Their covers are generally OK, but based on Amazon Reviews and Goodreads, not many copies of their books or anthologies have been responded to in terms of ratings or reviews. This is usually a pretty good indicator that they have not sold well, particularly because they disclose on the site that they sell the most books via the Kindle platform. The books they publish are also available on Kindle Unlimited.

You can see their catalogue here to get a better feel for it.

To learn more about submissions, you can go here and here.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2023 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.

Naugatuck River Review has been published twice a year in print since 2009. Selections from the journal are available online for free. It’s a good idea to read these selections before submitting to get a sense of what they like.

Right now Naugatuck River Review is open to submissions through March 1 for publication in their summer/fall 2024 edition. Poets may submit up to three narrative poems.

Naugatuck River Review prefers narratives that are condensed, and they only accept poems that are 50 lines or fewer.

Naugatuck River Review also holds a contest for narrative poetry each year. Submissions for the contest run from July 1 through September 1 annually. There is no fee for submitting to the journal, but there is a $20 fee for submitting to the contest.

Naugatuck River Review accepts submissions online using Submittable, not via email or by post. They accept simultaneous submissions but ask that authors withdraw writing published elsewhere. They do not accept previously published work.

Naugatuck River Review only accepts submissions that follow the guidelines they’ve posted online. Please read these guidelines in full before submitting.

If you would like to learn more or submit to Naugatuck River Review, please visit their website here. 

Bio: Ella Peary is the pen name for an author, editor, creative writing mentor, and submission consultant. Over the past five years, she’s written hundreds of articles for Authors Publish, and she’s also served as a copywriter and copy editor for a wide range of organizations and individuals. She is the author of The Quick Start Guide to Flash Fiction. She occasionally teaches a course on flash fiction. You can contact her at ellapeary@gmail.com.

So for whatever reason you have taken leave of common sense and sanity and decided that being an author was not enough. You want to run your own micropress.

First, what is a micropress? Well, take a small press and then squish it down, to about two people running a business in a basement. Now in my case, remove the basement because something about the soil or primordial curse fossilized in the limestone makes them expensive and that’s how you get Dead Fish Books.

All joking aside, you may decide to run a micropress because you have a circle of friends and family that write fiction that are tired of going at it alone (whether it be the endless list of rejections or the loneliness of being self published). The bad news is now you are going to have to learn the ins and outs of running a business, one that can be a bit tricker than just your Etsy shop. (Because who doesn’t have one these days.) What you will need is:

1. Become friends with your local small business bureau. This is the place to go and answer any questions about how to legally file for a business, any specific selling permits, or questions about taxes. Don’t forget about trademark registration and other Intellectual Property matters.  Because those will come up (and weirder questions, such as what are the regulations for running your own book vending machine or leaving giant art installations in the park). It’s very tempting to push those issues to the side and hope that they will go away. Sadly they don’t, so be prepared to be confused and uncomfortable. You will be feeling that a lot.

2. Learn about publishing contracts. So many contracts – you will be using these a lot as you grow and reach out to new authors. Don’t just rely on handshake agreements or just email exchanges. Even if you are friends and family. No expectations. This protects you and your authors, and makes everyone’s expectations clear. The good news is that you don’t need to write them in legalease, and you might already have some fine examples if you have been published before. If not, they’re are various resources to check out, such as the Author’s Guild.

3. Start working on your digital and physical presence. This may mean setting up a website (like a free WordPress one) so you always have a home base to fall back on when a social media site gets nuked. It may mean playing with mailing lists, social media, or trying to record a podcast. You will fail a lot. So much. The big thing is to remain consistent, and that’s my New Year’s Resolution because it turns out I’m bad at remembering to post as I am at remembering to eat. We can be each other’s accountability partner, okay?

Physical presence is things like attending conventions, fairs, and other physical events. It may also mean putting on an event at your local library or bookstore. It means book signings no one attends. It means getting comfortable with saying hi to strangers, and trying to pitch your books to people who walk by. It means a lot of rejection in person which can hit harder than all the email rejections. It means weird conversations with the public about how governments are hiding aliens or in which you diagnose their glaucoma. Once again get used to being uncomfortable and unsure. But it also means trying out odd and unusual ideas – such as sending cards to readers at Christmas or in my case, thinking about hand making bookmarks with our logo and hiding them in library books. It might mean printing out snippets of your book and sticking them on people’s windshields like flyers.

That’s just the beginning – we can talk about cover shopping, cultivating a flock of editors, and author egos. After all this you may be wondering why someone will put themselves through the hell of all this. Isn’t writing hard enough? It’s not for the money – everyone will tell you that. It’s because you have looked at the world and other publishers and decided that they didn’t offer the brand of weirdness that is you. That the world needs that weirdness. That no one can stop you from publishing an anthology about owl people (anthology publishing is its own article right there), to write a libretto to go with your space opera, or making your own hand-drawn illustrated editions of your friend’s erotic thriller. That’s the drive to make your weirdness other people’s problem and hopefully discover other like minds out there? That’s how we end up with micropresses.

