seventy Special Feature

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