Their current reading period will close to submissions on October 16th, 2024.

This is what Roxane Gay has to say about what she plans to publish:

“I am going to publish books I love from interesting writers. That could, of course, mean anything. I am looking for beautifully written, compelling books that challenge, delight, and entertain readers. I love literary fiction but your story has to have an interesting plot. Things have to happen. I want books I simply cannot put down and that, when I finish, I can’t stop thinking about. I love stories about difficult women. I welcome your so-called unlikable protagonists. I enjoy dark, gritty stories but I am also open to happy, joyful but unsentimental stories that reflect faith in the overall goodness of humanity.”

Roxane Gay Books prioritizes underrepresented writers.

The imprint will publish novels, short fiction, memoir, essay collections, and nonfiction. She adds the additional disclaimer, “Most genres are welcome but my tastes skew to not only literary fiction but contemporary romance, and science fiction and fantasy. I am always open to being surprised but I will not likely be drawn to stories about sad white people marriages or autofiction. I am not interested in police propaganda narratives. Historical fiction, Westerns and the like will be a hard sell and there are other imprints that are a better fit for those stories.”

Additional information about what she is looking for is available here. It should be read carefully and thoroughly before you submit. All submissions will be responded to, although not personally.

Submissions must be submitted via Submittable. Response times should be between three and six months. There is no official deadline in which the imprint will close for submissions. She’s made it clear that it will not not always be open to direct submissions, and that it depends on volume. If the imprint closes to submissions because of this review that is very understandable, and it may well open again soon. Please check back.

To learn more about their submission guidelines, go here.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2021 Guide to Manuscript Publishers.

Based in Chicago and Pittsburgh, Always Crashing has been published in print and online since 2017. This reader-supported magazine offers new online content year-round, every two weeks, as well as a print annual.

Although there are no guidelines given for the length of submissions, the editors of Always Crashing do provide a helpful description of their aesthetic. They say, “We are interested in work that strikes curious poses; in the ‘experimental,’ not as an avant-garde, but as a furthering of a subterranean literary tradition.” They go on to say that they enjoy being, “pushed into strange and unfamiliar territories.” Submitting authors can expect a response within three months.

All submissions to Always Crashing are considered for both print and online publication. They are especially interested in submissions with audio or visual elements for their online edition.

Always Crashing accepts submissions via email, not online or by post. They accept simultaneous submissions but ask that authors withdraw work published elsewhere. They do not accept previously published work.

Always Crashing 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 Always Crashing, 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.

Editing is part of the writing process. It is something every writer must do in order to polish their work and help readers connect with the stories they are telling.

Editing takes many forms, some focusing on the story on the sentence level, and others from an overarching structural level. Below I break down editing into 5 common categories. When editing one’s own work it is easier to edit each draft while focusing on one approach, although Structural and Developmental editing are sometimes combined.

1. Structural editing
   In this type of editing, you try to figure out how to split your chapters, how to arrange your scenes, which one should come before the other, when and where your plot twists should come in. Structural editing also helps you with plot and characters – their age, their behavior, their location, motivations, and what their problems are. To learn more about structural editing, go here.
2. Developmental editing
   Has a lot of crossover with structural editing. Some authors consider them to be the same thing. Others do not. In developmental editing you look at each element of your story, which part works which one should be removed or improved.
3. Line editing
   This type of editing focuses more on prose and sentence structure. It’s about maintaining your writing style (your voice, sense of humor, your tone, imagery etc.) while tightening and clarifying your sentences. Line editing ensures the free flow of your creativity, how smooth your story is, from your tenses to your word choices.
4. Copy editing
   This focuses more on the writing itself. How readable is your story? In this type, you look out for errors and try to align everything properly. Copy editing is all about clarity, spell check, grammar, removing repetitions, punctuation, and so on.
5. Proof reading
   This is the final type of editing process. Here you read through the writing and do a thorough error check making sure everything is accurate and in place. Friends can help you with this step, because the work should already be really polished at this point, and a fresh pair (or pairs) of eyes, can really help at this point.

Notwithstanding, it is advisable to hire a professional editor for your manuscript, they will help you cover the areas you are struggling with more in your story (could be just the one of the kinds of editing, like copy editing).

We all have blind spots and we can’t possibly see through everything. It’s always good to have someone more experienced go through the work for the sake of effectiveness.

Although for editing types 3-5 above, the apps listed in this article, some free, some not, can really make a difference.

Zenstateofmind is a freelance creative writer who contributes to magazines, websites and blogs. She also offers ghost writing services for private clients seeking help with their novels. She resides in Nigeria. In her spare time, Zen shares stories and writing tips on her blog