This is a new monthly feature, that we are trying out. This monthly column will be published on the fourth Thursday of every month. It will be divided into three sections of varying length.

The first section will be focused on opportunities for writers, ranging from editorial work to journals seeking submissions. Often at Authors Publish there are opportunities that we want to include that don’t fit neatly into an already existing list, like non-paying anthology markets open to general submissions, or journals that we’ve already reviewed that want to share that they are open to submissions again. Or they are opportunities that do fit neatly on existing lists, but we found out about them, only after we sent out the updated version of that list.

The second section will focus on various news stories and blog posts that are relevant to the creative writing community, including our perspective on it. We will still do occasional stand-alone posts focused on publishing industry issues, etc.

The third section will focus on sharing subscribers’ success stories, and linking to their recently published work.

We are grateful for any feedback. Please send us an email at support@authorspublish.com if you have any thoughts.

Opportunities:

Magic Dragons, a print magazine that publishes writing and art by children 12 years old and younger is seeking submissions. You can learn more here.

Hellmouth Mag is a non-profit dedicated to publishing quality cultural commentary, literature, personal essays, and art. Their goal is to “foster meaningful dialogue between multiple spheres of influence, encouraging cultural exchange through engaging, provocative, and sometimes cheeky compositions.” They are specifically looking for arts focused writing, be it an exhibition review, commentary, visual analyses, and researched investigative or academic inquiries into the philosophy and social connections that art has within contemporary world. They are open to submissions from everywhere, but are most interested in work from writers in the East TN/Appalachian region of the United States.

Narratively has an interesting call for “my secret obsession.” They say, “We’re searching for compelling stories about real people with secret obsessions or unconventional infatuations.” These pieces can be first person, or reported stories. They have a lot of helpful additional context and sample pieces on their Submittable call.

Fantasy Magazine was acquired by Psychopomp and relaunched. They are open to submissions from January 22-25th, 2025 for BIPOC writers only, and then from January 26-29th for general submissions. You can learn more here.

Burnings Magazine is a Singapore-based literary journal is open to general submissions from anyone, but they are also particularly interested in submissions from Singaporean students currently in secondary levels and below as well as at pre-university centers. You can learn more here.

Inlandia: A Literary Journey is recruiting editors 13–19 years old for the Spring 2025 All-Teen Issue. You can learn more here.

The Word’s Faire is looking for fiction and poetry readers. They are looking for individuals who are up for committing between one and five hours a week.

News:

Victoria Strauss posted a very helpful year in review round-up on Writer Beware.

Lynne Freeman, an unpublished author, is suing the bestselling author Tracy Wolff, her publisher Entangled, and her agent, Emily Sylvan Kim, over copyright infringement. Kim was previously Freeman’s agent, and failed to sell her book, which has overlap with Wolff’s NYT’s Bestselling book. The story is covered briefly here, and in depth in The New Yorker (this link involves a paywall/limit). The story is worth reading on several levels, especially for authors and readers of genre fiction.

This is more of an essay than news, but Jon Klassen, the bestselling picture book author and illustrator, wrote an excellent piece on the Art of the Board Book for The New York Times. I’m sharing a gift article link to it here. 

Also not exactly news, but certainly worth listening to if you write short creative non-fiction, Becky Tuch shared a great interview with Dinty W. Moore, the editor in chief at Brevity.

Subscriber’s Successes:

Ken Post‘s collection Greyhound Cowboy and Other Stories was published by Cornerstone Press.

Rudy Vener‘s short story, Dragon Wing, was just published in The Beast Hunt Vol 1 anthology by Three Ravens Publishing.

Inderjeet Mani‘s short story The Mausoleum was published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

The Strike Vote, a short story excerpted from David R. Yale’s novel Getting Back Our Stolen Bootstraps was just published in The Fear of Monkeys.

Seth Schindler’s novella, The Time Golem, was published by ELJ Editions.

