Pavilion Books is an independent London-based publisher that specializes in illustrated books. They have international distribution. They have a number of imprints and between them they publish 150 books per year. Much of what they publish has to do with craft, cooking, children, and textile art.

You can learn more about the different imprints here. When you submit they ask that you submit to a specific imprint. It’s good to spend time getting to know the imprint you are considering submitting to, so that you know your work is a good fit for it.

Outside of children’s books their focus is very much on non-fiction. You can get a good feel for the range of books they publish here.

Submissions should contain a proposed outline, chapter outline and as well as a sample chapter if available, as well as a cover letter containing your name, address and other contact details. Please include a stamped, addressed envelope to enable them to respond to you.

All submissions must be made through the post.

To learn more, please go here.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2020 Guide to Manuscript Publishers.

This is what the say they are looking for:

“Wild Fantasy and Dark Dreams. Give us your whimsical whims and share us your highs and lows. We want everything from you, your flash poems and classic writings.”

Because they are so new, it’s hard to get a feel for what they’ve published in the past, but their website is well designed and easy to use, which is a good starting point.

They accept no more than three poems at a time. They accept and publish poems written in English and Chinese.

Cover letters are not required, but short third-person bios are.

If you are rejected, there is no waiting period before submitting again. Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

All submissions are to be made via email to poeticsunforsubmission@gmail​.com . Please format the subject as follows: Poetry Submission+ Your Name

All written submissions must be in the .doc or .docx format.

To learn more, please visit their website here.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2020 Guide to Manuscript Publishers.

The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts
This magazine publishes “fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, mixed media, visual arts, and even kitchen sinks, if they are compressed in some way.” They also have a section called Topical Tuesdays, where they accept work on topical issues.
Deadline: 15 June 2021
Length: 600 words for prose (including prose poems); one poem of 20 lines or 75 words; 1,000 words for prose or a poem of 30 lines for Topical Tuesdays
Pay: $50
Details here.

The Willowherb Review
The Willowherb Review aims to provide a digital platform to celebrate and bolster nature writing by writers of color, including Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) writers, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) anywhere in the world. They’re reading now for their fourth issue. They will accept non-fiction especially, but will consider fiction and poetry as well — on nature, place, and environment. Their guidelines say, “we believe nature writing can tackle all sorts of issues: from stories of farming to long treks, tales of migration, racism, community, and beauty. You might be writing about remote places, cities, lost landscapes, or old homes. We’re looking forward to seeing what matters most to emerging nature writers. Above all, your submission should have a great sense of place and attention to the natural world.”
Deadline: 30 June 2021
Length: Up to 3,000 words for prose; up to 3 poems
Pay: £250 for prose, £100 for poetry
Details here.

Extra Teeth
This is a Scottish magazine with an international outlook; they publish fiction and nonfiction. Their guidelines say, “We look for short stories that stick with you, lingering in the memory long after reading, and essays that explore specific interests or issues from a new perspective. We offer a space for writers to be strange, bold and experimental, and to express their unique style however they see fit.” They also offer one or two mentoring spaces per issue for emerging writers.
Deadline: 30 June 2021
Length: 800-4,000 words
Pay: £100
Details here.

Curiouser Magazine
This is an Australian magazine of short fiction and poetry. Their website says the magazine “…was created out of a love for intriguing short fiction that explores – by fantastical means – what it is to be human.” Also, “We specialise in prose and poetry that can be defined roughly by the genre of magic realism. Whilst the official definition for magic realism states it is a form of literature that deals, in an accepting fashion, aspects of life usually represented as outside reality, we prefer to cast our nets a little bit wider.
We love the fantastical, the horrific, the experimental, the incantatory. We don’t like morality plays, overt spiritualism, the banal, the painfully self-aware.”
Deadline: 1 July 2021
Length: Up to 5,000 words; up to three poems
Pay: AUD50-140 for short prose, AUD25-40 for poetry
Details here.

Mythic
This is a quarterly speculative fiction magazine seeking diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction. They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 31 July 2021
Length: 2,000-6,000 words
Pay: $0.04/word
Details here.

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She is the author of 182 Short Fiction Publishers. She can be reached here.

The publisher listed here is renamed, but it is one of the many publishers on Writer Beware Thumbs Down list.

Contributory. An adjective, stemming from the word contribute, meaning to give something which will become part of a greater whole. Morally, contributions show a unity of purpose, a togetherness of sorts. It isn’t a desirable word, though, when it is being used in your book publishing contract, which is what I (and countless hopefuls more) experienced.

If you are like me, and you grew up with your face pressed against the pages of a book, then you will know the feeling of joy upon discovering that you have the ability to write. And if you are old-school like me, then you will know the obsession with traditional publishing and the bragging rights that come with having big names like Bantam Books represent your work. Don’t get me wrong, I love the age of social media; life has never been easier, especially for authors who fail to make the cut and opt to self-publish their work, but I’ve never really felt that connection with self-publishing. Sure, if I do everything right and market my book I might even make more money than I would through a publishing house, but it takes out the magic I have always associated with being an author. The dream has always been to get a publishing contract and to be part of a publishing house family.

So when I wrote my debut book and was wondering what to do with the manuscript, all 100 000 words of it, I went online and ‘bumped’ into AM Publishers who were conveniently open to all submissions, I felt the stars had aligned. I submitted my manuscript and fast forward five months, I got a reply via email. They had loved my book and wanted to publish it. In my head I was already planning on how to break the news to my family. In their attached letter they gave my book a glowing review that had me feeling like I had written the next bestseller. A couple of lines down they mentioned that they were sorry but had to offer me a contributory contract. Mystified, I checked online what that meant and stopped cold. A contributory contract was exactly what it implied. To have my book published by them, I first had to pay a fee of £2,700. They even said I could pay it in installments.

To cut the story short, I declined their offer and did further research on the publisher. I hadn’t known that there were such publishing houses called ‘vanity publishers’, whose specialty is to offer contributory contracts to desperate authors with the promise of selling their books to venues like bookshops when in actual fact, they only advertise them online (no difference from someone who self-published on Amazon Kindle). If the bookshops don’t place an order for your book, then you have wasted a whole lotta tree lives. There were many testimonials of the horrors that contributory contracts brought fellow authors who had opted for them. After my experience, I discovered that whatever seems too good to be true, most probably is, and that I really should do in-depth research on where I decide to send my manuscripts. 

I now understand the appeal of self-publishing. I mean the cost of making a great eBook and marketing it is unlikely to reach £2,700. However, I am still hopelessly in love with traditional publishing and a subscriber to Authors Publish, which informs you of legitimate publishing houses that accept manuscripts from new authors whether you have an agent or not (score!). Sure, contributory contracts might be someone else’s cup of tea but I’ve always believed that when you go all in, you will get better results. And you deserve better than contributory contracts.

Bio: Rumbidzai Whena is a Zimbabwean introvert who holds a Bachelor’s in Geography and Environmental Studies and whose love for the environment is on a par with that of writing. She enjoys all forms of writing, creative writing most of all and aims to be an established (and rich!) author one day.  Facebook — LinkedIn — Upwork