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4 Insightful New Essay Collections

The word "essay," as just about every avid reader of creative nonfiction already knows, derives from the French verb essayer , meaning "to try" or "to attempt." Essays are, fundamentally, attempts at capturing, taming, and understanding a subject, whether it be literary esoterica or the contents of the writer's own heart. These four new essay collections do just that, covering a range of topics and experiences with clarity, insight, and wit.

Time Come: Selected Prose

Songs on Endless Repeat: Essays and Outtakes

The Bloodied Nightgown and Other Essays

Revelation at the Food Bank

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The best essay collections to read now

From advice on friendship and understanding modern life to getting a grasp on coronavirus, these books offer insight on life. 

What better way to get into the work of a writer than through a collection of their essays? 

These seven collections, from novelists and critics alike, address a myriad of subjects from friendship to how colleges are dealing with sexual assaults on campus to race and racism. 

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino (2019)

As a staff writer at The New Yorker , Jia Tolentino has explored everything from a rise in youth vaping to the ongoing cultural reckoning about sexual assault. Her first book Trick Mirror takes some of those pieces for The New Yorker as well as new work to form what is one of the sharpest collections of cultural criticism today.

Using herself and her own coming of age as a lens for many of the essays, Tolentino turns her pen and her eye to everything from her generation’s obsession with extravagant weddings to how college campuses deal with sexual assault.

If you’re looking for an insight into millennial life, then Trick Mirror should be on your to-read list.

In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens by Alice Walker (1983)

Sometimes essays collected from a sprawling period of a successful writer’s life can feel like a hasty addition to a bibliography; a smash-and-grab of notebook flotsam. Not so In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens , from which one can truly understand the sheer range of the Pulitzer Prize winner’s range of study and activism. From Walker’s first published piece of non-fiction (for which she won a prize, and spent her winnings on cut peonies) to more elegiac pieces about her heritage, Walker’s thoughts on feminism (which she terms “womanism”) and the Civil Rights Movement remain grippingly pertinent 50 years on.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (2000)

That David Sedaris’s ascent to literary stardom happened later in his life – his breakthrough collection of humour essays was released when he was 44 – suited the author’s writing style perfectly. Me Talk Pretty One Day is both a painfully funny account of his childhood and an enduring snapshot of mid-forties malaise. First story ‘Go Carolina’, about his attempt to transcend a childhood lisp, is told from a perfect distance and with all the worldliness necessary to milk every drop of tragic, cringeworthy humour from his childhood. It never falters from there: by the book’s second half, in which Sedaris is living in France, he’s firmly established his niche, writing about the ways that even snobs experience utter humiliation ­– and Me Talk Pretty One Day is all the more human for it. 

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How To Publish A Collection Of Essays

by Writer's Relief Staff | Craft: Short Story Writing , Submit A Book For Publication , Submit A Short Story Or Essay , Submit Your Writing | 7 comments

Review Board is now open! Submit your Short Prose, Poetry, and Book today!

Deadline: thursday, april 18th.

At Writer’s Relief we are often asked how writers can get their collection of essays published, and we recommend the following tips to help essay writers approach editors and literary agents with greater confidence and success.

How can I generate an editor or agent’s interest in my book of essays?

Publication credits . If you’ve previously published essays in reputable literary journals, make sure to include these credits in your query letter . We highly recommend that you build your publication credits before approaching an editor or agent with a collection of unpublished essays. The market for an essay collection is limited unless you have significantly newsworthy experiences or have a background that proves your writing has mass appeal. Wide publication credits will help indicate readers’ interest in your work.

If you are still in the process of building credits, investigate local venues for your essays—newspapers, newsletters, etc. There are also free specialty publications covering every imaginable topic (check out coffee shops and bookstores) that may be receptive to personal essays). Start locally but aim for national exposure for the best results. If you’ve published a personal essay in a reputable national literary magazine, you’ve increased your odds of selling a collection by quite a bit.

Theme . Collections do well when they include essays with a common theme. For example, David Sedaris is best known for his humorous essays, and C.S. Lewis once published a collection of religious essays. Other themes may include women’s studies, travel, sports, or city life. Unique themes get attention—people love to read about real-life experiences that are highly unusual—but even the most outrageous stories must be backed by good writing.

How can I find editors or literary agents who work with essay collections?

Research, research, research . Study the essay collections at local bookstores and libraries—and don’t forget to investigate the nonfiction areas such as travel, cooking, or parenting. Note who publishes these collections and what kind of essays are selling. Check the books’ acknowledgment pages for possible references to literary agents or editors.

Study book reviews and buy compilations of essays (for example, The Best American Essays ) to learn where each was published. And don’t forget about networking. Writers’ groups, college English departments, conferences—get to know fellow writers and ask questions.

Search for literary agents who welcome essay collections. You can find thousands and thousands of resources online and in bookstores. You’ll need to examine literary agency listings carefully in order to determine which are best for you. And, if you’re short on time, Writer’s Relief can help you. We maintain a database of information—current and constantly updated—to help you target your submissions more successfully. We’ve been helping writers get their work published since 1994.

Interesting, always go the independent route. Learn to believe in your own merit. Take your time when writing. Don’t get into this industry with the mindset that you are going to make copious amount of money. Frankly, the writung industry has been depreciated by too many 2nd-rate writers.

My essay project is “Integral Perspective Of The Human Factor In A Mechanical, Digital World Environment”. It is 14 double-spaced pages, consisting of 7 parts, an introduction, a brief conclusion, and my background. It is a positive response for thought and action in the dehumanizing trend we are living in technology, climate change, education, culture,economy, and interpersonal relations. I want to publish the essay if I can. Whether I receive any compensation is immaterial.

Hi, I am working on editing 20 essays from different writers,they share a main event in their journey which is the theme of the collection. Do you have any advise on how to find a publisher for such a collection¿ Thank you

There are a few options you have. You may find this article about querying for short story collections useful: https://writersrelief.com/2018/05/03/query-letter-genre-essentials-pitching-a-collection-of-short-stories-writers-relief/

Also, we’ve found that submitting your essays individually and having them published in different literary journals increases your chances of getting a collection of them picked up for publication.

My essays have been published individually, but now I want them in one publication without the editor’s having edited out some of my breezy writing style!!! I write on art/artists/events such as the Medici’s at the Met Museum and just about anything I feel like writing. I am published in two online magazines and have been published in print magazines.