Bio: Elizabeth Davis is one of the Co-Owner of Dead Fish Books. When she is not procrastinating on writing, she is making databases. When she is not procrastinating at databases, she is writing. If you want to know more please check out Deadfishbooks.com.

We try to make it as clear as possible who the publisher is seeking work from. Sometimes the focus of the press is limited, even though there are no limitations on who can submit. A few of the opportunities are also limited by geography, again, we try to make this clear. There are always additional submission details at the site we link to, but we try to cover the basics as best we can as part of this list.

If you belong to a limited demographic that is not listed here, this list might be helpful to you.

As long as a press/opportunity/journal is open to submissions we will continue to list it, so some of the content on the list is new, some overlaps with previous issues. This article is an ongoing collaborative effort by Emily Harstone and S. Kalekar. Please send us an email at support@authorspublish.com if you have any feedback or an opportunity/journal/publisher, to recommend.

Literary Journals/Magazines

Midnight & Indigo
They only accept work by Black women writers – speculative fiction, character-driven fiction, and essays. They pay $0.07/word for general and speculative fiction, and $150 for essays. They have rolling submissions for speculative fiction, and have deadlines for general fiction and essays – the next deadline is 31 March 2024. Details here and here.

Mslexia
This magazine only accepts submissions from women authors, and is accepting submissions in various genres, including on their showcase themes; the upcoming theme is Cats; “For Issue 102 we’re looking for stories about fesity felines, mercurial moggies and big wild cats.” They pay, and have different deadlines. For cat-themed fiction and poetry, the deadline is 11^th March 2024; for some inclusions in Issue 102, the deadline is 8^th April 2024. click on the tabs on their guidelines page for details.

khōréō
You can submit to this magazine only if you identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms (see guidelines). They’re open for fiction, as well as fiction translation pitches and submissions (see their submission portal). They accept “fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it — as long as there’s a speculative element. We’re especially interested in writing and art that explores migration. Examples include themes of immigration, diaspora, and anti-colonialism, as well as more metaphorical interpretations of the term.” Send up to 5,000 words for original fiction, up to 3,500 words for translations. They pay $0.10/word. The deadline is 15 February 2024. Details here and here.

Corvid Queen
Their website says, “Corvid Queen publishes inclusive, queer, & feminist fairy tales, folklore, & myths.” They welcome “original feminist (fairy) tales, feminist retellings of traditional tales, and personal essays related to traditional tales. Although we started as a magazine of fairy tales, we’re now open to pieces based on or related to fairy tales, folklore, myths, legends, and pop culture. We accept fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and pieces that are in-between.” And, “Please note that you do not need to be female or femme to submit a piece; writers of any gender identity and expression are welcome.” Also see their guidelines for preferences, and the kind of stories they are less likely to accept. They have a general reading period for all writers, an extended submission period for BIPOC writers only, and a further extended submission period for their Patreon members. They accept up to 5,000 words for prose, and pay $5. The deadline is 22 February for general submissions; 23-29 February 2024 for BIPOC submissions only. Details here and here.

Rough Cut Press: Still
They publish short prose from the LGBTQIA community, and have monthly themed submission calls. Send short prose on the ‘Still’ theme. They pay $25 for works up to 650 words. The deadline is 27 February 2024.

Sea Glass Lit
They are open to submissions on the topic of Disability Awareness, although they don’t seem to have strict rules about who can submit. They do say “Disability awareness is the practice of knowing, acknowledging, and accepting individuals’ experiences as they relate to disability. We want to acknowledge, accept, and represent. We want to raise your voices.” They describe there publication as “dedicated to giving young writers and artists a platform to publish their most creative, fantastical, and unique ideas.” but there are no strict age limits either They close to submissions on February 25th. You can learn more here.

Prismatica Magazine
An LGBTQ fantasy and science-fiction magazine that publishes short stories, poetry, reviews, interviews, and articles on a quarterly basis.

#EnbyLife
#EnbyLife is an online journal by and for non-binary and gender diverse people. They are open to submissions till the 18th of February 2024. They pay AUD30.

Apparition Lit
They will reopen to speculative fiction between and speculative poetry on the theme MERCURIAL on February 15th and stay open through the 28th. They are open to all authors but prioritize BIPOC writers by remaining open for an additional week each quarter for writers who identify as BIPOC and self-identify in their cover letter.  They also only accept simultaneous submissions from writers who identify as Disabled, BIPOC, or LGBTQIA+. Length guidelines are 1,000-5,000 words for fiction, up to 5 poems. Pay is $0.05/word for stories, and $50/poem. 

