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.

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

15 Respected Literary Journals and Magazines that Publish Creative Writing

The literary journals and magazines on this list reject the vast majority of what is submitted to them. But they are respected and trusted. Most have a large readership. Many of these are the journals and magazines that the editors of publications like The Best American Short Stories read through to select work from. Acceptances…
Special Issue

Three Anthologies Seeking Submissions: Mom, Nelson Mandela, and Knights

The three anthologies we are featuring this week are very different. One is part of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series. It is open to submissions until September 30th. The other is an anthology of poems about Nelson Mandela, with an open ended deadline. The final one is an anthology of LGBTQIA stories about Knights….
Issue One Hundred Sixty Nine

Lakewater Press: Now Seeking Manuscript Submission

UPDATED March 17th 2021: Lakewater Press is closing in 2021. Lakewater Press is a newer eBook and print on demand (POD) publisher. They were founded in early 2015. They publish a wide variety of fiction. They appear to be open to all genres of fiction including young adult, new adult (18-30), and romance. It is…
All Genres Issue One Hundred Sixty Nine Manuscript Publishers New Adult Romance

Why Writers Need To Be Readers

“You have to read widely, constantly refining (and redefining) your own work as you do so. It’s hard for me to believe that people who read very little (or not at all in some cases) should presume to write and expect people to like what they have written, but I know it’s true. If I…
Issue One Hundred Sixty Nine Special Feature

Poetry Magazine: Always Seeking Poetry Submissions

Poetry Magazine was founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912. The magazine established a reputation early on by publishing many important poems of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, and many others. Since then it has presented, sometimes for the first time, poems by almost every significant poet of…
Always open to submissions Issue One Hundred Seventy Two Literary Journals Paying Market Poetry

Clarkesworld Magazine: Accepting Science Fiction and Fantasy

Clarkesworld Magazine is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine that publishes short stories, interviews, articles and audio fiction on a monthly basis. Electronic issues are available to read online or through subscription on their website.  All original fiction is also published in paperback. They are currently accepting art, nonfiction, and…
Creative Non Fiction Fiction Genre Issue One Hundred Seventy One Literary Journals

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