I’ve only written one essay so far, but I’m confident that I can develop it into a “series,” so to speak. The essay was my response to a school assignment requesting a story about a tragedy or significant adversity I’d experienced and how I overcame it. I chose to write about my four-month-recent suicide attempt. The detail I went into is truly gut-wrenching, but it is my truth, and I need to live it and speak it unapologetically. I shared my essay with a few other staff members at my school, most of whom have provided me with encouraging feedback. If I were to continue the essay into a series, I would most likely focus on my mental health journey and the incredible ways in which it has impacted me. It’s always been my dream (a rather stubborn one, might I add) to write and publish a book, but I never knew I could publish a collection of essays. Truth be told, I wasn’t aware they were a possibility until very recently; a memoir and a poetry book were really the only ideas I had. But a series of essays compiled under a single main theme seems much more achievable and tolerable, especially at my age (I’m a minor). I haven’t the slightest clue how to go about making this dream into a reality, but I know for certain that I’m willing to try. As ambitious as I am, however, I can’t do it alone; I would greatly appreciate a bit of guidance from anyone willing (and qualified) to give it. I understand that I have a lot to learn – I’ve barely even grazed the surface thus far – but I believe I am fully capable. I’m young, yes; one would assume I have ample time. The hard truth? Life is short. That’s something I’ve already learned time and time again even prior to The Incident. I’ve fought this war my entire life up to this point, and I will never stop fighting it. That’s not okay, not by any means – but most things aren’t, right? As world-shattering as the truths that hide in the dark crawlspaces of Life are, they’re still the truth. They’re still my truths, still my stories. Stories I need to share with the world. There are people out there like me – more than we want to admit – and they need to hear my story. They need to see my strength to find within themselves their own. I am determined to fight as long as I must to give them that, and that fight starts with finding my own Village to help me. So to whoever may read this: if you are willing, capable, and qualified to provide advice or guidance, I ask that you please take a little time to do so, and I in turn will give you my time. Thank you to all who read this, and thank you to Writer’s Relief for giving me the space and opportunity to share.

Hi Isabella,

Thank you for reaching out to us, and for sharing your journey with us.

We recommend taking a look at our free publishing toolkit. There are numerous articles about writing, publishing, finding an agent, etc. https://writersrelief.com/free-publishing-resources-toolkit-for-writers/

We also think the following articles might be helpful: https://writersrelief.com/how-to-write-about-trauma-in-your-memoir-writers-relief/ and https://writersrelief.com/how-to-write-a-personal-essay-worth-publishing-writers-relief/

We hope these resources will help you with your writing journey.

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9 Presses That Accept Unsolicited Manuscripts

Do you have a book-length manuscript that is ready to submit? Consider sending it to one (or many) of these nine awesome presses that accept unsolicited manuscripts. We are huge fans of these presses and are so grateful for the work that they do. So go ahead: check out this list of opportunities.

This independent press only publishes up to three titles per year, but welcomes submissions of literary fiction and creative nonfiction. Their writers include M. Allen Cunningham, Margaret Malone, Harriet Scott Chessman, and others. Atelier26’s books have been recognized by the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Balcones Fiction Prize, the Flann O’Brien Award, and more. Check it out.

Black Balloon

This publisher is an acclaimed imprint of Catapult, an independent publisher that also offers online and in-person writing classes and fosters new and emerging writers. Black Balloon is seeking fiction and narrative nonfiction with an innovative writing style and unique voice. Their books have been featured in The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, O: The Oprah Magazine, Esquire, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Atlantic, and NPR’s All Things Considered, among others. They accept manuscript submissions via Submittable twice yearly. Read more about Black Balloon here.

Coffee House Press

This is a small press that publishes literary novels, full-length short story collections, poetry, creative nonfiction, book-length essays and essay collections, and memoir. Their next reading period opens on September 1st, 2018, and is capped at three hundred, so it’s best to submit promptly. They have published Gabe Habash, Hernan Diaz, Eimear McBride, and others. Visit the Coffee House site for more information.

Two Dollar Radio

This acclaimed, boutique press has published exceptional writers such as Masande Ntshanga, Sarah Gerard, Shane Jones, and others. Their books have been recognized by the National Book Foundation, picked as “Editor’s Choice” by The New York Times Book Review , and made best-of lists at several other publications. For more details, check out their site.

This acclaimed publishing project is looking for fiction and nonfiction written by women. They have published writers such as Renee Gladman, Joanna Ruocco, and Marianne Fritz. Each fall, they publish two books simultaneously. More information is available on their website.

Fiction Advocate

This small press focuses on publishing fiction, creative nonfiction, and literary criticism by new and emerging voices. Submissions are currently open for both book-length works of literary criticism and novels. Their books have won multiple awards and been recognized by The New Yorker, Bookforum, and NPR. Learn more about it here.

SF/LD Books

Short Flight/Long Drive Books is currently accepting submissions. They are looking for poetry collections, short story collections, nonfiction, novels, novellas, and essay collections. Their authors include Chloe Caldwell, Elizabeth Ellen, Chelsea Martin, and others. Go for it!

Pank, originally a literary journal founded by M. Bartley Seigel and Roxane Gay, is going to be publishing full-length books for the first time beginning in 2018. This press is looking for poetry, novels, short story collections, and multi-genre work. You c an submit here.

Dzanc Books

The Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction recognizes daring, original, and innovative writing with a $10,000 advance and book publication. Although the deadline for this is September 15th, this is a very worthy press to follow for yearly opportunities such as these. They have published writers such as Yannick Murphy, Suzanne Burns, Roy Kesey, and others. Learn more about Dzanc here.

by Julia Mucha

Summer Short Story Award 3rd Place: “Iron Boy Kills the Devil” by Sheldon Costa

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The Best Reviewed Essay Collections of 2020

Featuring zadie smith, helen macdonald, claudia rankine, samantha irby, and more.

Zadie Smith’s Intimations , Helen Macdonald’s Vesper Flights , Claudia Rankine’s Just Us , and Samantha Irby’s Wow, No Thank You all feature among the Best Reviewed Essay Collections of 2020.

Brought to you by Book Marks , Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.”

1. Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald (Grove)

18 Rave • 3 Positive • 1 Mixed

Read Helen Macdonald on Sherlock Holmes, Ursula Le Guin, and hating On the Road  here

“A former historian of science, Macdonald is as captivated by the everyday (ants, bird’s nests) as she is by the extraordinary (glowworms, total solar eclipses), and her writing often closes the distance between the two … Always, the author pushes through the gloom to look beyond herself, beyond all people, to ‘rejoice in the complexity of things’ and to see what science has to show us: ‘that we are living in an exquisitely complicated world that is not all about us’ … The climate crisis shadows these essays. Macdonald is not, however, given to sounding dire, all-caps warnings … For all its elegiac sentences and gray moods, Vesper Flights  is a book of tremendous purpose. Throughout these essays, Macdonald revisits the idea that as a writer it is her responsibility to take stock of what’s happening to the natural world and to convey the value of the living things within it.”

