Special Feature

A Craft Essay About Never Knowing How to Stop

By Sabyasachi Roy You ever notice how beginnings get all the glory? Everyone’s obsessed with “the hook.” Grab the reader by the collar, shake them, spill coffee in their lap. But endings—no one talks about the fact that endings are basically a con. Like… “wrap it up neatly.” Excuse me? I can’t even wrap Christmas…
Issue Six Hundred Fifty One Special Feature

Heads up! from a Short Story Judge

By E. L. TenenbaumOver the last while, I’ve done a few turns as a first-round judge for a few writing competitions, most recently for short stories. Usually, entries must undergo more than one round of judging, by more than one judge, before winners can be chosen. Across the board, almost all writing competitions juggle the…
Issue Six Hundred Fifty Special Feature

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in November 2025

This list focuses on ten publishers that we are excited about that are open to submissions this month. Some are only open for a short period of time, others will be open the whole month and beyond. At least four of these are presses we have not covered previously. Please note that if a publisher…
Issue Six Hundred Forty Nine Special Feature

Why You Should Write About Other People’s Writing

By Ratika Deshpande Some of the best writing I’ve done has been about the work of other writers. I’ve read their stories and compiled them into themed recommendation lists; I’ve written personal essays and deep dives into books that I couldn’t stop thinking about. It’s work that I’ve both enjoyed and am very proud of,…
Issue Six Hundred Forty Seven Special Feature

“This Has Already Been Said”

By Sabyasachi Roy Writers love declaring originality dead. “Everything worth saying has already been said,” they moan, as if the Muse herself retired early and moved to a quiet villa with no forwarding address. And maybe it’s true—most “big ideas” are ancient. Love hurts? Shocking. Time passes? Groundbreaking. Death is inconvenient? We’ve been singing that…
Issue Six Hundred Forty Six Special Feature

Self-Doubt as a Constant Companion

By Sabyasachi Roy Self-doubt doesn’t wait for failure. You don’t have to flop publicly or get rejected. Doubt shows up before all that, like it already read your draft and hated it. Some days it whispers. Other days it screeches: Who told you, you could write? Why does this matter? Who’s going to care? And…
Issue Six Hundred Forty Five Special Feature

Three Lessons From My First Podcast Tour

By Lory Widmer Hess I’m a writer, not a speaker. When I was in high school, an oral report was the assignment most likely to cause me to call in sick; now, though I have gotten over that total-panic reaction and become more at ease with talking in public, I still feel more comfortable with…
Issue Six Hundred Forty Four Special Feature

Rest, Burnout, and Permission

By Sabyasachi Roy  Burnout doesn’t knock. It just slips in, in a quiet manner, like the obedient nobody in a corporate setup. But somewhere down the line you start noticing. In a good, or bad, or in a neutral manner.  Burnout starts like that, maybe with a feeling when you think it’s just a phase…
Issue Six Hundred Forty Three Special Feature

Fifteen Wonderful Canadian Literary Journals

Authors Publish was founded in the United States, but has since moved to Canada. Our subscribers are based all over the world, with a majority based in the United States. A lot of the journals and publishers we cover are still based in the United States for two reasons. Some of the journals on this…
Issue Six Hundred Forty Three Special Feature

94 Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (September 2025)

This list of publishers meet our guiding principles, but are only open to free submissions from historically underrepresented writers or focus on publishing content produced by historically underrepresented writers. Some of these publications are open to a wide range of writers including writers of color, gender non-conforming and LGBTQ+ writers, and those living with disabilities….
Issue Six Hundred Forty Two Special Feature

Craft Lessons from Reading Hundreds of Short Stories

By Ratika Deshpande It’s an infallible rule that the more you read, the better you’re able to write (provided, of course, that you’re also doing a lot of writing). For about two years now, I’ve been reading science fiction and fantasy short stories and flash fiction to curate lists of recommendations for Reactor magazine. After…
Issue Four Hundred Forty Eight Issue Six Hundred Forty Two Special Feature

5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in September 2025

These magazines accept fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and comics. They are a mix of literary and genre magazines. Not all of these magazines are open through the month. WesterlyThis Australian magazine accepts fiction, poetry, creative as well as scholarly nonfiction, comics, and art. They are currently reading submissions for Issues 70.1 and 70.2.Deadline: 17 September 2025…
Issue Six Hundred Forty One Special Feature

Lessons from a Thousand Submissions

By Michael Theroux Casinos live on a thin margin of success, the ‘house edge’, yet the percentage is lucrative. That ‘casino advantage’ varies by game from less than 0.5 to about 5.25%; games with a low house edge pay out less than do games with a built-in higher advantage for the casino That’s a lot…
Issue Six Hundred Forty One Special Feature

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in September

This list focuses on ten publishers that we are excited about that are open to submissions this month. Some are only open for a short period of time, others will be open the whole month and beyond. At least four of these are presses we have not covered previously. Please note that if a publisher…
Issue Six Hundred Forty Special Feature

How to Find Publishers Open to Direct Submissions

Over a year ago we stopped releasing a new review of a publisher every week. We still review the same amount of publishers a month, but we release the four to five new publisher reviews as links on a longer list. This has helped decrease the amount of submissions publishers receive and the amount of…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Nine Special Feature

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