An anthology edited by Henry Herz, Combat Monsters is forthcoming from Blackstone Publishing in February and available for preorder now. 

Tangles by Kay Smith-Blum was published by Black Rose Writing in December 2024, and was awarded Book of the Year by Literary Global Book Awards, Best Debut Fiction by the American Writing Awards and garnered a bronze medal for Best Adult Book by Reader’s Choice. 

A Tail of the City by J. J. Hillard was published in The Linden Review. 

Barton Paul Levenson’s short story Simulation Study, was published by Heart of Flesh.

Between Worlds by S. Nadja Zajdman was published by Bridge House Publishing.

Passengers Journal published Eugénie de Rosier’s essay, Queen Uncaptured by Bishop in their final issue.

Winifred Òdúnóku’s short story Dear Ekemini is forthcoming in the anthology Devotion in The Open Air published by Inked in Gray Press.

Mike Sluchinski’s poem Ice Writers was published by The Coachella Review.

A Worthie Woman All Hir Live by LindaAnn LoSchiavo was published in The Yard: Crime Blog

Two poems by Julie Novak-McSweeney were published in Anti-Heroin Chic.

Bruce Conord’s short story An August Man, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by The Muleskinner Journal.

Dale Stromberg‘s high fantasy novel Maej was published by tRaum Books.

Anneliese Schultz‘s short story Water & Oil was published in Through the Portal: Tales from a Hopeful Dystopia by Exile Editions.

Mona Mehas had three poems published in Empyrean Lit Magazine. 

Roxanne Doty’s poem La Loba was published in Anti-Heroin Chic.

Tony Duxbury’s short story The Death Dealer was published in the December issue of Borderline Tales.

John Michael Flynn’s novel,  Answer Only, was published by Fomite. A review of the novel can be read here. 

Nancy McMillan’s short story, The Page Turner, was published in Toronto Journal.

Lewis Brett Smiler published the short story A Black Belt in Action in Academy of the Heart and Mind. They also published the short story The Sculptor in Anotherealm.

Colleen Sutton’s nonfiction piece, East of LA was published in The Malahat Review. The piece isn’t available online, but you can read an interview with Sutton about the piece here

Kyra Brendenhof‘s short story Unearthing was published by River & South Review.

Tonja K. Johnson published their short story Beneath A Midnight Tide in FIYAH. You can purchase the issue their story appeared in here.

Zohreh Baghban’s flash story Dissolved was recently published in The Writers’ Journal first issue, under the pen name Raha.M.

Laura Frost published two short stories in December. Her story, She Danced was published in Seaside: A Collection of Short Stories by Canadian Authors by Polar Expressions Publishing, and her story Room 116 appeared in Sybil Journal.

Richard Korst’s short story, A Damned Long Walk was published in The Last Line, Issue 10, which you can purchase here. Their short story Tattered Byrds was also recently published by Spillwords.

John Michael Flynn’s novel, Answer Only, was published by Fomite Press. You can read a review of the novel here.

Mauro Altamura’s short story Plus Popeye (The Ross Family) was published in Bull.

Tony Duxbury’s short story The Constable was published in Pulp Lit Magazine issue 5 in Jan 2025. 

Please send us an email at success.stories@authorspublish.com if you have a publication success you want to share in our January update. Include a link to your website (if you have one), the publication you’d like to share, and the publisher/journals main landing page. The publication date must be within three months of the current date. Please note that we are only listing work that has been traditionally published by literary journals, magazines, or traditional presses. We are not covering vanity presses or self-published books.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2024 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.

Viridine is helmed in the South of England, and so far they’ve published one issue, themed “Beginnings”. It features writing from 13 contributors, along with two pieces of artwork.

Viridine plans to publish quarterly issues, and to hold four submission windows each year: in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. Right now, they’re accepting submissions for second issue, themed “Chaos.”  Submissions are open through February 28.

Poets may submit up to three poems, 40 lines or fewer each. Authors of fiction may submit up to two stories, totaling 2,000 words or fewer. Authors of scripts may submit up to three pieces, 30 pages or fewer each.