–Jake Cline  ( The Washington Post )

2. Intimations by Zadie Smith (Penguin)

13 Rave • 7 Positive • 3 Mixed

Listen to Zadie Smith read from Intimations here

“Smith…is a spectacular essayist—even better, I’d say, than as a novelist … Smith…get[s] at something universal, the suspicion that has infiltrated our interactions even with those we want to think we know. This is the essential job of the essayist: to explore not our innocence but our complicity. I want to say this works because Smith doesn’t take herself too seriously, but that’s not accurate. More to the point, she is willing to expose the tangle of feelings the pandemic has provoked. And this may seem a small thing, but it’s essential: I never doubt her voice on the page … Her offhandedness, at first, feels out of step with a moment in which we are desperate to feel that whatever something we are trying to do matters. But it also describes that moment perfectly … Here we see the kind of devastating self-exposure that the essay, as a form, requires—the realization of how limited we are even in the best of times, and how bereft in the worst.”

–David L. Ulin  ( The Los Angeles Times )

3. Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine (Graywolf)

11 Rave • 6 Positive • 5 Mixed

Read an excerpt from Just Us here

“ Just Us  is about intimacy. Rankine is making an appeal for real closeness. She’s advocating for candor as the pathway to achieving universal humanity and authentic love … Rankine is vulnerable, too. In ‘lemonade,’ an essay about how race and racism affect her interracial marriage, Rankine models the openness she hopes to inspire. ‘lemonade’ is hard to handle. It’s naked and confessional, deeply moving and, ultimately, inspirational … Just Us , as a book, is inventive … Claudia Rankine may be the most human human I’ve ever encountered. Her inner machinations and relentless questioning would exhaust most people. Her labor should be less necessary, of course.”

–Michael Kleber-Diggs  ( The Star Tribune )

4. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong (One World)

7 Rave • 10 Positive • 2 Mixed

Listen to an interview with Cathy Park Hong here

“Hong’s metaphors are crafted with stinging care. To be Asian-American, she suggests, is to be tasked with making an injury inaccessible to the body that has been injured … I read Minor Feelings  in a fugue of enveloping recognition and distancing flinch … The question of lovability, and desirability, is freighted for Asian men and Asian women in very different ways—and Minor Feelings  serves as a case study in how a feminist point of view can both deepen an inquiry and widen its resonances to something like universality … Hong reframes the quandary of negotiating dominance and submission—of desiring dominance, of hating the terms of that dominance, of submitting in the hopes of achieving some facsimile of dominance anyway—as a capitalist dilemma … Hong is writing in agonized pursuit of a liberation that doesn’t look white—a new sound, a new affect, a new consciousness—and the result feels like what she was waiting for. Her book is a reminder that we can be, and maybe have to be, what others are waiting for, too.”

–Jia Tolentino  ( The New Yorker )

5. World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Milkweed Editions)

11 Rave • 3 Positive

Read an excerpt from World of Wonders here

“In beautifully illustrated essays, poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil writes of exotic flora and fauna and her family, and why they are all of one piece … In days of old, books about nature were often as treasured for their illustrations as they were for their words. World of Wonders,  American poet and teacher Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s prose ode to her muses in the natural world, is a throwback that way. Its words are beautiful, but its cover and interior illustrations by Fumi Mini Nakamura may well be what first moves you to pick it up in a bookstore or online … The book’s magic lies in Nezhukumatathil’s ability to blend personal and natural history, to compress into each brief essay the relationship between a biographical passage from her own family and the life trajectory of a particular plant or animal … Her kaleidoscopic observations pay off in these thoughtful, nuanced, surprise-filled essays.”

–Pamela Miller  ( The Star Tribune )

6. Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby (Vintage)

10 Rave • 3 Positive • 1 Mixed

Watch an interview with Samantha Irby here

“Haphazard and aimless as she claims to be, Samantha Irby’s Wow, No Thank You  is purposefully hilarious, real, and full of medicine for living with our culture’s contradictory messages. From relationship advice she wasn’t asked for to surrendering her cell phone as dinner etiquette, Irby is wholly unpretentious as she opines about the unspoken expectations of adulting. Her essays poke holes and luxuriate in the weirdness of modern society … If anyone whose life is being made into a television show could continue to keep it real for her blog reading fans, it’s Irby. She proves we can still trust her authenticity not just through her questionable taste in music and descriptions of incredibly bloody periods, but through her willingness to demystify what happens in any privileged room she finds herself in … Irby defines professional lingo and describes the mundane details of exclusive industries in anecdotes that are not only entertaining but powerfully demystifying. Irby’s closeness to financial and physical precariousness combined with her willingness to enter situations she feels unprepared for make us loyal to her—she again proves herself to be a trustworthy and admirable narrator who readers will hold fast to through anything at all.”

–Molly Thornton  ( Lambda Literary )

7. Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Laing (W. W. Norton & Company)

5 Rave • 10 Positive • 3 Mixed • 1 Pan

“Yes, you’re in for a treat … There are few voices that we can reliably read widely these days, but I would read Laing writing about proverbial paint drying (the collection is in fact quite paint-heavy), just as soon as I would read her write about the Grenfell Tower fire, The Fire This Time , or a refugee’s experience in England, The Abandoned Person’s Tale , all of which are included in Funny Weather … Laing’s knowledge of her subjects is encyclopaedic, her awe is infectious, and her critical eye is reminiscent of the critic and author James Wood … She is to the art world what David Attenborough is to nature: a worthy guide with both a macro and micro vision, fluent in her chosen tongue and always full of empathy and awe.”

–Mia Colleran  ( The Irish Times )

8. Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America by Laila Lalami (Pantheon)

6 Rave • 7 Positive • 1 Mixed • 2 Pan

“A] searing look at the struggle for all Americans to achieve liberty and equality. Lalami eloquently tacks between her experiences as an immigrant to this country and the history of U.S. attempts to exclude different categories of people from the full benefits of citizenship … Lalami offers a fresh perspective on the double consciousness of the immigrant … Conditional citizenship is still conferred on people of color, women, immigrants, religious minorities, even those living in poverty, and Lalami’s insight in showing the subtle and overt ways discrimination operates in so many facets of life is one of this book’s major strengths.”

–Rachel Newcomb  ( The Washington Post )

9. This is One Way to Dance by Sejal Shah (University of Georgia Press)

7 Rave • 2 Positive 

Watch an interview with Sejal Shah here

“Shah brings important, refreshing, and depressing observations about what it means to have dark skin and an ‘exotic’ name, when the only country you’ve ever lived in is America … The essays in this slim volume are engaging and thought-provoking … The essays are well-crafted with varying forms that should inspire and enlighten other essayists … A particularly delightful chapter is the last, called ‘Voice Texting with My Mother,’ which is, in fact, written in texts … Shah’s thoughts on heritage and belonging are important and interesting.”

