2 New Literary Agents Actively Seeking Fiction, Memoir, Pop Culture & more

Here are two new agents seeking writers. Caroline Eisenmann is looking for novels that address social issues, as well as memoir, history, essay collections and biography. Sarah Bolling is interested in fiction, especially featuring diverse characters, far-flung locales, or inventive narrative structure. Her taste also includes a range of nonfiction, including memoir, pop culture, psychology, sociology, and style.

As always, make sure to read the agency website and agent bio before submitting. The publishing world is in constant flux, and agents may switch agencies or change their submission requirements.

If these agents don't suit your needs, you can find a comprehensive list of over 100 agents actively seeking clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.
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Caroline Eisenmann of Frances Goldin Agency

Caroline Eisenmann joined the agency in 2017. Raised in the Boston area, she received an interdisciplinary degree focused on literature, history, and philosophy from Wesleyan University. She previously spent four years at ICM Partners building a list in literary and upmarket fiction and nonfiction. Her clients include Brandon Hobson, Kyle Chayka, Mari Passananti, Amanda Goldblatt, Robin Underdahl, and James Gregor. In addition to her agency experience, she has worked in marketing at the digital book publisher Open Road Integrated Media and held internships at The Paris Review and The Huffington Post.

What she is seeking: In fiction, Caroline is particularly drawn to novels that engage with social issues, stories about obsession, and work that centers around intimacy and its discontents. Her nonfiction interests include deeply reported narratives (especially those that take the reader into the heart of a subculture), literary memoir, cultural criticism, essay collections, and history and biography with a surprising point of view.

How to submit: Send a query letter to ce@goldinlit.com
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Sarah Bolling of The Gernert Company

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Sarah joined The Gernert Company in 2017 after working in editorial at Norton. Sarah majored in East Asian Studies at Brown University, and holds an MA in Comparative Literature from Goldsmiths, University of London. She lives in Manhattan.

What she is seeking: She’s looking to represent fiction blending literary ambition with genre sensibility, especially featuring diverse characters, far-flung locales, or inventive narrative structure. Her taste also includes a range of nonfiction, including memoir, pop culture, psychology, sociology, and style. 

How to submit: Queries by e-mail should be directed to:  info@thegernertco.com

Please indicate in your letter which agent you are querying. You can visit the "Our Team" section of this website to get a sense of who might be a good fit for your work. If you have previously corresponded with one of their agents and choose to query another, please let them know of any communication history in your letter.

An Insider's View of the Publishing Business

Random House: 1745 Broadway, NYC

A while ago, I ran across an article in New York Magazine by Daniel Menaker, a senior literary editor at Random House. The title caught my eye: What Does the Book Business Look Like on the Inside?

This is a question every aspiring author wants answered, especially if they are trying to make a choice between traditional and self-publishing. But as I read the article, I realized that it clarified my own experience with Random House, and it bolstered my decision to abandon the traditional publishing route with my subsequent books.

In order to get the full sense of what Menaker had to say about his experiences with the New Yorker, followed by Random House and HarperCollins, I ended up reading his entire book. It turned out to be quite enlightening, not just in terms of what publishers do, but how they manage to exist in an environment that is, to use Menaker's term, "insane."

What Editors Do

For twenty-six years, Menaker was an editor at the New Yorker, where he received and edited fiction by some of the outstanding writers of our time. When the New Yorker was purchased by Newhouse, and a new chief editor was appointed, fiction was moved to the rear, and Menaker was "offered" a job at Random House. (He says he was "recycled.") Before leaving he got this warning from John Sterling, an agent and publisher:

"You do realize that what you will be doing is essentially a sales job. If seventy-five per cent of what you do now is editing and reading and writing opinions about fiction and twenty-five is office stuff and meetings and so on, that percentage will be reversed." (p 143)

Nothing could be more true. We think editors at publishing houses edit. The truth is they spend most of their time responding to memos, developing profit-and-loss statements, figuring out advances, supplementing publicity efforts, fielding calls from agents, attending meetings, and so on. They edit on weekends and evenings, and on the train as they are commuting. As Menaker puts it, "You have to give up reading for pleasure." (p 168)

Insane Publishing

At one point, Menaker realized that most books published by Random House (and other publishers) are privished, rather than published (p 152). By "privished" Menaker means the publisher quietly suppresses books, whether intentionally or not. A book is privished when it is not promoted, when few copies are printed, and when the publisher essentially buries it.