Augur Magazine
This is a Canadian magazine of fantasy fiction and poetry; they also accept translations. They have an extended window of submissions Canadian writers who are BIPOC, trans, and/or disabled during the first two weeks of February (see guidelines). They will close to all submissions on February 14, 2024. Send up to 5,000 words for fiction, or up to 5 poems. Pay is CAD60/poem and CAD0.11/word for prose.

Tales & Feathers Magazine
This is Augur’s sibling magazine of cozy slice-of-life fantasy stories. They are open to submissions from writers who are BIPOC, trans, and/or disabled from all over the world, for the first two weeks of February (1-14 February 2024). Send fiction of up to 2,500 words. Pay is $0.08/word.

Split Lip Magazine
Split Lip Magazine is a voice-driven literary journal with a pop culture twist. They publish online monthly and in print annually – memoir, flash fiction, short stories, poetry, and art, as well as interviews and reviews (for interviews and reviews, query first via webform – see guidelines). Length guidelines are up to 3,000 words for fiction; up to 2,000 words for memoir; and one poem. Pay is $75 for web contributions, $5/page for print, $50 for interviews/reviews, and $25 for mini-reviews for their web issues. Fee-free submissions for all writers are open during certain months, these can close earlier by category, if their Submittable cap is reached. Fee-free submissions for Black writers are open till mid-June 2024. Details here and here.

Decolonial Passage
According to their website they “publish writing from writers of all backgrounds regardless of race, origin, or gender while simultaneously centering African, African American, and Black Diaspora writing.” Their mission statement goes into more details about this. They are open on a rolling basis to essays, creative nonfiction, short stories, and flash fiction. They are open to poetry only during the months of January, March, May, July, September or November.

Wishbone Words
An online creative writing magazine for chronically ill and disabled writers and artists, they publish a wide range of creative work. All contributors receive free copies. Their family and friends get a discount for that issue as well.

Bookish Brews
They describe themselves as a “book blog and a celebration of diverse books and authors (with a side of your favorite brew)”. They prioritize BIPOC writers but are open to submissions from other historically underrepresented groups also. They publish nonfiction, craft, and lifestyle essays as well as book reviews.

Mayday: Black
For Mayday: Black submissions, they want nonfiction pitches and drafts from Black writers – their website says, they are “committed to delivering a new experience for Black writers, including those seeking first-time publication. We welcome nonfiction work in opinions and analyses; personal, braided, and reported essays in contemporary and historical contexts.
Bring your authentic, curious, courageous, well-rounded stories on life, living, love, loss, representation, race, racism, death, dying, Black plight and civil rights, neighborhood blight, gentrification, white flight, and more. (In no way is this an exhaustive list!)” They pay $50 for Mayday: Black essays of 800-3,000 words. Details here and here.
(This magazine also occasionally accepts fiction, nonfiction, culture pieces, poetry, reviews, interviews, and translations from all writers, and pays $10-20 for these.)

Moko Magazine
A journal of Caribbean arts and literature, Moko publishes short stories, poems, interviews, essays, reviews of books, art, photography, and other types of visual media about the Caribbean and its diaspora. They are not interested in academic pieces.

Peril
An Asian-Australian journal focused on arts and culture, they pay $75-300 for pieces, but can only guarantee payments for Australian contributors (their submission guidelines have more details about this). The theme of their current issue is “You, where you’re at.” They are open to submissions in creative and new media interpretations of literature, including “those in video, audio and text format, graphic stories, sound or visual art, as long as it can be presented online and has a relationship to story. We accept prose, non-fiction, essays, creative non-fiction, opinion/blog posts, visual art, documentation of performance, videos, audio.” They ask for less than 1,000 words for text submissions and three poems for poetry submissions.

Zindabad Zine
This print and electronic publication is based in the UK. They are open to submissions on a rolling basis. Currently they are closed to submissions for the print issue but open to electronic ones. They only accept work from people “in a diaspora”.  They publish personal essays, articles, poetry, fiction, visual art and photography.

The T4T Project
A zine by and for trans writers and artists of color. They have rolling deadline and feature 20 creators per issue.

The Kalahari Review
A weekly African literary magazine interested in material exploring modern Africa and Africans in unique and avant-garde ways. They publish their work on Medium.

NonBinary Review
They are open to submissions from everyone on the theme of ‘Heredity’ (deadline May 1st or until filled) – they pay $10-30 for poetry and prose. They also offer advice on submitting to journals in general through their Dear Horace Greeley column, and also accept submissions for Visual Verse. You can learn  more about all of these on their Submittable page. They also offer  free Feedback for Poets of Color, which is just what it sounds like. Writers of color may submit one poem, up to 50 lines, for consideration. Two poets per month will be accepted, and the poetry editors will work with those two poets to edit, improve, and strengthen their work. Acceptances are done on the first of the month, although submissions are open year-round.

Gay Flash Fiction
They welcome submissions on any theme and in any genre, as long as there is a is a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex connection. Please only submit one story at a time. They are also open to poems under 500 words in length, as well as related artwork.