–Martha Anne Toll  ( NPR )

10. Having and Being Had by Eula Biss (Riverhead)

5 Rave • 4 Positive • 4 Mixed

Read Eula Biss on the anticapitalist origins of Monopoly here

“… enthralling … Her allusive blend of autobiography and criticism may remind some of The Argonauts  by Maggie Nelson, a friend whose name pops up in the text alongside those of other artists and intellectuals who have influenced her work. And yet, line for line, her epigrammatic style perhaps most recalls that of Emily Dickinson in its radical compression of images and ideas into a few chiseled lines … Biss wears her erudition lightly … she’s really funny, with a barbed but understated wit … Keenly aware of her privilege as a white, well-educated woman who has benefited from a wide network of family and friends, Biss has written a book that is, in effect, the opposite of capitalism in its willingness to acknowledge that everything she’s accomplished rests on the labor of others.”

–Ann Levin  ( Associated Press )

The Book Marks System: RAVE = 5 points • POSITIVE = 3 points • MIXED = 1 point • PAN = -5 points

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How To Publish Personal Essays – From Small Press To Collections

• by Robert Wood
• June 1, 2015
• One Comment

Standout Books is supported by its audience, if you click and purchase from any of the links on this page, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we have personally vetted. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Though they get less press than novels and short fiction , personal essays actually have one of the most welcoming markets in publishing. Dedicated essayists have a great chance of seeing some form of publication, so long as they’re willing to put the work in and understand the marketplace.

That’s why in this article I’ll be exploring the ins and out of publishing your personal essays, starting with how you can secure publication on the lowest rungs of the industry ladder, and then leading up to the anthology or collection publication of multiple essays. But whether you’re a writer of novels, plays, or personal essays, the first piece of advice will always be the same…

Read, read, read

As with any art form, there are trends in the personal essay market. It’s also the case that most publications will have preferences about things like tone, length, subject, and structure. Because of this, whether you’re writing essays in general or for a particular publication, the first step is reading as many as you can get your hands on.

Your research should be focused, however. Reading the great essays , collections by writers such as George Orwell or Oscar Wilde , is of course a good idea but the bulk of your reading needs to be targeted at the sort of publication you’re writing for.

There are many kinds of small touches, technicalities of rhythm and pace, which can only be learnt by reading good examples, but most publishers won’t just be interested in whether your work is good – they’ll be interested in whether or not your work suits their publication. The key is to study their publications relentlessly, first deliberately striving for the ‘feel’ of the work they publish and then gradually allowing it to become a natural style.

This sounds difficult, and at first it will be, but there are two facts which should make beginner essayists feel better:

• The ability to assume a style is one which gets easier and easier with practice. The more different styles you learn, the easier you’ll find the whole process, and very quickly you’ll have a wardrobe full of styles you can slip into to suit the occasion.
• Generally speaking, the better established the publication the less strict they’ll be about conforming to a set style. The demands on quality go up of course, but publications with existing industry and readership respect will be less concerned with the safety of conformity, and more concerned with showcasing the best of your unique talents.

It will take a while for these facts to come into play, but you should feel reassured that however difficult you find it starting out, that’s as difficult as it gets.

Reading should be a constant through your attempts to gain publication, but what you read should change according to where you are on the essayist’s pyramid.

The pyramid

The essayist’s pyramid is a way of combining the different levels of essay publication with the work it takes to move from one to the next. The pyramid basically consists of four levels. At the base are local and specialist publications, the next level up is regional publications, then national and international publications, then successful collections.

The pyramid doesn’t just represent a hierarchy; it’s a guide to progressing from one level to the next. One of the biggest deciding factors in whether a publication will consider your work is your reputation and publication history. Because of this, it’s necessary to have a lot of local publications under your belt before you contact a regional publication, a lot of regional publications before you try for national, and finally to be a frequently published national essayist before you can expect to be successful with a collection of essays.

Self-publishing gives you the ability to skip any of these steps, releasing your work to the world through blogging or e-books. While these are valid routes they’re unlikely to lead to success on their own unless you have a unique viewpoint or presentation. Instead it’s advisable to view websites as you would any other publication. Yes all websites are available to anyone, but realistically they still fall into a structure so similar to ‘local / regional / national’ that they can be discussed in the same breath. Once you have a few essays on a few minor websites you can try moving up, and keep going until there’s sufficient audience to follow you to your own online venues and digital publications.

So now we’ve looked at the route essayists can take to success, it’s time to discuss how they can get started.

Finding publications

The more local a publication the more likely they’ll be to publish you. This isn’t just a matter of circulation, but it doesn’t hurt. A sense of community + a small pool of potential talent = welcoming publishers. For the same reason specialist magazines, those which deal with a specific realm of subjects, are likely to be similarly well disposed towards your work.

Local publications can be found… well… locally. Eateries, libraries, and healthcare centers are good places to search. Established local publications, especially newspapers, will often have adverts for less well-known magazines.

If you’re working online then it’s just a matter of searching around and gauging which publications will be most appropriate for your work. Either way this approach is one which works all the way to the top of the pyramid. Regional publications will contain adverts for local ones, and national magazines are a good source for regional publications.

Each block of the pyramid stays aware of the block below (everyone wants to know where the talent is coming from), and so the more you work the more recognizable you’ll be to those you need to contact next.

The submission system

As I mentioned in my article on publishing short fiction, if you’re serious about publication then you need to establish a system where you’re always submitting and waiting to hear back about a submission.

Waiting to hear back from one publication before submitting to another is wasted time. Ideally you should have a few articles ready to go ‘out’ when you begin, then spend the time before you hear back writing more.

Every writer experiences more rejection than acceptance (mainly because the same piece can be rejected a hundred times, but only accepted once.) You shouldn’t be disheartened, but equally you shouldn’t let any necessary rejections on your road to success waste time you could spend succeeding.

Reading, writing, and submitting are a constant process. Getting published is a job, and it’s one you have to keep showing up for. Do so, though, and you can reach the achievement every essayist dreams of…

Collections and anthologies of personal  essays

‘Anthologies’ are collections of essays in which your work can be featured, whereas you can publish a ‘collection’ made up entirely of your own work.

To make it into an anthology you need to scour literary magazines for one with a theme you think you’d suit. Here the need to tailor your writing to the publication in question is more important than ever. Hang a list of their guidelines in your writing space and stick to it . Anthologies gather most of their audience based on interest in the overall theme, so deviating from it will get your work quickly dismissed.

If you’ve worked your way up the pyramid those who have already featured your work will likely be thrilled to trumpet your achievements, so if you do make it into an anthology make sure to contact former publishers. They may want to advertise your work, or even have you write something.

This is doubly the case when you publish a collection all your own, as there will be fewer other sources of exposure. Thankfully former publishers will almost always be genuinely happy to acknowledge your success, and it will also help their own prestige to be associated with a successful author. Collections are almost always the exclusive preserve of famous essayists – the kind you see week-to-week in national newspapers – but there is a healthy market for self-published collections by lesser-known but established authors, especially when they deal with specialist topics. Whether you’re a beer brewer, a trout fisher, a doll collector, or really almost any kind of hobbyist, there’s a niche for your work already waiting.