Privishing has become the norm for publishers for various reasons, the first of which is that there are limitations on budgets. The second is that editors compete for those budgets.

"Now I have been senior literary editor at Random House for six months. I remain in many ways ignorant of the realities of book publishing. But it begins to dawn on me that if a company publishes a hundred original hardcover books a year, it publishes about two per week, on average. And given the limitations on budgets, personnel, and time, many of those books will receive a kind of “basic” publication. Every list—spring, summer, and fall—has its lead titles. Then there are three or four hopefuls trailing along just behind the books that the publisher is investing most heavily in. Then comes a field of also-rans, hoping for the surge of energy provided by an ecstatic front-page review in The New York Times Book Review or by being selected for Oprah’s Book Club. Approximately four out of every five books published lose money. Or five out of six, or six out of seven. Estimates vary, depending on how gloomy the CFO is the day you ask him and what kinds of shell games are being played in Accounting." 

A No-Can-Do Attitude

The negative attitude that editors develop about manuscripts and proposals is in part because budgets are limited, and is in part driven by competition. But mindless rejection is also an inherent feature of publishing. (Just look at these idiotic rejections of famous authors here, here, and here.) Menaker attributes the negativity of editors to the harsh realities of publishing, but you will notice there is a bit a glee in these comments. Editors are not only competing for budgets, they are engaged in what may be described as a pissing contest in snark.

"Publishing is an often incredibly frustrating culture. If you want to buy a project—let’s say a nonfiction proposal for a book about the history of Sicily—some of your colleagues will say, “The proposal is too dry” or “Cletis Trebuchet did a book for Grendel Books five years ago about Sardinia and it sold, like, eight copies,” or, airily, “I don’t think many people want to read about little islands.” When Seabiscuit first came up for discussion at an editorial meeting at Random House, some skeptic muttered, “Talk about beating a dead horse!” 

You're more likely to be "right" if you express doubts about a proposal's or manuscript's prospects than if you support it with enthusiasm." (p 164)

Putting the Random in Random House

The original impetus for Random House came from Bennet Cerf, who suggested publishing "a few random books on the side." Randomness has continued to be one of the publisher's defining features.

"[F]inancial success in frontlist publishing is very often random, but the media conglomerates that run most publishing houses act as if it were not. Yes, you may be able to count on a new novel by Surething Jones becoming a big best seller. But the best-­seller lists paint nothing remotely like the full financial picture of any publication, because that picture’s most important color is the size of the advance. But let’s say you publish a fluky blockbuster one year, the corporation will see a spike in your profits and sort of autistically, or at least automatically, raise the profit goal for your division by some corporately predetermined amount for the following year. This is close to clinically insane institutional behavior." (p 166, 167).

There is, in short, very little that is sensible about the decisions made by publishers. The question that comes to mind is: How can they continue to exist in the corporate world? (The answer to that question leads to yet another disturbing question: How can any corporation continue to exist given their counter-intuitive practices?)

Insiders and Outsiders

Menaker expresses his frustration with publishing, and with the seemingly contrary roles that editors hold, poignantly in this passage:

"I think it’s impossible to do an editor-in-chief’s job very well for any length of time. If I belong anywhere, it probably isn’t in publishing. But, then, I keep forgetting that this sense of dissatisfaction explains why work is called “work.”  ... When it comes to corporate life, especially at its higher altitudes, factors of all kinds tend to get tangled up with each other. And it’s impossible to untangle them, and pointless, and fruitless, to try." 

Publishing is a complicated affair, but unlike Menaker, I don't think it is "impossible, pointless, or fruitless" to try to untangle the factors that drive the insane world of publishing.

Underneath the ubiquitous background noise of runaway capitalist insanity, there is a counter-productive and equally insane attitude that publishers share with most professions. This can be summed up as "us against them."