Transition
Born in Africa and bred in the diaspora, Transition  is a publication of the Hutchins Center at Harvard University, published three times annually. Transition publishes writing by and about Africa and the African diaspora, with an eye towards a global perspective. They accept submissions year-round on a rolling basis, and generally respond to submissions within four months. They are currently looking for submissions on the ‘Solidarities’ theme (see guidelines), as well as unthemed work.

Lavender Review
An international, biannual e-zine published in June and December, they are open to submissions of poetry and art by, about, and for lesbians (including whatever LGBTQ might appeal to a lesbian readership). Submissions are open year round.

Ricepaper
This publication offers Asian Canadian context to ongoing arts and cultural issues, new perspectives on emerging and established Asian Canadian artists, and challenges mainstream media perspectives, little-known facts of interest, or critical stories that haven’t been told elsewhere. They are open to submissions from Asian writers around the globe as long as the editors can see a link between the content and some aspect of the Asian Canadian experience.

Raising Mothers
Raising Mothers celebrates and centers the experiences of  Black, Indigenous, and Brown parents. Some sections have reading periods; columns are open year-round.

Prismatica Magazine
An LGBTQ fantasy and science fiction magazine that publishes short stories, poetry, reviews, interviews, and articles. They have very specific submission guidelines so please read those carefully.

Aurelia
Aurelia publishes the nonfiction work of marginalized genders: women, non-binary people and trans men. “Aurelia is a publication dedicated to personal thoughts, feelings and experiences. The things you think and the way you feel must be at the centre of your piece. All article submissions must be written in the first-person (“I think, I feel, I want…”)” Please send them pitches only, not unsolicited submissions. They pay £50. Details on how to pitch are here.

African Writer
They are open to all genres of literature from Africa and the African Diaspora. They do not allow simultaneous submissions.

Djed Press
This journal is based in Australia and they “prioritise submissions from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, on whose land we live and work and whose sovereignty has never been ceded.” They only accept submissions from “Australian and/or Australia-based Bla(c)k and other POC creators.” They really stress that work is likely to be edited and that you shouldn’t submit if you are not comfortable with that. Pay is AUD50-150 for text.

Afritondo
According to their website, “Afritondo is a media and publishing platform that aims to connect with and tell the stories of Africans and black minority populations across the globe.” They accept a wide range of work, including manuscript-length work.

Brittle Paper
Brittle Paper is an online literary magazine for readers of African Literature. They accept the following: “fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, book reviews, essays, literary commentaries, fun listicles, and any writing with a literary bent”.

The Awakenings Review
The Awakenings Review is a project of The Awakenings Project. Established in cooperation with the University of Chicago Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation in 2000, this print journal accepts poetry, fiction, and nonfiction from writers that have a personal connection to mental illness.

Torch Literary Arts
Torch Literary Arts is a nonprofit organization. They publish and promote creative writing by Black women only; you can read more about them here. They publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers. “We are interested in work that challenges and disrupts preconceived notions of what Black women’s contemporary writing should be.” General submissions are accepted for Friday Features only, in which they publish fiction, hybrid works, poetry, and drama (including that accompanied by video or dramatic audio). Send up to 2,500 for fiction/hybrid works, up to 10 pages for drama, or up to 5 poems. Pay is $100. Submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis; you can submit here.

Tagg Magazine
Tagg is a US-based queer women’s publication. Their website has several themes they accept articles on, including personal essays, listicles, dating advice and fashion-related content. Articles are 350-1,000 words long and pay $75-175. They welcome pitches for article ideas. See the pitch guide for contributors here.

Bi Woman Quarterly
BWQ features the voices of women “with bi+ sexualities (i.e., bi, pan, fluid, and other non-binary sexualities)” and they see “woman” as a broad category and welcome contributions those who identify as trans, non-binary, cis, etc. They publish articles, creative writing, musings, and more.

KOENING ZINE
They publish art, fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction submissions  primarily by Asians, but they are open to submissions from non-Asians. Their uniting theme is Asian Folklore. Submitters must be over 18.

Tangled Laces
A magazine focused on publishing writing by queer teen authors between the ages of 14-18.

POETRY SANGO-OTA
We only usually include journals currently open to submissions, but this list is always published on the third Thursday of a given month, and this journal is only open to submissions through the 1st to the 10th of each month, so we are listing it and encouraging you to set a calendar alert for when it reopens on the 1st of the next month. “We are interested in poems with a keen connection to a sense of place, nature, or otherworldly geographies.” They only publish African poets, and pay N2,500 per poem.

Afternoon Visitor
This is an online quarterly publication of poetry, hybrid text, visual poetry, and visual art, and they’re particularly interested in giving space to trans + queer writers in each issue.

Reappropriate
Reappropriate is an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) race advocacy and feminism blog, focusing on race, gender, identity, Asian American history, and current events. Pay is $75-150 for work of 800-2,500 words.