Building the pyramid

As I said before, finding some form of publication is just a matter of hard work. Moving up the pyramid you need to keep experimenting with your style and making sure that the work you’ve done on one level supports what you’re attempting to do on the next. A firm base is vital, and is the greatest tool in what have to be constant efforts to improve both your art and the places it can be found.

Above all, remember these three things:

• Always be reading, writing, and submitting.
• Write with your publication of choice in mind.
• Keep building.

For more advice on the logic behind entering competitions and anthologies try Should you enter a writing competition? Or for how to build an email list, a must for writers who will be moving from publication to publication, check out Why you need to have an email list right now .

Robert Wood

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20 Brilliant Essay Collections

Essay collections exist in a kind of literary no-man’s-land. They’re non-fiction, but they don’t often slip neatly into a particular category (like “science” or “history”). Often, they draw from the author’s own life, but they don’t follow the chronology we expect of a memoir or autobiography . But if you can figure out where they’re shelved in your local independent bookshop, essay collections can make for some of the best reads. Check out these twenty brilliant essay collections, from all kinds of authors about all kinds of subjects.

Men Explain Things To Me by Rebecca Solnit

Men Explain Things To Me is a slim little essay collection with a provocative title and a brilliant premise. Rebecca Solnit writes about the lived experience of women in the patriarchy in seven essays (or nine, if you get a later edition) from the last twenty years. She addresses violence against women, marriage equality, the influence of Virginia Woolf, the erasure of women from the archive, fraught online spaces, and more. Solnit was even credited with coining the term “mansplaining” – even though the word itself doesn’t appear in the title essay, and she later said she didn’t necessarily agree with such a gendered term.

Feel Free by Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith is a once-in-a-generation literary darling, writing beloved fiction and brilliant non-fiction with the same zeal. In Feel Free , her 2018 essay collection, she addresses questions we all find ourselves pondering from time to time. Why do we love libraries? How will we explain our inaction on climate change to future generations? What are online social networks doing to us? Her answers are categorised in the book’s five sections: In the World, In the Audience, In the Gallery, On the Bookshelf, and Feel Free (from which the essay collection gets its name). Smith interrogates major world-changing events and small personal disruptions with equal fascination, which makes for an illuminating read.

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay has built a career on being forthright, unabashed, and holding a microphone to the best and worst of the little voices in our heads. Bad Feminist is a collection of her essays, most published individually elsewhere prior to the 2014 release, grouped thematically. They’re all loosely tied to the overarching ideas of feminism and womanhood, what it means to do it well, and what the consequences are for doing it badly. As the title suggests, in one of the collection’s most memorable moments, she addresses the difficulty of reconciling her feminism with her love of hip-hop music and the colour pink. She contends throughout this essay collection that it’s better to be a ‘bad feminist’ than to be no kind of feminist at all. Read my full review of Bad Feminist here.

Shrill by Lindy West

Have you ever felt like you just take up too much space in a world that wants you to be small and quiet? Lindy West has, and that’s what she writes in Shrill , the first of her hilarious and insightful essay collections. She lays bear the shame and humiliation that comes with the journey to self-awareness and self-acceptance, in a world that insists you be smaller and quieter. West has battled internet trolls, waged war against rape jokes, and reached an uneasy accord with her unruly body and mind. These essays are brilliant, relatable and hilarious for all women who have felt like they didn’t quite fit.

How To Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee

How To Write An Autobiographical Novel seems like an odd title for an essay collection, but it makes sense once you hear Alexander Chee’s explanation behind it. On book tours and at speaking events regarding his novels, he found himself facing the same question over and over: “how much of this fictional story is autobiographical?”. He started thinking about how we forge identities in literature, giving rise to this brilliant collection of essays. It’s his “manifesto on the entangling of life, literature, and politics, and how the lessons learned from a life spent reading and writing fiction have changed him”.

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

Samantha Irby describes herself as a “cheese fry-eating slightly damp Midwest person… with neck pain and no cartilage in [her] knees… who still hides past due bills under her pillow”. Wow, No Thank You a collection of her essays about… stuff. Life. Ridiculous jobs. Trying to make friends as an adult. The lost art of making a mix-tape. Living in a place where most people don’t share your politics. Getting your period and bleeding all over the sheets of your Airbnb. Trying to remember why you ever found nightclubs fun. There’s even a whole essay of “Sure, sex is fun, but have you ever…” jokes (the format might mystify you if you’re not on Twitter , but it’s hilarious). Read my full review of Wow, No Thank You here.

Dead Girls by Alice Bolin

Are you sick of the trope where a nice, skinny, white girl shows up dead and that’s all we ever get to know about her? You’re not the only one. Alice Bolin’s Dead Girls interrogates “iconic American works from the essays of Joan Didion and James Baldwin to Twin Peaks, Britney Spears, and Serial, illuminating the widespread obsession with women who are abused, killed, and disenfranchised, and whose bodies (dead and alive) are used as props to bolster men’s stories”. This is one of those essay collections that will stick with you, and change the way you consume stories forever.

If you want alternatives to read, check out my list of crime thrillers without dead girls here .

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino

Jia Tolentino has been called “a peerless voice of our generation” and a “Joan Didion of our time”. Trick Mirror is one of the most critically acclaimed essay collections of recent years, a “dazzling collection of nine entirely original essays… [that] delves into the forces that warp our vision”. Have you ever wondered why we think what we do and the way we do? Normally, that’s the kind of question we’d leave to marketing professionals and moral philosophy professors, but Tolentino addresses it in an accessible and relatable way. She wants us to understand what advertising, social media, consumerism, and the whole she-bang has done to our consciousness and our understanding of ourselves.

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace

I’ll confess: David Foster Wallace is kind of my literary secret shame. The man was hardly a paragon of virtue, he treated the women in his life horribly, and he clearly had a lot of troubles that were never adequately addressed. But damn, if his essays aren’t some of the funniest I’ve ever read! Seriously, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again is one of those brilliant essay collections that will have you howling with laughter so loud your neighbours might call the cops. Wallace is, at turns, cynical, curious, credulous, and cutting – and yet his essays feel seamless. They’re long, they’re stuffed with footnotes that would make a lit professor weep, and yet you’ll read them feeling like no time is passing at all because you’re having so much fun. I can’t speak for his fiction, but his essay collections? Must-reads, especially this one!

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Any library of brilliant essay collections is woefully incomplete without David Sedaris, especially his 2000 collection Me Talk Pretty One Day . It’s over twenty years old, and yet it’s still as pertinent and resonant as ever. Sedaris’s wry humour and keen observations, of everything from family life to travel to cooking to education, are timeless. It’s truly masterful, a kind of comic genius you don’t see everyday. It’s also a great read for when your attention span is shot. The essays are short enough that you can read the whole thing in bite-sized chunks, but the through-line is strong enough that it will keep pulling you back in. Read my full review of Me Talk Pretty One Day here.