Humans form groups - it's what we do as a species, and we wouldn't survive without the drive to congregate. One of the things groups do is identify insiders and outsiders. This can lead to some unfortunate consequences in societies that lack a broader concept of belonging. Police, whose function is to protect and serve, come to identify "their own" as insiders, and civilians (i.e. the public) as outsiders, and potential enemies. Medical professionals end up treating patients as outsiders, people who do not share the rights, or respect, offered to their own group. Politicians end up treating their constituents as opponents, as people they need to manipulate, dominate, or avoid, rather than represent.

Following right along, publishers identify writers as "outsiders," as "them," even though their income depends on the people they publish. This, I believe, is a significant component of the attitude that is shared almost universally among publishers, and which Menaker so eloquently describes in his book. The drawback to this adversarial attitude, particularly as it relates to publishing, is one I attempted to explain in my first meeting with my editor at Random House.

"You sell ideas," I said. "And that is what makes publishing different."

I don't think she understood what I was trying to say. But, there is a good chance Menaker does.
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Excerpts are from My Mistake: A Memoir, ­published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. © 2013 by Daniel Menaker.

2 New Literary Agents Seeking Nonfiction: Cooking, History, Memoir, Current Events & more

Here are two new agents seeking nonfiction. Luba Ostashevsky (Ayesha Pande Literary) is interested in nonfiction projects that can instill in readers a sense of wonder about the world as well as those that highlight individuals or problems that we seldom see, or projects that transport us in time or place, or provide distance on the familiar. Rica Allannic (David Black Agency) is interested in cooking, narrative nonfiction, popular culture, history, and memoir projects, as well as in helping authors from diverse backgrounds tell stories that are important to them.

As always, make sure to read the agency website and agent bio before submitting. The publishing world is in constant flux, and agents may switch agencies or change their submission requirements.

If these agents don't suit your needs, you can find a comprehensive list of over 100 agents actively seeking clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.

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Luba Ostashevsky of Ayesha Pande Literary

Luba Ostashevsky has worked in book publishing for over 15 years, most recently as senior editor at Palgrave Macmillan, where she edited the popular science list under the Macmillan Science imprimatur. She then went on to science publishing, first as deputy editor at Nautilus magazine; then as freelance writer, contributing to publications such as Aeon, Mental Floss, Popular Science, Al Jazeera, and the Hechinger Report.

What she is seeking: Luba is interested in nonfiction projects that can instill in readers a sense of wonder about the world as well as those that highlight individuals or problems that we seldom see, or projects that transport us in time or place, or provide distance on the familiar. That includes titles that will sit on the science, current events, and history shelves.

How to submit: Fill out the form on the website HERE.

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Rica Allannic of David Black Agency

A graduate of the New York City public school system and Yale University, Rica worked in professional kitchens for five years (Daniel and Picholine) before being lured into book publishing by Scribner, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. In 2005, she joined Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, where she became Vice President and Executive Editor, specializing in acquiring and editing illustrated cookbooks and narrative nonfiction. Authors with whom Rica was privileged to work include David Chang of Momofuku; Peter Meehan of Lucky Peach magazine; Christina Tosi of Milk Bar; French blogger and tastemaker Mimi Thorisson; bestselling author Luke Barr; Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa; and restaurateur and The Chew cohost Michael Symon. Rica brings her love of food and everything French to her role as a literary agent.

What she is seeking: Rica is interested in cooking, narrative nonfiction, popular culture, history, and memoir projects, as well as in helping authors from diverse backgrounds tell stories that are important to them.

How to submit: You may query Rica by email. Please summarize your book idea and include in the body of your email your proposal and, if appropriate, a sample chapter (no attachments, please) and send to: rallannic@dblackagency.com

3 New Literary Agents Seeking Romance, Thrillers, Scifi, Fantasy, and more

Here are three new literary agents seeking writers. Ann Leslie Tuttle (Dystel, Goderich & Bourret) is actively seeking all kinds of romance from contemporaries, historicals, and romantic suspense to paranormals and inspirationals. Julie Tibbott (Jill Corcoran Literary Agency) wants psychological thrillers; clever mysteries; speculative fiction; fantasy with one foot in the real world; high-concept fiction and nonfiction with a pop culture connection. Ali Herring (Spencerhill) is interested in commercial YA and MG (esp. sci-fi, fantasy and adventure), romance, southern women’s fiction, and Christian/inspirational fiction.

