HarperLegend is a digital first imprint from HarperOne which is itself an imprint of Harper Collins. What I mean by digital first is that they publish an eBook and then if it does well they publish a print edition. If your book is more than 25,000 words, it will be available as a print-on-demand at those same retailers initially.

HarperLegend is looking to publish a very specific kind of book. They call it visionary fiction. They list a number of an examples to help potential submitters parse that statement. The full list of examples of books that fit their criteria is listed below.

• THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho
• THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS and the SPACE TRILOGY by C.S. Lewis
• THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI by Robin Sharma
• LIFE’S GOLDEN TICKET by Brendon Burchard
• THE SHACK by William Paul Young
• LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel
• BUDDHA by Deepak Chopra
• THE WAY OF THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR by Dan Millman
• SILENCE by Shusaku Endo
• SIDDHARTHA by Herman Hesse

As you can gather from this list they are looking for books with a strong spiritual undercurrent from any number of faith traditions.

They are only interested in submissions containing complete manuscripts. They will try to respond to submissions quickly. If you have not heard from them in three months, your work has been rejected. They do not send rejection letters.

All submissions must be made through their easy to use submission system.

If your work is accepted, you will be assigned an editor. This will be a person with an email address, phone number, Twitter handle, etc with whom you can communicate with directly. Your editor will be your point person for all things moving forward in the publication process.

HarperLegend has general marketing strategies but they also also try to develop one for each book, specifically. A lot of their focus and attention goes into marketing.

According to their website, this is how the royalties work: “HarperLegend royalties are 50% after the first 10,000 copies sold and start at 25%. We do not pay advances against royalties. If we later decide to publish the book in print format at one of our imprints, you will receive standard print royalties.”

If you are interested in submitting to HaperLegend, visit their website here.

Right now, they are seeking submissions for their upcoming anthology, Milk Teeth, a collection of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and micro-essays inspired by childhood moments. They are looking for accounts of life’s ephemeral early days that endure through time, memories that continue to call the mind years later. They seek aesthetic expressions that employ powerful language and textured imagery to craft human experience—its quandaries and transformations—into art.

Hermeneutic Chaos Press is accepting submissions for Milk Teeth now through November 15. Poets may submit up to five poems. Fiction authors may submit up to three pieces, 2,000 words or fewer each. Flash fiction is accepted. Nonfiction writers and authors of micro-essays may submit up to two pieces, 1,500 words or fewer each. All submissions should be accompanied by a cover letter and a short, third-person biography. Hermeneutic Chaos Press accepts writing in all styles and genres, including hybrid forms and collaborative works. To get a sense of their style, you can read Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal online.

Authors who wish to submit to Milk Teeth may do so online, but not via post or email. Hermeneutic Chaos Press will consider reprints for publication in Milk Teeth; however, they ask that authors note previously published pieces in their submissions. They encourage simultaneous submissions, but ask that authors notify them immediately if their submissions are accepted elsewhere. Authors may submit up to two packets of work at a time, and then should wait for a reply. After receiving a response, submitting authors are welcome to send more pieces for consideration.

If you would like to learn more or submit to Milk Teeth, please visit Hermeneutic Chaos’ website at http://www.hermeneuticchaospress.com/milk-teeth.html

What is that mistake? Is it a terrible cover letter? Awful poetry?

No. In fact, it is far simpler than that. The mistake that most authors make when they first start out is that they submit to a very prestigious literary journal or magazine. My use of singular here is very deliberate.

Most authors start out by submitting to only one publication. That literary journal or magazine is usually extremely prestigious and very competitive. The New Yorker is a common first magazine to submit to. Tin House or Rattle are common first literary journals to submit to. Even if you are a writer not familiar with literary journals or magazines, you probably know these names.

These journals accept far less than 1% of what is submitted to them. That does not mean that one shouldn’t submit to them. There is nothing to lose and much to gain by submitting to a journal or magazine that is prestigious or well known.

The problem is this, the first time submitter usually only submits to one well known journal. Then they wait for a response. Some journals respond quickly, but many of the established ones take six months to a year.

These places all accept simultaneous submissions, so authors could submit the same work elsewhere during this time, or those same authors could submit other work elsewhere to increase their chances of having a piece accepted. They should probably submit other work to a lesser known journal or two (or thirty, if they are really serious).

Most don’t. I didn’t when I first started out. What I did was wait almost a year for The New Yorker to reject the three poems that I submitted to them. That was a year’s worth of potential publication that I lost. For no good reason. I could have been submitting elsewhere at the same time.

Don’t take this as discouragement against submitting to The New Yorker. Take this as encouragement to submit to The New Yorker, Rattle, Tin House, and at least five other lesser known literary journals.

Don’t make the same mistake I did. Start submitting today, but don’t stop with one journal. Keep going. Submit often. That is the best advice I can give any writer who is new to the world of publishing.