Special Feature

The Reader Reply Effect: How Author Newsletters Turn Readers into Story Partners

By Lynne Curry Many authors treat newsletters as promotional tools. Announce the new book. Share the launch date. Offer a link. Beg for subscribers. Something different happens when a newsletter stops acting like a broadcast and serves a truer purpose—a conversation with readers. Then, when readers reply, they share reactions, emotional truths, and moments from…
Issue Six Hundred Eighty Seven Special Feature

Writing After Reading Someone Better Than You

Nothing inspires writers quite like temporary artistic devastation. You finish a brilliant book and immediately develop the emotional posture of a boiled shrimp. The symptoms arrive fast. Sudden silence. Mild nausea. Looking at your own draft like it personally insulted your mother. You reread one of your sentences — some hardworking little sentence that seemed…
Issue Six Hundred Eighty Six Special Feature

Does This Help Me Write?

Ratika Deshpande In the beginning, it makes sense that we look to other writers to guide us. We’re navigating a new skill, which is both an art and a craft, something that is taught but is also thought to be unteachable in some ways. So we read essays and memoirs and interviews, hoping to learn…
Issue Six Hundred Eighty Six Special Feature

Writing When the Spark Fades Out Too Early

By Abdulraheem Jameel Ango The last mile may be the longest, but many stories never survive the first mile. This isn’t always because the writer lacks effort or the ideas are weak. Sometimes, it’s due to the spark of motivation dying out too early. Finishing the first mile determines whether we’ll ever reach the end….
Issue Six Hundred Eighty Four Special Feature

Ten Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in July 2026

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 Eighty Three Special Feature

How to Write Like an Investigator: A Strategy That Keeps Me Writing Seven Days a Week

By Itto Outini Maybe it’s because my background is in journalism, but I do not get writer’s block. When I first started writing fiction, I thought this was normal, but after meeting many seasoned writers, all of whom report experiencing writer’s block at one time or another, I realized there was something different about the…
Issue Six Hundred Eighty Two Special Feature

Ten Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in June 2026

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 Seventy Nine Manuscript Publishers Special Feature

Writing Stakes Without Raising the Volume

Every workshop has that guy. “Can’t you just blow something up?” As if volume equals importance. Loud feels like stakes. But I’m more interested in the moment someone almost tells the truth and then swallows it. That tiny swallow? That’s dynamite. No smoke. Still wreckage. We’ve been trained to look for spectacle. Hostages. Deadlines ticking…
Issue Six Hundred Seventy Eight Special Feature

81 Publishing Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (May 2026)

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 Seventy Seven Special Feature Uncategorized

5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in May 2026

These magazines pay for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They’re open now, or will soon open for submissions. The Stinging FlyThis Ireland-based journal is open for submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry for their Winter 2026-27 issue. They also accept translations. They also have a submission FAQ page.Deadline: 20 May 2026 (5 pm Irish time)Length:…
Issue Six Hundred Seventy Six Paying Market Special Feature

Why I’m No Longer Chasing 100 Rejections Every Year

Back when I first decided to actively start sending my work out into the world—instead of making 2 submissions per year—Kim Liao’s viral article, “Why You Should Aim for 100 Rejections a Year” came to me at just the right time. Although I’d not been as much of a perfectionist back then, my goals were…
Issue Six Hundred Seventy Six Special Feature

How to Ace the Rejection Game

By Mandira Pattnaik It is not advisable for the well-published authors to view the plight of newbie, emerging writers as they grapple with the onslaught ravaged upon them by editors and publishers who view them less as blood-and-bone humans and more as names and email addresses. Neither is it advisable for those said nameless and…
Issue Six Hundred Seventy Five Special Feature

The Three Lies We Tell Ourselves About Time

By Lorraine Horsley When I was kid, I wrote for the joy of it. I got A grades in English. My stories were often read out in class. I was good at writing. My report cards said so. I’d write stories for fun in my spare time. And I always found the time. Fast forward…
Issue Six Hundred Seventy Four Special Feature

How I Published in 50 Litmags in Less Than a Year: A Strategy That Works

By Itto Outini How would you feel if someone were to send you a gift that doesn’t work for you at all: a piece of clothing that doesn’t fit, for instance, or a cookbook containing only meals that violate your dietary restrictions, or a piece of memorabilia that’s wildly out of step with your home…
Issue Six Hundred Seventy Two Special Feature

Constraint as Creative Engine

Every time someone tells me, “Just write whatever you want,” my brain goes blank. Whatever I want? That’s too many doors. I stand in the hallway like an idiot, turning the knob of each one, accomplishing nothing. Give me a lock. Give me a rule. Five hundred words. Hard stop. I remember thinking, that’s nothing….
Issue Six Hundred Seventy One Special Feature

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