As always, make sure to read the agency website and agent bio before submitting. The publishing world is in constant flux, and agents may switch agencies or change their submission requirements.

If these agents don't suit your needs, you can find a comprehensive list of over 100 agents actively seeking clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.

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Julie Tibbott of Jill Corcoran Literary Agency

Julie was previously a senior editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where she worked on intriguing science fiction by Diane Duane, sweeping historical fiction by Carolyn Meyer, the morbidly hilarious YA works of Gina Damico, and dark, beautiful fantasy by Sarah Porter, among many others.

What she is seeking: For both teen and adult audiences, Julie is looking for: psychological thrillers; clever mysteries; speculative fiction; fantasy with one foot in the real world; high-concept fiction and nonfiction with a pop culture connection; and generally, works infused with a touch of the surreal, spooky, absurd, quirky, or magical.

How to submit: Fill out the form on the website HERE.
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Ali Herring of Spencerhill Associates

Ali Herring joined Spencerhill in 2017 after moving back to Georgia from Connecticut, where she interned for a literary agency in the greater NYC metro area. A former magazine associate editor, Ali has a diverse background in communications and editing. She graduated valedictorian of her class at Berry College in 2001, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Ali is excited to find new voices and build great relationships within the writing community.

What she is seeking: Commercial YA and MG (esp. sci-fi, fantasy and adventure), romance, southern women’s fiction, and Christian/inspirational fiction – all with a marketable hook, captivating voice, fantastical world building and inventive plots. For MG: commercial MG with a humorous/witty voice, likable protags and awesome sidekicks; meaningful, realistic situations built around great plots (think Wonder); and uplifting, relatable, empowering stories for girls. She’s a voracious reader of sci-fi, but not a huge fan of superheroes, vampires (except for Edward), witches, erotica or anything overtly dark.

How to submit: Fill out the form on the website HERE or send a query letter to submission@spencerhillassociates.com Attach the first three chapters and synopsis preferably in .doc, rtf or txt format.

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Ann Leslie Tuttle of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret

Ann Leslie Tuttle started at DG&B September 5, 2017, after working for 20 years at Harlequin Books where she most recently was a Senior Editor. At Harlequin, she was fortunate to work on an extensive and varied list of bestselling and award-winning titles in romance and women’s fiction. She received her B.A. degree from the College of William and Mary and an M.A. from the University of Virginia. Finding and nurturing talented new writers has always been Ann Leslie’s passion.

What she is seeking: Ann is actively seeking all kinds of romance from contemporaries, historicals, and romantic suspense to paranormals and inspirationals.

How to submit: Query Ann at: atuttle@dystel.com Include the first 25 pages of your manuscript (or closest chapter break). See full submission guidelines here.

2 New Agents Actively Seeking Kidlit, Speculative Fiction, Memoir, Romance & more

Here are two new agents open to queries. Meg LaTorre-Snyder (Corvisiero Literary) is interested in representing Fantasy, Historical fiction, Romance (with magical elements), Space opera, Steam punk and Thrillers (with magical elements). Lucinda Karter (Jennifer Lyons Agency) is seeking a range of fiction—adult, young adult, and children’s; history, biography, memoir, and food; finance and economics; and novelty books.

As always, make sure to read the agency website, including submission guidelines and the agent's bio, before submitting. The publishing industry is in constant flux, and agents may switch to another agency or change their submission requirements.

NOTE: You can find a comprehensive list of dozens of agents - both new and established - who are actively looking for new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.

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Meg LaTorre-Snyder of Corvisiero Literary 

Meg LaTorre-Snyder is an editor and writer with a background in magazine publishing, journalism, medical writing, and website creation. With her background, she’s excited to have a hands-on editorial partnership with authors. She has written for digital and print publications on a variety of topics, including book publishing, writing how-tos, nutrition, healthy living, startup companies, and pharmaceuticals. In her free time, she enjoys working on her own adult fantasy manuscript, reading long novels, drinking tea by the bucket, running in competitive races, participating in musical productions, playing basketball, and reading nutrition textbooks (yep, textbooks). To learn more about Meg, visit her website, follow her on Twitter/Facebook, and subscribe to her YouTube channel, iWriterly.