The Gay & Lesbian Review
The Gay & Lesbian Review is a bimonthly magazine of history, culture, and politics targeting an educated readership of LGBT people, and their allies that publishes themed features (2,000-4,000 words), reviews, interviews, and departments. They have announced a few themed calls, and they also invite suggestions for future themes.
— Believe It or Not: Queer episodes in LGBT history
— The Science of Homosexuality: What have we learned?
— The Travel Issue: The role of travel in LGBT culture
Writers can send proposals or complete pieces. They pay for features ($250) and full-length book reviews ($100).

The Acentos Review
The Acentos Review publishes writing, art, music and multigenre work by Latinx writers. They are open to submissions all year long. Details here.

the archipelago
They publish creative work that rewrites the map. Rewriting the map may involve oceans; islands; travel; movement; the decolonial/transcolonial; multilingualism; geography; cartography; displacement; relationships between unlikely places. They primarily publish short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction essays, fine art, photography, film. They publish work in  فارسی ,  اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , Somali, မြန်မာဘာသာ, bahasa Indonesia, español, français and English. While they prioritize writers of color they are open to submissions from all. They pay for accepted work and also have an ongoing mentorship program which you can learn about at the bottom of this page. To submit, visit the link and email pitches@thearchipelago.org.

Craft
This respected literary journal is open to creative work from authors of all backgrounds, but they offer free submissions + fast response times to BIPOC and other mis- and underrepresented writers, here. Craft pays $100 for flash and $200 for short fiction and creative nonfiction.

Aloka
They want work by non-native English speakers only – poetry, translations, fiction, and hybrid work. Send up to 5 poems, or up to 2 prose pieces, up to 2,500 words each.

The Lighthouse / Black Girl Projects
The tagline of The Lighthouse is, “Cultivating spaces of solidarity and safety for southern Black girls to shine through focused programming and research.” They have an extensive guide for pitching articles, including “We … are always looking for thought-provoking stories and other content from marginalized communities, Black girls, (in particular, but not exclusively) and gender non-conforming people. In addition to story and long-form story pitches and op-eds, they accept photography and original artwork for their online blogging platform, The Black Girl Times, and their monthly newsletter, The Black Girl Times Redux. Also, “Each month, we have an editorial theme board (kind of like the mood boards interior designers use) we post on our social media accounts (@luvblkgrls). The theme board is intended to be an inspiration and provocation of thoughts, ideas and feelings. Your response(s) can be literal or abstract and loose. And again, it might not have anything to do with anything we’ve seen.” Pay is $0.25-$1/word. Pay for art (graphic design, cartoons and photo essays) is $150-1,000.

Singapore Unbound: SUSPECT
Their website says, “SUSPECT grew out of SP Blog, the blog of the NYC-based literary non-profit Singapore Unbound.” They want poetry, literary fiction, essays, and any kind of writings that do not fall into these categories, written or translated into English by authors who identify as Asian. They also publish reviews of books by Asian authors and interviews with Asian writers and artists. Pay is $100, and there is no deadline listed.

Breath & Shadow
Breath & Shadow only publishes work from people with disabilities. This is how they define disability: “We use the term “disability” broadly to encompass anyone with a physical, mental, emotional, cognitive, or sensory impairment that significantly affects one or more major life functions.” They accept writing on any topic in terms of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and drama. Pieces do not have to be about disability. The academic or article type nonfiction, including profiles, interviews, and opinion pieces, do have to relate to disability in some way. They pay $20 for poetry and $30 for prose.

Screen Door Review
They only publish work by individuals who are Southern and queer. You can learn more about how they define Southern here. They publish flash fiction and poetry.

Emergent Literary
An exciting new literary journal that accepts a wide range of submissions from Black and Brown authors.

LatinX Lit Audio Mag
LatinX Lit Mag is a safe space for literary work written by authors who identify as Latinx or Hispanic.

Presses/Anthologies

Inked in Gray: Affection Anthology
They want fiction submissions by women of color only for this anthology; genres are Adult or YA Fantasy, and Science Fiction (low fantasy/sci-fi is okay), and the theme is Affection. “Affection, by definition, is “a feeling of liking and caring for someone or something, tender attachment, a fondness.” We’re looking for short stories by women of color that talk about the affection and show us a fresh, unique view on the topic.” They pay $45 for stories up to 8,000 words. The deadline is 28 February 2024.

Fourteen Poems
A small press that is sometimes open to solo chapbooks and also publishes a thrice yearly of LGBTQ+ poets. They have a rolling submissions window but the deadline for the next issue is May 15th 2024. You’ll hear back from them by mid-July. They pay £25 for each poem published.

Blue Cactus
They accept submissions for full-length manuscripts by women, transgender and gender-nonconforming People of Color in the Pacific Northwest on a rolling basis. They are not interested in receiving manuscript submissions from someone who doesn’t match this description. Their focus is primarily on non-fiction work including poetry.