Viridine is also seeking essays on film and theater theory. This includes writing about directors, actors, writers, composers, and cinematographers, as well as production and set design, lighting, and scores. They do not accept reviews of films or plays.

Authors may submit in multiple categories, but should only send one submission per category during each submission call.

Submitting authors can expect a response within one month after the submission window closes. They accept submissions from all authors, but they are especially interested in receiving submissions from authors over 30: “We are particularly keen to receive submissions from underrepresented demographics, and from new and emerging writers over the age of 30 – a reminder that it’s never too late to start pursuing different dreams and opportunities.”

Viridine accepts submissions using an online form; they do not accept submissions via email or by post. They accept simultaneous submissions but ask that authors withdraw writing published elsewhere. They do not accept previously published writing, or writing created by AI.

Viridine only accepts submissions that follow the guidelines they’ve posted online. Please read these guidelines in full before submitting.

If you would like to learn more or submit to Viridine, pleases visit their website here and 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.

The Art of Writing for Oneself

First of all, imagine sitting down to write, not with the intent of impressing an editor or captivating readers, but to hear your own voice clearly, without interruption. This definite act of writing for oneself is the starting point of ushering in a rare liberation. There are no constraints on pleasing an audience or conforming to trends. So you can experiment with form, voice, and style. This is a freedom that invites new ideas to emerge and nurtures creativity in its purest form. It is practically playing with a personal treasure trove and this sense of playfulness is essential for real creativity. This unshackled notion is the condition where you can take risks that ultimately make your work richer and more authentic. In a sense, the creation now becomes uniquely your very own. Virginia Woolf touched on this in her belief that life gains meaning when written about, reinforcing the idea that self-expression itself is an achievement. In every sense of the expression this is actually an exercise of emotional release and self-discovery.

So, writing for oneself can be deeply cathartic, offering emotional clarity and release. This is a perfect avenue to release complex emotions and untangling thoughts because crafting words like this is not meant for others and that is how it creates a safe space for exploring. Self-editing is relentless in the case of professional or public-facing writing but, in sharp contrast personal writing can be raw and unfiltered where the blank page becomes a confidant, a space where vulnerability is not only allowed but necessary.

The best outcome of this process is self-discovery and more often than not, surprising because without anticipating an audience’s reaction, you may stumble upon themes or truths you hadn’t intended to explore. The interesting fact about such discoveries that are birthed from honest self-reflection can be a foundation of future work, or works, lending a depth that resonates even when pieces are eventually shared with others. Yet, this practice is not without its difficulties.

Challenges of Writing Without an Audience

Even in this supposedly private work the potential for self-censorship sometimes appears as a challenge. You always tend to think, “Is this even worth writing down?” You can also feel a little embarrassed thinking “What if someone reads this?” These are whispers of doubts that can operate critically voice inside a writer’s head. Believe me; the journey to overcome these voices is as important as the act of writing itself because acknowledging the presence of internal critique, then pressing on despite it, is the key to maintaining authenticity.

Transitioning from personal to professional writing is another obstacle. There are certain structures and expectations of publishing but a writer accustomed to the freedom of writing for themselves might struggle with it. This is a delicate act that can feel like walking a tightrope and the shift requires balancing personal authenticity with an understanding of what appeals to others. Therefore, the job is not easy but can be achieved with enough practice.

So, you can see clearly that the act of writing without an audience in mind is a practice of freedom, honesty, and patience. It is a gentle reminder of the time we first picked up the pen or tapped out those tentative words on a keyboard.

Bio: Sabyasachi Roy is primarily a Bengali poet from West Bengal, India. Writes in English from time to time. His poetry has been published in Stand, Poetry Salzburg Review, FourWsixteen, Linq, Quintessence, Voicesnet, Dicey Brown, Mindfire Renewed, The Potomac, 13th Warrior, and several print and online magazines.