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

I find it hard not to build up a head of steam when I talk about Nora Ephron, because she is criminally underrated. Because she wrote about women and their relationships (to each other and themselves), instead of men with businesses or guns, she’s relegated to the “chick lit” and “rom-com” shelves, described as “fluffy” instead of ingenious. Want proof? Pick up I Feel Bad About My Neck , one of the most brilliant and incisive essay collections you’ll read anywhere. With her trademark candour and dry humour, she tackles the unspeakable: aging as a woman in a society that values perpetual youth.

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Petersen

Scan the headlines of any celebrity gossip website, and you’ll notice: times have changed. We’re a long way from Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. The women of today’s front pages are boundary pushers, provocative and powerful in ways that women of previous generations wouldn’t dare dream about. Anne Helen Petersen has had a lot of cause to study these women in her role as a Buzzfeed editor, and she’s written Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud to explain what she’s seen. She “uses the lens of “unruliness” to explore the ascension of powerhouses like Serena Williams, Hillary Clinton, Nicki Minaj, and Kim Kardashian, exploring why the public loves to love (and hate) these controversial figures”.

All About Love by bell hooks

“The word ‘love’ is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb,” writes bell hooks in All About Love, one of her most widely-read and lauded essay collections. She posits that our society is descending into lovelessness. Not romantic lovelessness – we’re drowning in smooches – but the kind where we lack basic compassion and empathy for each other, and ourselves. We are divided and discontented, due to “society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love”. You’ll want to set aside a lot of time to read and think about this one, to really absorb its message – if you do, it’ll change your life.

Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race is Eddo-Lodge’s first essay collection. It started with her blog post of the same name that she published back in 2014, but there’s no need to go trawling the internet for it: Eddo-Lodge reproduces it in full in the preface. It serves as a thesis statement, framing and contextualising everything that is to follow. So, the $64,000 question: why isn’t Eddo-Lodge talking to white people about race? Well, basically, she’s fed up: with white denial, with white self-flagellation, with trying to shake hands with a brick wall. Ironically, this is a collection of essays about race and racism that every white person should absolutely read. Read my full review of Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race here.

Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe

If you loved Say Nothing and Empire Of Pain (like I did), you’ll be overjoyed (as I was) to get your hands on a copy of Rogues , a collection of Patrick Radden Keefe’s most celebrated essays from The New Yorker . These delightfully detailed investigative pieces focus on his favourite subjects: “crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial”. They’re like delectable bite-sized true crime tales, all meticulously researched and fact-checked so as to ensure they’re completely believable. Each and every one is masterfully crafted, perfectly balanced, and totally gripping. Read my full review of Rogues here.

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran

The best essay collections combine both sweeping views of the way we live our lives and the minutiae of how the author lives their own. How To Be A Woman is the perfect example. Caitlin Moran interrogates what it means to be a woman in the 21st century, with broad observations as well as deeply personal (not to mention riotously funny) anecdotes. From abortions to Brazilian waxes to pop culture to reproduction, Moran explores the opportunities and constraints for women in all areas of life. She “lays bare the reasons why female rights and empowerment are essential issues not only for women today but also for society itself”.

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

When you think about it, essay collections are a medium well suited to the millennial generation, with our attention spans ruined by television and our ingrained narcissism and all. Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love is to our generation what Bridget Jones’s Diary was to the Gen Xers. In it, she writes about contemporary young adulthood and all its essential components: “falling in love, finding a job, getting drunk, getting dumped, realizing that Ivan from the corner shop might just be the only reliable man in her life, and that absolutely no one can ever compare to her best girlfriends”.

Figuring by Maria Popova

If you’ve ever Googled any kind of lofty question – what did Toni Morrison say makes life worth living? is stoicism a solution to anxiety? what the heck is a ‘growth mindset’? – chances are you’ve stumbled upon BrainPickings.org (now renamed The Marginalian). The mind behind the brilliant website is Maria Popova, and while her online archives constitute about a hundred essay collections’ worth of material, she’s condensed her best and made her contribution in the form of Figuring . This one is a must-read for the literary nerds and the philosophy students and the history buffs. It features snippets and essential lessons from the lives of figures like Herman Melville , Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman.

Axiomatic by Maria Tumarkin

It took Maria Tumarkin nine years to research and write Axiomatic , one of the most powerful essay collections you’ll encounter at your local independent bookstore. She seeks to understand grief, loss, and trauma, and how they inform who we are as people. So, as you can probably already tell, it’s not exactly a light read – but if you’re in the mood to do some deep thinking, it’s an excellent selection. Each of its five sections is based on an axiom about the past and present (like “history repeats itself” or “time heals all wounds”), and examines true stories from Tumarkin’s own life and those around her to illustrate her wider points.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

The problem with essay collections about successful people is that too many of them are of the “here’s how you can be successful too, invest in this stock and get rich quick!” variety. Outliers is the exception (and you have no idea how hard it was not to call it an ‘outlier’ just now). Malcolm Gladwell takes an intellectual look at the best and the brightest, the shining stars of innovation and industry, with the aim of finding out what exactly makes them different. This isn’t just about waking up early or taking cold showers; there are very specific concoctions of culture, community, and cunning that get people to the very top of the game, and Gladwell lays them out for us.

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Features & Discussion

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November 26, 2022 at 1:54 AM

Wow this is such a great list and now I want to read them all? I have, in fact, read a handful of them – but am adding a whole bunch more to my wishlist.

Some brilliant essay collections I’ve read in recent years are Notes To Self by Emilie Pine, Notes Made While Falling by Jenn Ashworth, Miss Fortune by Lauren Weedman, How We Love by Clementine Ford. Notes From No-Man’s Land by Eula Biss is uneven, but the first essay in it is unforgettable. It’s only now that I realise I apparently never read essay collections by men…

December 13, 2022 at 9:16 PM

Interesting, I was fifty-fifty on whether I’d check out How We Love, but your commendation is definitely weighing the scale in its favour! Thank you 😀

December 3, 2022 at 2:47 PM

A favorite genre of mine that I don’t read enough in. Bookmarking this post for future reference. (One of my favorite essayists is C.S. Lewis, the master philosopher and apologist IMHO.)

Oooh! I’ve not read any of C.S. Lewis’s essay, great tip Hannah – I’ll be keeping an eye out for them!

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100 Must-Read Essay Collections

Rebecca Hussey

Rebecca holds a PhD in English and is a professor at Norwalk Community College in Connecticut. She teaches courses in composition, literature, and the arts. When she’s not reading or grading papers, she’s hanging out with her husband and son and/or riding her bike and/or buying books. She can't get enough of reading and writing about books, so she writes the bookish newsletter "Reading Indie," focusing on small press books and translations. Newsletter: Reading Indie Twitter: @ofbooksandbikes

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There’s something about a shiny new collection of essays that makes my heart beat a little faster. If you feel the same way, can we be friends? If not, might I suggest that perhaps you just haven’t found the right collection yet? I don’t expect everyone to love the thought of sitting down with a nice, juicy personal essay, but I also think the genre gets a bad rap because people associate it with the kind of thing they had to write in school.