Phoenix
Phoenix is a new speculative imprint launched by Nigerian publisher Ouida Books in collaboration with Nnedi Okorafor and Lọlá Shónẹ́yìn. Phoenix is dedicated to publishing African speculative fiction and fantasy (Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism). You can learn more about it here.

The Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series
This opportunity, from Black Lawrence Press, is for immigrants living in the US – for manuscripts of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid writing. “Poets and authors, at any stage of their careers, who identify as immigrants are welcome to submit a book manuscript of poetry or prose or a hybrid text for consideration. Submissions are accepted year-round. However, selections are made in June and November for a total of two books per year. In addition to publication, marketing, and a standard royalties contract from Black Lawrence Press, authors chosen for the Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series will receive a travel stipend of $500, which can be used for book tours or in any manner chosen by the authors.”

North Dakota State University Press: Contemporary Voices of Indigenous Peoples Series
The goal of this series to feature the authentic stories, poetry, and scholarly works of Native Americans, First Nations, Maori, Aborigines, Indians, and more to give voice to contemporary Indigenous peoples. NDSU Press considers book-length manuscripts of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for publication in this series.

Random House Canada
The Canadian arm of Random House changed their submission policy have opened their policy exclusively to LGBTQIA2S+ and BIPOC writers, as well as those from other traditionally underrepresented communities. They are particularly looking for “High quality commercial fiction in the following genres: literary, romance, speculative fiction, historical fiction, and mystery. Please note that we do not currently accept screenplays, stage plays, young adult fiction, children’s fiction, or picture book queries. All non-fiction submissions must be submitted via a literary agent.” They are open to submissions internationally, this is not limited to Canadians.

Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press
They publish a literary magazine as well as books, they are “dedicated to publishing raza authors to express the narratives and needs of our communities, which typically get overlooked by the mainstream presses. We intend to be the institution nobody else will build for us.”

Tundra Books, Puffin Canada, Penguin Teen Canada
These children and teen focused Canadian imprints are open to direct submissions by underrepresented authors and illustrators only. Authors need not be Canadian.

Arsenal Pulp Press
A Canadian independent press that publishes a wide variety of work,  prioritizes work by LGBTQ+ and BIPOC authors. We have reviewed them here.

Blind Eye Books
Blind Eye Books publishes science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and romance novels featuring LGBTQ protagonists. They are a print publisher and their book covers are beautifully designed and really stand out. The books they have published have won and been nominated for a number of awards, including the Lambda. We have reviewed them here.

Peepal Tree Press
The world’s leading publisher of Caribbean and Black British writing publishes around 15 titles a year. They try to respond to all submissions within 20 weeks.

Lily
A small poetry press that publishes work of varying length. Submitting shorter work is free for everyone, but submitting poetry manuscripts is free only for poets who identify as Black. They are always open to these submissions.

Sourcebooks
We’ve reviewed Sourcebooks here, and their adult nonfiction imprint and their romance and horror imprints are always open to all submissions, but they also deserve to be on this list because their fiction imprint, their mystery imprint, their young adult imprint, and three of their children’s book imprints, all say “Our submissions are currently CLOSED to unagented projects, with the exception of works that directly promote diversity, equality and inclusion. For more information please email InclusiveFiction@Sourcebooks.com.” So if you have work that matches that description in those genres, please reach out to them.

Forever
The romance imprint of Hachette Book Group and Grand Central Publishing is open to direct submissions from BIPOC-identifying authors.

Angry Robot
A great science fiction publisher that only accepts direct submissions from Black authors.

Scholastic Canada
They are open to direct submissions from Canadian authors or focusing on Canadian content, who are from underrepresented communities, including Black writers, Indigenous writers, writers of colour, writers with disabilities, LGBTQIA2S+ writers and writers who identify with other marginalized groups.

Heartdrum
Heartdrum is an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books, which is edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith, and is in partnership with We Need Diverse Books. Native and First Nations writers and writer-illustrators are welcome to query her directly via a form on her website. Native and First Nations illustrators are also invited to reach out.

Opportunities/Support/Contests

International Thriller Writers Scholarships
They are awarding two separate scholarships for ThrillerFest: the Fresh Perspectives Scholarship for any underrepresented author, published or unpublished, and the Undiscovered New Voices Scholarship for any unpublished author who is writing a mystery/thriller novel (80-100k words). Each scholarship recipient will receive a cash stipend and a free pass to attend  ThrillerFest XIX, which takes place May 28 – June 1, 2024 in New York City. One of the application requirements is a writing sample. Application is via a form. The award is $1,000 stipend, and a ThrillerFest pass. The deadline is 23 February 2024.

Poets & Writers: Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award
This is an award for one poet and one fiction writer; applicants must be U.S. residents and an enrolled members of a Native American tribe in the US or Alaska (see guidelines), and have never published a book or have published no more than one full-length book in the genre in which they are applying. Winners get a $500 honorarium; an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City to meet with editors, agents, publishers, and other writers, and to give a public reading, hosted by Poets & Writers; and a one-month residency at the Jentel Artist Residency Program in Wyoming. The deadline is 1 March 2024.

