Updated May 16th 2024: they have reopened to manuscript submissions and the portal is working this time they will stop taking submissions at 5:00 PM ET, May 17th.

Updated March 18th 2024: The submission period did not work out as planned. They had major technical issues and no one was able to make a submission. They have announced plans to re-calibrate and reschedule.

Updated March 15th 2024: They are open to 1,000 submissions starting at 9 am ET March 18th. If you want your work to be considered I highly suggest that you have everything as ready to go as possible and that you submit it right when the period opens. You can read the details here: https://sites.prh.com/berkley-open-submissions-2024

Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House is having an open reading period from December 7th, 2021 through January 9th, 2022. They are seeking full-length adult novels in the following genres: romance, women’s fiction, mystery, suspense and thrillers, horror, science fiction, and fantasy. 

This is the first time they’ve run this program, although they’ve made it clear that they hope to have an open reading period a few times a year now. It is rare for a Big Five publisher to have an open reading period, particularly for a North American imprint. I am confident that one of the big motivating factors for this is their recently completed and released diversity audit which you can read in full here.

They open the call by saying:

“At Berkley, we strive to publish commercial fiction that reflects the world we live in and to bring readers stories that encompass a full range of backgrounds, experiences and unique perspectives. With the Berkley Open Submission Program we are opening a direct submission channel in the hopes of reaching more potential authors. We are inviting submissions from all writers, including those sharing underrepresented stories in regards to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. We hope to discover new talent and share their works with the world.“

In fact, they explicitly state “Berkley’s Open Submission program is part of its ongoing effort to contribute to Penguin Random House’s overall Diversity, Equity & Inclusion commitments.”

Authors must be unagented to submit to the program, but if they receive an offer from Berkley they can reach out to agents for representation. Projects must only be only submitted to the program once.  Only submit one project at a time. You can only submit completed work.

They also state that “Submissions must include a 1-page synopsis, the first 10 pages of the manuscript, an author bio, and a query letter with links to social media platforms, if applicable, and any other information you wish the editors to consider. A query letter is an introductory one page letter that tells an editor something about the story, something about the writer, and why Berkley should publish the book.”

All submissions must be made through QueryManager.

The open submission program is governed by Penguin Random House’s Privacy policy which you can read here.

To learn more go here.

Agapanthus Collective is founded and edited by writers who believe that writing is a labor of love. They aim to treat all submissions with the same care with which they were written. That’s why they read submissions blind, giving unpublished and established authors equal attention.

Agapanthus Collective publishes two annual editions online. They also publish other writing in weekly online features.

They hold two open reading periods for their biannual publication: For the April edition, submissions are open from December 5^th through February 5^th.  For the October edition, submissions are open from May 25^th through July 25^th. They accept submissions for the weekly feature on a rolling basis. Submitting authors can expect a response within four to ten days for the weekly feature, and within two to four weeks for the biannual publication.

Even though the biannual publication submissions are supposed to open now, according to their site, there is a note on their site still indicating that they are closed currently, but weekly publication submissions are open.

Agapanthus Collective accepts poetry and short fiction for their biannual publication, and they accept work in any genre—poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, etc.—for their weekly feature. Poets may submit up to five poems. Authors of short fiction may submit up to two pieces, 2,500 words or fewer each. Authors of other genres, including creative nonfiction, may submit up to five pieces totaling ten pages or fewer.

Agapanthus Collective accepts submissions via email, not online or by post. They accept simultaneous submissions but ask that authors withdraw work published elsewhere. For their biannual publication, they do not accept previously published work. They do, however, accept previously published work for their weekly feature. They just ask that authors note the original publication.

Agapanthus Collective only accepts submissions that adhere to the guidelines they’ve posted online. Please read these guidelines in full before submitting.

If you’d like to learn more or submit to Agapanthus Collective, 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.

It is a not-so-hidden secret that writing takes more than just the ability to write. The ability to write, ideas, resources, all these are part of the ecosystem of writing; the largest and arguably most important part of this ecosystem is productivity.

Productivity is simply the act of producing quality work over time. In the writing world, this may mean producing qualitative and original content with improvement over time. Productivity in writing is the long-term powerful tool that writing wizards use to produce great content in a period of time.

Below are three effective ways to increase your writing productivity.

Prioritize Your Writing

This should be the first thing you do. Give priority to your writing, make it an important aspect of not just your career, but your life. This  helps in terms of boosting your productivity, because when you prioritize your writing you take it as something important that must be done regularly and with quality, not just as a hobby.

When you value your writing, you are more likely to keep at it for a long time, making improvements as time passes and finishing a project at the desired time.

Set Deadlines

Utilizing deadlines is a great way to increase your productivity. However, they can be tricky. Deadlines can help you get far in your writing journey, but they can also work against you if you don’t use them the right way.

A great way to use deadlines is to set them in a way that they do not limit your writing or make you write in such a way that the quality of your work suffers. Setting a deadline too tight could make you write in a rush to beat the deadline and in doing so, the quality of your writing is diminished. But if you do it the other way round, setting your deadline over an extended period, this lets you write at your normal or even an improved pace and at usual or improved quality, all within a desired period.

Break It Down

Another reason why some writers still haven’t finished their book or why the quality of their writing keeps deteriorating is because they write too much at once.  For example, a writer may make it part of their writing schedule to write up to 1000-1500 words a day, all in one sitting. By the time they finish they’ll probably be exhausted, which might negatively affect the quality of their writing, or in the worst case they might reach a stage when they’ll find it hard to continue writing.

So break the amount of writing you do into smaller amounts you can handle without any negative effects, say the 1500 words daily target is broken into three batches of  500 words that can be done during the day. This way your creativity and productivity are preserved and hopefully even improve over time.

Final Thoughts

Productivity really isn’t something hard to achieve in your writing career. Just follow the right steps, write, keep at it, and you could be on your way to becoming the next writing wizard!