What she is seeking: YA, NA, and adult:

Fantasy
Historical fiction
Romance (with magical elements)
Space opera
Steam punk
Thrillers (with magical elements)
She loves books written in third-person with multiple POVs, quirky, realistic characters, and rich descriptions.

Meg is not interested in nonfiction, picture books, contemporary stories (particularly those with no magical elements), erotica, horror, dystopian, screenplays, poetry, short stories, and novellas.

How to Submit: Send your query, first five pages, and 1-2 page synopsis in the body of an email (no attachments) to query@corvisieroagency.com with the following information in the subject line:

Query for Meg: [TITLE OF MANUSCRIPT IN ALL CAPS], [age group], [genre]

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Lucinda Karter of Jennifer Lyons Agency

Lucinda Karter has spent more than 25 years in publishing, working for the Georges Borchardt Literary Agency, Doubleday, HarperCollins, and W.W. Norton, among others. Most recently, she served for 15 years as director of the French Publishers’ Agency, where she agented works such as Irène Némirovsky’s Suite Française and Kamel Daoud’s The Meursault Investigation and other bestsellers to worldwide English-language publishers. She has translated fiction, memoir, and children’s literature from French to English and served as a juror for the annual Prix Anaïs Nin in Paris. In 2002, she was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

What she is looking for: Her interests as an agent include: a range of fiction—adult, young adult, and children’s; history, biography, memoir, and food; finance and economics; and novelty books.

How to submit: Queries and submissions for Lucinda Karter should go to lucinda@jenniferlyonsliteraryagency.com

11 Literary Fiction Publishers Accepting Unagented Manuscripts

Image by Kathy Buckalew

Here are eleven publishers looking for literary fiction - no agent needed.

Make sure to read the submission requirements on the publishers' websites before submitting. (Submission guidelines for publishing houses are not the same as queries to agents.)

The difference between commercial and literary fiction can be subtle. In general, commercial fiction is formulaic, whereas literary fiction tends to experiment with form and style. Commercial fiction falls into genres - science fiction, chick lit, romance, etc. - whereas literary fiction may cross or blend genres, or depart from them entirely. Literary fiction also places greater value on the craft of writing, which is not to say that genre fiction can't be well written, but in the case of literary fiction, the writing is front and center.

NOTE: You can find more than 150 publishers accepting unagented submissions - broken down by genre - here: Publishers Accepting Unagented Manuscripts
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8th House Publishing

8th House Publishing is a small company based in Montreal and New York. They publish poetry, literary novels, philosophy, and other "earnest work." Their list consists of 34 books by 26 authors.

Submissions: "What we like at 8th House: modern, radical, enduring, insightful, inventive... Whether it's an essay, a philosophy tract, or a novel, a book of verse." Send a sample of your work (2 or 3 chapters and a full table of contents) along with a query letter to : submissions@8thHousePublishing.com

Academy Chicago Publishers

Academy Chicago Publishers is a trade book publisher founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1975 by Anita and Jordan Miller. It was purchased by Chicago Review Press in 2014. Its titles have been released around the world and translated into more than a dozen languages. They do not publish fantasy, sci-fi, short stories, novellas, or YA fiction.

Submissions: ACP requires a proposal for fiction submissions. (See site for details.) Fiction proposals are considered on a quarterly basis - March, June, September, and December. Response time is the last day of the quarter.

BlazeVOX

BlazeVOX is an independent publisher based in Buffalo, New York in 2000. Blaze has published more than 350 books of poetry and prose, most of which fall within the sphere of avant-garde literature. BlazeVOX aims to "disseminate poetry, through print and digital media, both within academic spheres and to society at large," and to "push at the frontiers of what is possible." They publish works "regardless of commercial viability."

Submissions: Send the manuscript to editor@blazevox.org as an attachment in either a Microsoft Word doc, RTF, or even a PDF is fine. Blaze does not pay advances or arrange for book tours. Authors should be prepared to do marketing. Royalties are 10%.

