5 Ways to Get Out of a Writing Rut

Slump, funk, and rut are all names I have heard used more than once to describe that feeling writers get of being stuck. The details differ depending on the author, however many describe it as not writing anything new. Instead they are rehashing the same topic over and over again. Or, even if they are…

Sundress Publications Seeking Political Poetry for Anthology

Sundress Publications is a publishing collective that is responsible for a number of journals, anthologies, and manuscripts. They also run the annual Best of the Net Awards. This year they are putting together a collection of political poetry for publication. The anthology was inspired by and is a reaction to an essay published by NPR….

Quote of the Week

Dzanc Books: Open To Manuscript Submissions

UPDATE July 6th 2016: They now charge 25 dollars for all manuscript submissions. We do not recommend working with them based on this. Dzanc Books is a respected independent publisher that also owns and operates a wide variety of imprints, and literary journals, including the highly respected electronic journal The Collagist. Dzanc books is based…

Memoir Title Contest

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s writing contest! They are listed below. This week the challenge was to write a memoir title. It was brought to our attention that the original winner’s title was not original. So we have selected a new winner and runner up. We apologize for the initial mistake and any…

Joffe Books: Accepting Novel Submissions

Updated Febuary 2019 Joffe Books is an independent publisher based out of London. They were founded in 2013. The originally focused on publishing new e-books and making classic books and short stories available electronically. They started out publishing almost any genre, although over the last year they really focused in on crime and mystery fiction….

Quote of the Week

Writing Prompt: Not A Dream

Whenever I encounter dreams posing as reality at the beginning of TV shows or movies, or embedded into books, I am always frustrated. It is not as if I do not find dreams interesting, they are, but I hate how they can lead you in the wrong direction as an audience member or a reader….

Edge: Open To Submissions

Edge is a literary journal published yearly by Tahoe Writers Works. Edge is a beautifully presented print journal. They try to focus writing that bites, that has some sort of edge. They are open to genre, as long as the writing is high quality and pushes the boundaries in terms of expectations. Because Edge is…

The Six Word Short Story

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s writing contest! They are listed below. But first, a bit about our contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week, but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest winner…

Writing Prompt: Poem Around A Word

Everyone has a favorite word, or words. They are ones that easily come to mind and that we use a lot, generally. Although occasionally the word is one you really like but is not particularly useful, like Parabola or cloisonné. I want you to pick one of those words that belong to the second category….

Quote of the Week

Melville House: Open To Non-Fiction Manuscript Submissions

UPDATED April 1st 2019: They are no longer open to direct non-fiction submissions Melville House is a Brooklyn based publisher of literary fiction and non-fiction books. They are a respected and established independent press. They were founded in 2001 by sculptor Valerie Merians and fiction writer/journalist Dennis Johnson, in order to publish an anthology titled…

The Quotable: Open To Submissions

The Quotable is a quarterly literary journal. They publish both electronically and in print. They are currently open to submissions until the 1st of December. They publish short fiction, poetry, and creative non fiction. They focus on publishing work that is quotable. The issue they are currently reading for is themed. They are looking for…

The Indie Publishing Revolution

  We’re in the midst of the largest revolution in the publishing industry since the invention of the printing press. Recent changes to the publishing industry have given immense power to a market segment that until now largely has been ignored, indie authors. For those who don’t know, the term Indie is short for “independence”…