Each full issue of Guernica contains work from around ten authors, and each issue of Guernica daily features one piece of writing. Guernica publishes both new and established writers. They accept submissions year-round, and submitting writers can expect a response within about eight weeks.

Fiction writers may submit one short story or self-contained novel excerpt, 1,200 to 4,500 words. Flash fiction may be grouped into one numbered piece that meets the required word count. Submissions of other lengths must be solicited. Nonfiction writers may submit one essay, 3,500 to 7,000 words. Poets may submit five poems. Guernica also welcomes submissions of interviews and translations in all genres. Writers may also submit essays to Guernica Daily, 1,200 to 2,000 words in length.

Guernica accepts submissions online, but not via post or email. They accept simultaneous submissions, but ask that writers immediately withdraw work published elsewhere. They do not accept previously published work.

If you would like to learn more or submit to Guernica, please visit their website at https://www.guernicamag.com/information/submit/.

Believing in one or more of these myths could seriously hurt your chances of having a book published by the right publisher.

You need a literary agent. Literary agents are great. Many authors rely on them. However, they are hard to find and they can’t always find a publisher for your book. I know several authors who got their book published with a good publisher after their agent failed to get that same book published.

In fact a lot of smaller publishers, including most established and respected ones, accept unsolicited manuscripts directly from authors. Not only that but most larger traditional publishers have at least one imprint or digital first branch that is open to unsolicited submissions. Avon Impulse (Harper Collins), WITNESS Impulse (Harper Collins), Bloomsbury Spark (Bloomsbury), and DAW (Penguin) are all good examples of imprints open to unagented work.

When I wrote fiction I used to think it was about finding the right agent, now I know that I would submit my work to a few of my favorite publishers directly before trying to find an agent, even though my work would end up in the slush pile.

The second myth, big six or bust, is actually related to the first myth. Many believe that one of the big six publishers (which is now actually only five) need to accept their book in order for the book to sell well, so that the book can find its rightful place in brick and mortar bookstores and libraries.

This is not true. This is why knowing who your publisher’s distributor is, is so important. In fact many smaller publishers have the same distributors as the big five publishers.

Most publishing companies that have a good distributor are very upfront about it. If you go into a book store or a library regularly you will probably have a good idea of which publishers have good distribution, because you see them on the shelves.

Chronicle, Baen, Algonquin Books, Harlequin, and Hard Case Crimes are all examples of independent publishers that are open to unsolicited submissions that have excellent distribution.

An incomplete manuscript can be accepted is only a myth when it comes to fiction. Many non-fiction research based books are accepted before completion. When it comes to fiction, all successful legitimate publishers that I know of require that the manuscript is complete on submission. So even if they request just the first three chapters, the rest of your book should already be finished.

Having a legitimate publisher means that you don’t have to self promote. This might have been true at one point, but it has not been true for a long time. Ten years ago I took a class with a New York Times bestselling author. He told me the best thing he did for his first book was independently hire a publicist, even though his book was published by a major (big five) publisher.

Most publishers that you can submit to directly want to know your marketing plan (or your author platform) before accepting your book for publication. They want to know that you are committed to promoting your work.  That you know who your potential audience is and you are willing to connect with them. This does not mean the publisher is less legitimate or that they won’t help with marketing. They just need to know that you are serious about supporting your own book.

You have to pay a traditional publisher. If you have a traditional publisher, you do not pay them anything. They pay you. However, over the past few years many traditional and established publishing houses such Harlequin, Thomas Nelson, and Hay House have partnered with companies such as Authors Solutions Inc. to create self-publishing branches associated with these presses. Sometimes if the traditional branches of these presses have contests, the contests are even redirected to the self publishing branch. This can confuse a lot of people.

For example in India, Penguin/Random House, one of the big five and one of the best known publishers in the world, runs a company called Partridge. However, Partridge is purely a vanity publisher. They charge all their writers.

It is no wonder that myth is becoming more substantial, not less.

Self-publishing is easy. There is truth to this myth. Anyone with a little time and minimal effort any person can publish their book with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). However, that does not mean that anyone will buy or read that book. The majority of self published books sell under 10 copies. Like traditional publishing, self publishing requires a lot of work if you want to be successful, it is just a different kind of work.

Bio: Emily Harstone is the pen name of an author whose work has been published internationally by a number of respected journals. She is a professional submissions adviser. You can follow her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/emilyharstone/

Henery Press is a small publisher that focuses on publishing mystery and chick lit. Their mysteries are generally on the cozier side. They publish print and electronic editions of their books. A number of their books have sold well on Amazon. Several have made it onto the USA Today bestseller list. Their books have been spotted in brick and mortar bookstores as well as libraries. A number of their books have won awards, particularly within the mystery genre. In short they have a very good track record for a publisher that has been around for less than 5 years.

Their website is aimed at selling books. It is well designed, easy to use, and up to date. The covers of the books are generally excellent.

Authors who have been published by Henery praise the editing particularly. They also have a small team focused on marketing.

They only accept submissions through email. Your subject line should be your last name, genre, and title. Include in the body of the email the word count, genre, title, and a short blurb about the book. Also make sure to include a short bio and some information about your social media presence (they expect you to have some). The manuscript should be attached as a doc or pdf file.

They are open to publishing series. If your book is part of a series make sure to include information about the series as the whole, focusing on how many of the books you have written already.

They are open to re-publishing books that are out of print, as long as the rights belong to you. They try to respond to submissions in 6 weeks or less.

To learn more visit their website here.