Cedar Fort

Cedar Fort is an established house that publishes over 120 books a year. Their books are available nationally through major distribution companies including Ingram Content Group, Baker & Taylor, and ReaderLink as well as through major retail corporations like Deseret Book, Seagull Book, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sam’s Club, and Indigo in Canada. Cedar Fort is active in selling foreign language rights, and they attend the Frankfurt Book Fair every year to present their frontlist titles internationally.

Submissions: Cedar Fort accepts all manuscript submissions through Submittable. "Your submission is reviewed not just for its content, but as a business venture to which the publisher contributes significant capital investment. Your ability to actively support the promotion of your work and brand in the market is an important consideration during the process. Please include any audience or following you have built for your name or brand and on what platforms, if applicable." 

City Lights Publishers

City Lights Publishers has launched several famous poets, including Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg, but this press also specializes in "cutting edge" literary fiction and nonfiction. City Lights publishes 12 books a year and has over 200 books in print. They do not publish children's literature or genre works such as romance, westerns, or science fiction.

Submissions: Submit a proposal only via snail mail. (See details on the site.)

Manic D Press

Manic D Press is an American literary press based in San Francisco, California publishing fiction novels and short stories, poetry, and graphic novels. It was founded by Jennifer Joseph in 1984 as an alternative outlet for young writers seeking to bring their work into print. Manic D Press books are distributed throughout the US by Consortium, Last Gasp, and wholesalers including Ingram and Baker & Taylor; in the UK and EU by Turnaround PSL; in Canada by Publishers Group Canada; and throughout the world by Perseus.

How to submit: Email submissions are preferred. Printed manuscripts are read twice a year, during the months of January and July ONLY. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, just let them know if your work has been accepted elsewhere or if (and where) it has been previously published. Read full guidelines HERE.

Mid-List Press

Mid-List Press publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books by new and emerging writers and by writers ignored, marginalized, or excluded from publication by commercial publishers. Mid-List is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit literary organization.

How to submit: Query first by regular mail with a few representative poems. They do not accept emailed or faxed queries. Read full guidelines HERE.

Milkweed Editions

Milkweed Editions is one of the nation’s leading independent, nonprofit literary publishers. Publishing fifteen to twenty books each year, they have some three hundred titles in print, and nearly four million copies of their books in circulation. Genres: Fiction, literary nonfiction, poetry collections. They do not publish romance, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, crime, or westerns.

Submissions: Milkweed Editions accepts unsolicited manuscripts from authors of all backgrounds, Submissions that do not initially meet the guidelines will not be considered. Please read full guidelines here.  Please submit a query letter with three opening chapters (of a novel) or three representative stories (of a collection). Milkweed has one open submission period a year. (Last year it was in May.)

Persea Books

Persea Books is an independent, literary publishing house founded in 1975 by Michael Braziller and Karen Braziller, who still own and direct the company. Genres: Poetry, fiction, essays, memoir, biography, titles of Jewish and Middle Eastern interest, women's studies, American Indian folklore, and YA. Response time: Eight weeks for proposals and 12 weeks for requested manuscript. Submissions: Queries should include a cover letter, author background and publication history, a synopsis of the proposed work, and a sample chapter. Send queries and manuscripts to info@perseabooks.com or to the appropriate editor (Fiction or Nonfiction), Persea Books, 277 Broadway, Suite 708, New York, NY 10007.

Submissions: Read their submission guidelines here.

Red Hen Press

Red Hen Press is an independent, non-profit press that publishes about twenty books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry every year. "We’re looking for novels, memoir, creative nonfiction, hybrid works, and story, essay, and poetry collections of exceptional literary merit that demonstrate a high level of mastery."

How to submit: Submissions can be made via snail mail or online through submittable ($20 charge). Read full guidelines HERE.

Seven Stories Press

Seven Stories Press publishes "uncompromising" political books, fiction, and poetry. The press is named after the first seven authors to publish with Seven Stories: Octavia E. Butler, Annie Ernaux, Gary Null, Project Censored, Charley Rosen, Vassilis Vassilikos, and the estate of Nelson Algren. They publish in English, in Spanish, in hardcover, and paperback, usually with simultaneous e-book editions in all major e-formats, books as long as 1,500 pages, and pamphlets or children’s books as short as 28 pages, for adults, for young adults and for children.