Well, essays don’t have to be like the kind of thing you wrote in school. Essays can be anything, really. They can be personal, confessional, argumentative, informative, funny, sad, shocking, sexy, and all of the above. The best essayists can make any subject interesting. If I love an essayist, I’ll read whatever they write. I’ll follow their minds anywhere. Because that’s really what I want out of an essay — the sense that I’m spending time with an interesting mind. I want a companionable, challenging, smart, surprising voice in my head.

So below is my list, not of essay collections I think everybody “must read,” even if that’s what my title says, but collections I hope you will consider checking out if you want to.

1. Against Interpretation — Susan Sontag

2. Alibis: Essays on Elsewhere — André Aciman

3. American Romances — Rebecca Brown

4. Art & Ardor — Cynthia Ozick

5. The Art of the Personal Essay — anthology, edited by Phillip Lopate

6. Bad Feminist — Roxane Gay

7. The Best American Essays of the Century — anthology, edited by Joyce Carol Oates

8. The Best American Essays series — published every year, series edited by Robert Atwan

9. Book of Days — Emily Fox Gordon

10. The Boys of My Youth — Jo Ann Beard

11. The Braindead Megaphone — George Saunders

12. Broken Republic: Three Essays — Arundhati Roy

13. Changing My Mind — Zadie Smith

14. A Collection of Essays — George Orwell

15. The Common Reader — Virginia Woolf

16. Consider the Lobster — David Foster Wallace

17. The Crack-up — F. Scott Fitzgerald

18. Discontent and its Civilizations — Mohsin Hamid

19. Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric — Claudia Rankine

20. Dreaming of Hitler — Daphne Merkin

21. Self-Reliance and Other Essays — Ralph Waldo Emerson

22. The Empathy Exams — Leslie Jameson

23. Essays After Eighty — Donald Hall

24. Essays in Idleness — Yoshida Kenko

25. The Essays of Elia — Charles Lamb

26. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader — Anne Fadiman

27. A Field Guide to Getting Lost — Rebecca Solnit

28. Findings — Kathleen Jamie

29. The Fire Next Time — James Baldwin

30. The Folded Clock — Heidi Julavits

31. Forty-One False Starts — Janet Malcolm

32. How To Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America — Kiese Laymon

33. I Feel Bad About My Neck — Nora Ephron

34. I Just Lately Started Buying Wings — Kim Dana Kupperman

35. In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction — anthology, edited by Lee Gutkind

36. In Praise of Shadows — Junichiro Tanizaki

37. In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens — Alice Walker

38. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? — Mindy Kaling

39. I Was Told There’d Be Cake — Sloane Crosley

40. Karaoke Culture — Dubravka Ugresic

41. Labyrinths — Jorge Luis Borges

42. Living, Thinking, Looking — Siri Hustvedt

43. Loitering — Charles D’Ambrosio

44. Lunch With a Bigot — Amitava Kumar

45. Madness, Rack, and Honey — Mary Ruefle

46. Magic Hours — Tom Bissell

47. Meatless Days — Sara Suleri

48. Meaty — Samantha Irby

49. Meditations from a Movable Chair — Andre Dubus

50. Memories of a Catholic Girlhood — Mary McCarthy

51. Me Talk Pretty One Day — David Sedaris

52. Multiply/Divide: On the American Real and Surreal — Wendy S. Walters

53. My 1980s and Other Essays — Wayne Koestenbaum

54. The Next American Essay, The Lost Origins of the Essay, and The Making of the American Essay — anthologies, edited by John D’Agata

55. The Norton Book of Personal Essays — anthology, edited by Joseph Epstein

56. Notes from No Man’s Land — Eula Biss

57. Notes of a Native Son — James Baldwin

58. Not That Kind of Girl — Lena Dunham

59. On Beauty and Being Just — Elaine Scarry

60. Once I Was Cool — Megan Stielstra

61. 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write — Sarah Ruhl

62. On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored — Adam Phillips

63. On Lies, Secrets, and Silence — Adrienne Rich

64. The Opposite of Loneliness — Marina Keegan

65. Otherwise Known as the Human Condition — Geoff Dyer

66. Paris to the Moon — Adam Gopnik

67. Passions of the Mind — A.S. Byatt

68. The Pillow Book — Sei Shonagon

69. A Place to Live — Natalia Ginzburg

70. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination — Toni Morrison

71. Pulphead — John Jeremiah Sullivan

72. Selected Essays — Michel de Montaigne

73. Shadow and Act — Ralph Ellison

74. Sidewalks — Valeria Luiselli

75. Sister Outsider — Audre Lorde

76. The Size of Thoughts — Nicholson Baker

77. Slouching Towards Bethlehem — Joan Didion

78. The Souls of Black Folk — W. E. B. Du Bois

79. The Story About the Story — anthology, edited by J.C. Hallman

80. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again — David Foster Wallace

81. Ten Years in the Tub — Nick Hornby

82. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man — Henry Louis Gates

83. This Is Running for Your Life — Michelle Orange

84. This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage — Ann Patchett

85. Tiny Beautiful Things — Cheryl Strayed

86. Tuxedo Junction: Essays on American Culture — Gerald Early

87. Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints — Joan Acocella

88. The Unspeakable — Meghan Daum

89. Vermeer in Bosnia — Lawrence Weschler

90. The Wave in the Mind — Ursula K. Le Guin

91. We Need Silence to Find Out What We Think — Shirley Hazzard

92. We Should All Be Feminists — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi

93. What Are People For? — Wendell Berry

94. When I Was a Child I Read Books — Marilynne Robinson

95. The White Album — Joan Didion

96. White Girls — Hilton Als

97. The Woman Warrior — Maxine Hong Kinston

98. The Writing Life — Annie Dillard

99. Writing With Intent — Margaret Atwood

100. You Don’t Have to Like Me — Alida Nugent

If you have a favorite essay collection I’ve missed here, let me know in the comments!

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Writing Tips Oasis - A website dedicated to helping writers to write and publish books.

19 Top Publishers for First Time Authors

By Katrina Kwan

Have you just written your first book?

Take a deep breath because you’re one step closer to get your book published.

And don’t think publishing houses won’t be interested in your book because it is your first one.

Below you’ll find 19 top publishers for first time authors.

1. Turner Publishing

Todd Bottorff is the current president of Turner Publishing, which has been around for almost 40 years. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, since its inception, it’s one of the biggest and most revered indie names in the US book industry. In fact, its titles are available in more than 55 countries.