International Women’s Media Foundation Grants
International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) has several cash grants/awards for women and non-binary journalists; some of them are open now, including the international Courage in Journalism Awards (deadline 3^rd March 2024); international Howard G. Buffet Fund for Women Journalists (rolling deadline); and US-based Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, Transgender People (rolling deadline).
(Click on IWMF’s Opportunities and Awards tabs on this page for more.)

Poetry Foundation Grants for Organizations
Poetry Foundation has grants for poetry/literary arts organizations in the US – two of them are open now; Equity in Verse of $10,000-100,000, for nonprofit poetry and literary organizations, which includes presses and publications, led and staffed by people of color; and Poetry Programs, Partnerships, and Innovation grants of $10,000-75,000, which support nonprofit organizations invested in at least one of the following priorities: broadening the audiences for poetry; increasing access to poetry; new collaborations and partnerships in poetry; and innovations in the field of poetry, including investment in new technologies. The deadline to apply is 1 March 2024.

ALTA Travel Fellowships
Each year, several fellowships of $1,000 each are awarded to emerging translators (someone who does not yet have a book-length work of translation published or under contract) to help them pay for hotel and travel expenses to the annual American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) conference. Part of the application requirement is up to 10 pages of translated work (poetry or prose – see guidelines). “While the Travel Fellowships are open to all applicants, we especially encourage applications from translators of color, translators with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ translators.” They also have the Peter K. Jansen Memorial Travel Fellowship, which is preferentially awarded to one emerging translator of color or a translator working from an underrepresented diaspora or stateless language (apply using the ALTA Travel Fellowship application, and check the Jansen Fellowship eligibility box in the application form – see guidelines). Also see ALTA’s other awards for published works, including the international ALTA First Translation Prize, inaugurated in 2024, for emerging literary translators and their editors – $2,000 to the translator and $1,000 to the editor – open to all genres, awards one debut literary translation from any other language into English published in the previous calendar year. The deadline is 18 March 2024. Details here and here (scroll down).
(Also see ALTA’s Emerging Translator Mentorship Program, the deadline for which has passed.)

University of Pittsburgh: The CAAPP Book Prize
This is “a publishing partnership between the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics and Autumn House Press with the goal of publishing and promoting a writer of African descent. The prize is awarded annually to a first or second book by a writer of African descent and is open to the full range of writers embodying African American, African, or African diasporic experiences. The book can be of any genre that is, or intersects with, poetry, including poetry, hybrid work, speculative prose, and/or translation. The winning manuscript will be published by Autumn House Press and its author will be awarded $3,000.” Send a manuscript of 48-168 pages. The deadline is 15 February 2024. Details here and here.

Words Without Borders: Momentum Grant for Early-Career Translators
They have announced the second annual Momentum Grant for Early-Career Translators; literary fiction and nonfiction for a trade audience are eligible genres. It is “intended to facilitate the completion of a substantial sample of a book-length work of prose translation suitable for submission to English-language publishers, and will be awarded to an individual translator who has not yet received a book-length contract for translation work into English. We particularly welcome submissions from translators from historically underrepresented cultures and backgrounds.” The emerging translator need not live in the United States. A couple of the application requirements are a 2,500-word translation sample, and a 500-word project description. The award is $3,000, and the deadline is 29 February 2024. Details here and here.

Academy of American Poets: Ambroggio Prize
They want a book-length poetry manuscript originally written in Spanish and with an English translation by poets in the US. Poets may translate their own work or collaborate with a translator who may or may not be a poet; the poet and translator must share the prize. The original manuscript in Spanish must be between 48 and 100 pages. Established in 2017, the Ambroggio Prize is the only annual award of its kind in the United States that honors American poets whose first language is Spanish. The prize is $1,000, and publication. The deadline is 15 February 2024. Details here and here.
(They are accepting submissions for other awards as well, both fee-free and fee-based – see the Academy of American Poets’ Submittable for details).

Andres Montoya Poetry Prize
This is for a poetry manuscript by a Latinx poet in the US who has not published a full-length book of poetry. Send a manuscript of 48 pages of poetry, or more. Apart from the cash prize, the winner gets a contract from the University of Notre Dame Press. The prize is awarded every other year. The award is $1,000, and the deadline is 16 February 2024. Details here.

Claire Harris Poetry Prize: Goose Lane Editions
A new initiative of Goose Lane’s icehouse poetry imprint, the Claire Harris Poetry is designed to enhance the visibility of debut poetry collections by previously unpublished poets from Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities. This prize will be presented biennially for a full-length debut collection. The prize includes “a cash award of $1,000, a contract for the publication of the collection under the icehouse poetry imprint in the following year (2025), and public readings in at least three Canadian cities”. This years judge is the poet and essayist Kazim Ali. They are open to submissions till March 31, 2024.