Submissions: Manuscript submissions, accompanied by a cover letter and two sample chapters only, with a SASE or postcard for reply, to:

Acquisitions
Seven Stories Press
140 Watts Street
New York, NY 10013

35 Calls for Submissions in September 2017 - Paying Markets

Photo by Jenna Martin http://jennamartinphotography.com/

There are nearly three dozen calls for submissions in September.

Every genre and every form is welcome! All are paying markets. There are no submission fees.

Many of these journals have recurring calls for submissions, so if you miss this window, you can always submit during the next reading period.

For more literary journals seeking submissions and to get a jump on next month's open calls see: Paying Markets.
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Parabola. Genres: Nonfiction, poetry, rarely fiction. Theme: Families. Payment: From $150 to $400 for articles. Deadline: September 1, 2017.

Contrary. Genres: Fiction, poetry, commentary. Payment: $20. Deadline: September 1, 2017.

Subterrain. Genres: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction. Payment: Poetry: $50 per poem; Prose: $50 per page. Deadline: September 1, 2017.

Skirt! Magazine. Genre: Personal essays. Theme: Going offline or off the grid. Payment: $200 per piece. Deadline: September 1, 2017.

Timeless Tales. Genre: Retellings of fairy tales and myths. Must relate to theme. Theme: Rumpelstiltskin. Payment: $20/story. Deadline: September 1, 2017.

Retro Future is a quarterly pulp magazine that searches for diverse, surprising, and progressive science fiction in art, prose, essay, and comics. Theme: Resistance. Payment: Meets or exceed SFWA minimum compensation guidelines (6 cents/word). Deadline: September 1, 2017.

Motherwell. Genre: Essay. "What happens to a woman’s career after kids? We are looking for fresh perspectives, up to 1,400 words, that tackle the emotional and practical issues involved in combining being a mom with pursuing a career. Interpretations might include: the decision to stay home (or not) when the kids are young; the realities of the part-time or work-from-home experience; re-entry (or not) into the workforce once the children are older. We are open to a range of styles." Payment: $50. Deadline: September 1, 2017.

The Beauty of Death 2 - Death By Water Anthology. Genre: Horror. Length: 4000-5000 words. Payment: $100. Deadline: September 1, 2017.

Mslexia. Genre: Stories, poems, and scripts on theme of "Yesteryear." Length: Stories up to 2,200 words, poems up to 40 lines, and short scripts up to 1,000 words (including character names and stage instructions). Payment: £25. Deadline: September 4, 2017.

Menagerie de Mythique Anthology Call: Mythical Creatures Anthology. Genre: Short stories. "Creatures of myth and fantasy have long been a fascination in cultures throughout the the world. Did they ever exist? Do they still exist now? Imagine a time where these creatures were plentiful. Or perhaps, when they once were but now there is only one or two left. We are looking for stories centered on such creatures, be they unicorns, dragons, griffins, chimeras, or something unknown." Word Count: 500-10,500. Payment: One half-cent per word, with a minimum payment of $5.00 and a maximum of $15.00. Reprints: $10 max. Deadline: September 5, 2017.

Chicken Soup for the Soul. Genre: True story. Theme: My Crazy Family! Payment: $200.  Deadline: September 5, 2017.

Meet Cute Magazine. Genre: Romantic short stories and nonfiction. Payment: $5.  Deadline: September 8, 2017. Reprints accepted.

Alien Dimensions. Genre: Speculative fiction. "Strong Female Alien Lead Fighting Other Aliens to Protect Humans.” Payment: $10. Deadline: September 10, 2017.

Broken Pencil. Genre: Fiction and nonfiction. Payment: $30 - 300. Deadline: September 15, 2017.

Apt. Genres: Fiction, poetry, essays. Payment: $50 for print edition. Deadline: September 15, 2017.

Eye to the Telescope. Genre: Speculative poetry on theme: "Evolving Gender.” Payment: Minimum US $3, maximum $25. Deadline: September 15, 2017.

Hinnom Magazine. Genre: Science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Payment: $5- $25. Deadline: September 15, 2017.

Southward. Genres: Poetry, fiction. Payment: €30 per poem and €120 per short story. Deadline: September 15, 2017.
London Playwrights. Genre: Short scripts based of the themes: home, culture, and boarders. They are accepting scripts, skits, comedy, poetry, and more. Each piece should be within the time frame of 2-9 minutes, and have 1-6 characters. Payment: £50. Deadline: September 16, 2017.

Splickety. Genre: Flash fiction. Theme: Wreck the Halls. Payment: 2 cents per word. Deadline: September 22, 2017.

Cricket. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, activities for children 9-14. Theme: People of Peace. Payment: 25 cents per word for stories and articles, and $3 per line for poetry. They pay $75 for activities. Deadline: September 22, 2017.

Tiny Tim. Genre: Disability narratives. Theme: Framing health and disability through the lens of nature. What is natural? What is unnatural? Why does this matter for stories that touch on health or disability? Payment: $50. Deadline: September 24, 2017.

The Puritan. Genre: Fiction, poetry, nonfiction. Payment: $20 for fiction, $15 for poetry, $100 for essays, interviews. Deadline: September 25, 2017.

TRIBE “will be a print anthology exploring the lives and experiences of older, single women and will include poetry, fiction, memoir, nonfiction, personal narrative, prose poems… about all and any topics that affect women. It will be published by LPwordsolutions in Nanaimo, BC. The project welcomes contributors who are women 55 years of age and older from anywhere in the world who are single, meaning “single, (by choice or circumstance), widowed or divorced” and not currently living, or planning to live, “in a permanent domestic relationship with a partner of either gender.” Payment: “Contributors will be paid a small honorarium ($25) and contributors’ copies, with 50%+ of any net profits from the book going to a women’s charity… determined with input from anthology contributors.” Deadline: September 30, 2017.

New Writing Scotland. Restrictions: Open to residents of Scotland, or Scots by birth, upbringing or inclination. Genres: All. Payment: £20 per published page. Deadline: September 30, 2017.

Consequence Magazine. Genre: Short fiction, poetry, non-fiction, interviews, visual art, and reviews primarily focused on the culture of war. Theme: Women who write about war. Payment: Poetry: $25 per page; Prose: $10 per page ($250 maximum); Translations:$15 per page ($250 maximum). Deadline: September 30, 2017.

Vagabondage Ink Stains Anthology. Genre: Horror, gothic, paranormal, fantasy, steampunk, and black comedy. Length: 3,000-20,0000 words. Payment: $5 for stories 4,999 words and under, $10 for stories 5,000-9,999 words, $15 for stories 10,000-14,999 and $20 for 15,000-20,000 words. Deadline: September 30, 2017.

Books and Boos. Genre: Humorous horror. Length: 4,000–8,000 words. Payment: $50. Deadline: September 30, 2017.

Write Naked. Genre: Blog post about writing. Length: 450-650 words. Payment: $50. Deadline: September 30, 2017.

The He-Man Woman-Haters Club Anthology. Genre: Humorous short stories using “Our Gang-type” plots with Trump's gang as personas - but as children. Setting: Mar-a-Lago. Payment: 6 cents per word. Deadline: September 30, 2017.

Spoon Knife 3: Incursions. Genre: Fiction and poetry on the theme of incursions by one reality into another. "All submissions should in some way touch upon or be relevant to the themes of neurodivergence, queerness, and/or the intersections of neurodivergence and queerness." Payment: 1 cent per word. Deadline: September 30, 2017.

Tales from the Fluffy Bunny. Genre: Fantasy stories that feature your main character telling a tale about how they or their weapon earned their name. Humor is a plus. All stories need to start with: “This is my tale…” Payment: $5.00 flat rate plus equal share of 50% of the anthology’s royalties. Deadline: September 30, 2017.

Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine. Genres: Fiction, poetry, fairy tales. Issues are themed. Payment: $30 per story, $10 per poem. Deadline: September 30, 2017.

Nashville Review . Genres: Fiction, poetry. Payment: $100 for fiction, $25 for poetry. Deadline: September 30, 2017.

Writer’s Chronicle. "The editors look for articles that demonstrate an excellent working knowledge of literary issues and a generosity of spirit that esteems the arguments of other writers on similar topics." Genre: Nonfiction. Payment: $18 per 100 words. Deadline: September 30, 2017.