Cherry Lake: Own Voices, Own Stories
The Own Voices, Own Stories Award is eligible to new authors who write children’s books and identify as BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+. Applicants must be US residents. Only authors who have not had a previously traditionally published children’s book will be considered, authors must also be unagented at this time. Full details are available at the site, and the deadline is April 30th.

Curtis Brown Creative UK
This established agency lists all their scholarship opportunities on the same page, which we linked above, and they regularly update those opportunities. These are their current available scholarships:

Gillian McAllister Novel-Writing Scholarship for Disabled Writers:
This scholarship allows a recipient to attend Curtis Brown’s three month long London-based Writing Your Novel course. They close to applications on February 11th.

HW Fisher Novel-Writing Scholarship for Writers with Low Income:
This scholarship, will award one writer of limited financial means a place on their London-based Writing Your Novel – Three Months course. They close to applications on March 17th.

Breakthrough Scholarship for Screenwriters of Colour:
This screenwriting scholarship will enable a writer of colour with limited financial means to join the Writing an Original TV Drama Serial course which does not appear to be in person. The deadline is March 17th.

Breakthrough Scholarship for Short Story Writers with Low Income:
This short story scholarship will support a talented writer with limited financial means a place on their new Advanced Writing Short Stories course which also does not appear to be in person. The deadline is March 31st.

Breakthrough Scholarship for Memoir Writers with Low Income:
This scholarship will award one talented budding memoir writer with limited financial means a place on their online Writing Your Memoir – Three Months course. It will take place on Zoom. The deadline to apply is March 31st.

Pulitzer Center: Connected Coastlines Grants
This is an opportunity for US-based journalists. The Pulitzer Center is seeking applications from journalists who want to report stories as part of Connected Coastlines, a nationwide climate reporting initiative in U.S. coastal states. This initiative is building a consortium of newsrooms and independent journalists across the U.S. to report on the local effects of erratic weather patterns on coastal populations using the latest climate science. “This opportunity is open to all U.S.-based journalists with a plan to publish or broadcast their climate stories with a newsroom based in a U.S. coastal state or region. We strongly encourage proposals from journalists and newsrooms who represent a broad array of social, racial, ethnic, underrepresented groups, and economic backgrounds.” And, “We are eager to receive proposals from staff journalists and freelancers who wish to report on coastal stories, underpinned by recent climate science, data, or research, for publication or broadcast by small and regional news outlets in U.S. coastal states.” They prioritize proposals that can be completed, including publication, in 1-4 months. The ideal range for most awards will be $2,000 to $8,000. Grants are open now and approved on a rolling basis.

Poetry Northwest: James Welch Prize
The James Welch Prize is awarded yearly for two outstanding poems, each written by an emerging Indigenous poet who are community recognized members of a tribe based within the United States and its trust terriroties. In addition small group of finalists is selected for print and/or online publication alongside the winner. The two winning poets will be featured in a reading with the judge and the reading will “include travel, lodging, and a very celebratory welcome for the winners”.  It will close to submissions on February 15th, 2024.

Society of Authors: Dursilla Harvey Access Fund
These are small grants for UK-based/British writers, giving authors support for travel, subsistence, childcare or access needs for events, residencies, and retreats. “Usual grants will be £150 or less, but fair consideration will be given to all proposals.” Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
(Society of Authors also has awards for works in progress as well as contingency funds – all their grants are here.)

The Writing Barn Scholarship
The Writing Barn has a small but budding scholarship program available for our programming. Scholarships are awarded on the following criteria: seriousness of purpose, talent and financial need. They also offer specific Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity scholarships for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Neurodiverse writers, and writers with disabilities.

Forward Funds: Creative Capital x Skoll Foundation Creator Fund
The crowdsourcing platform for creatives, Kickstarter, now has Forward Funds. Their website says, “Forward Funders are foundations, nonprofits, and organizations that back Kickstarter campaigns related to their visions and missions around a more creative and equitable world. Each Forward Funder makes a public commitment and then backs projects just like anyone else—through single pledges that bring the works one step closer to reality.” One such fund is the $500,000 Creative Capital x Skoll Foundation Fund. This backs projects by Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx creators in the US on the crowdfunding platform – “Effective immediately, funds will be awarded on an ongoing basis to creators with active projects across all of Kickstarter’s categories: Arts, Comics & Illustration, Design & Tech, Film, Food & Craft, Games, Music, and Publishing.” Projects launched on Kickstarter following their rules are eligible, and creators can nominate themselves for specific Forward Funds via a form. This is for both, creators and organizations.

BIPOC scholarship for Emily Harstone’s classes at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish
Each time Emily Harstone offers a solo class through the Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish, there is now an opportunity for one to two writers who identify as BIPOC to take it for free. If you registered last year, please note that the form re-set in January, and you are encouraged to fill it out again.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2023 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.