Turner Publishing has multiple imprints like Hunter House, Ramsey & Todd, and Keylight Books. Together, these produce both fiction and nonfiction books for readers of all ages. Two of its recent commercial hits are Valerie Rice’s cookbook Lush Life and Kim Hooper’s psychological novel No Hiding in Boise .

Interested first-time authors are more than welcome to email their manuscripts to Turner Publishing.

2. Tin House

Starting as a magazine in 1999, Tin House expanded its horizons in the industry and served as a humble Bloomsbury imprint. Six years after its founding, the company became independent. Now, it operates in Portland, Oregon, and releases a few dozen titles annually.

Tin House is dedicated to supporting art in its varied forms. Apart from well-reviewed workshops and seminars, it has a huge book catalog ranging from poetry collections and literary nonfiction to fiction. This includes Elisha Washuta’s acclaimed essay collection White Magic and Khadijah Queen’s Anodyne .

This indie publisher is specifically looking for unagented writers who don’t have published titles. Check the submissions page for the dates of their two-day submission windows that occur three times a year.

3. Epicenter Press

For over three decades, Epicenter Press has become a significant source of nonfiction writing on Alaska and the surrounding region. Originally located in Fairbanks, Alaska, it’s now headquartered in Kenmore, Washington, and has imprints like Fanny Press and Coffeetown Press.

While the majority of its catalog is nonfiction— including biographies, history books, and true crime— Epicenter Press also has some noteworthy fiction. In particular, the publisher has mystery novels like Janet L. Smith’s A Vintage Murder and Don Stuart’s Final Adjournment .

Epicenter Press accepts submissions from writers and agents alike. As long as it meets the geographical and cultural requirements, your work will be reviewed.

4. The MIT Press

With a global presence and one of the highest standards in scholarly publishing, The MIT Press continues to encourage scientific curiosity and foster societal progress. Founded 60 years ago, it’s headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and promises to be a more inclusive and diverse publisher.

The MIT Press publishers nonfiction titles for intellectuals, researchers, and anyone interested in the arts and sciences. Its subjects range from humanities and information science to social science, game studies, and design.

Recently, the press released Alexander Monea’s The Digital Closet and Chris Salter’s Sensing Machines . If you have a manuscript in mind for The MIT Press, search for the relevant acquisitions editor to contact.

5. Unnamed Press

Despite having only been around since 2014, Unnamed Press has already grabbed the attention of media outlets with its stellar titles. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, its authors have won awards such as the Pulitzer Prize and Man Booker Prize.

As an indie publisher, Unnamed Press represents literary voices that are uncompromising, diverse, and socially conscious. This is why its fiction and nonfiction collection has Meghan Tifft’s gothic fiction From Hell to Breakfast and Kristine Ong Muslim’s sci-fi set Age of Blight .

If you’ve gone through the catalog and believe that your book fits in terms of genre and themes, send your query online .

6. Chronicle Books

Since 1967, Chronicle Books has been one of the leading indie publishers in San Francisco, California. With a multi-level office, it doesn’t have problems handling everything from production to sales and editing — all while developing a working environment that’s safe and inviting to people of different backgrounds.

Chronicle Books’ adult selection focuses on nonfiction categories like entertainment, art, and lifestyle. On the other hand, its children’s catalog boasts both fiction and nonfiction. A couple of the publisher’s best-selling titles are Marilyn Chase’s Everything She Touched and Ralph Steadman’s A Life in Ink .

As of writing, Chronicle Books is open to unsolicited submissions for both children’s books and adult nonfiction.

7. Tilbury House

Originally known as Harpswell Press with a focus on regional titles, this indie business eventually became Tilbury House. Over the decades, it accumulated a sizable number of children’s literature. Today, Tilbury House is a widely respected and commercially successful publisher operating in the town of Thomaston, Maine.

Tilbury House has children’s book series like How Nature Works and Reimagined Masterpieces . Likewise, its adult catalog has acclaimed works like Martha White’s E. B. White on Dogs and Robert Reilly’s Life in Prison .

Similar to Chronicle Books, the company has always been accepting of unagented submissions . You can send manuscripts of children’s nonfiction about science, diversity, and history. For adult books, Tilbury House specifically wants instructional titles and writings about Maine.

8. Holiday House

Established way back in 1935 in New York, New York, Holiday House is one of the landmark publishers of children’s literature in the world. With such a rich history, the company unfailingly provides both classics and new titles that entertain, inspire, and educate young minds.

Holiday House has one of the largest collections of fiction and nonfiction for kids and teenagers. You can find books about cultural diversity, history, mathematics, and the alphabet. The titles tackle themes such as disability, conservation, gender issues, and civil rights in a way that kids can easily understand.

While it doesn’t print coloring books and activity books, Holiday House is open to hardcover fiction and nonfiction projects. Interested writers can submit their children’s book manuscripts online .

9. Uproar Books

Publisher Rick Lewis heads Uproar Book, his company that’s dedicated to sci-fi and fantasy. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, it’s only been around since 2018 but has successfully launched titles beyond the US, thanks in part to widely accessible digital releases.

Uproar Books is home to sci-fi and fantasy novels with humorous, thrilling, and Gothic elements. These include J. R. H. Lawless’s The Rude Eye of Rebellion and Jamie Thomas’s Asperfell . Plus, the publisher has the translated version of Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We , the Russian dystopian classic from 1924.

At present, Uproar Books only accepts manuscripts and queries from agented and solicited authors. On the bright side, you can check the submission page at a later date to see if they’ve made changes to their submission window.

10. Workman Publishing

The late Peter Workman established the titular independent publishing company in 1968. Over the next decades, it expanded in both its market reach and portfolio size. Today, Workman Publishing operates in New York, New York, under the leadership of Carolan Workman.

With eight imprints (including Timber Press and Artisan Books), the publisher has an extensive collection of titles in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. You can instantly fight amazing reads about self-help, business, and history — or read YA novels like A. K. Small’s Bright Burning Stars and Olivia Chadha’s Rise of the Red Hand .

While a few imprints are presently closed to unsolicited manuscripts, others are eager for submissions from writers and agents alike. Browse the submissions page to read the different guidelines for imprints like Timber press and The Experiment.

11. Blind Eye Books

Based in Bellingham, Washington, Blind Eye Books specializes in fiction titles that have a main character from the LGBTQ community. In particular, the publisher is always on the lookout for such stories in sci-fi, romance, mystery, and fantasy genres.

Apart from its specific protagonist criterion, Blind Eye Books is keen on quality storytelling. For example, Astrid Amara’s fantasy novel The Devil Lancer is a recipient of the Rainbow Award. Similarly, Ginn Hale’s Wicked Gentlemen received the Gaylactic Spectrum Award.

Blind Eye Books accepts both physical and digital submissions . Interested writers should carefully read the guidelines and editor preferences.

12. Chicago Review Press

Curt and Linda Matthews launched Chicago Review Press nearly 50 years ago. Instead of chasing literary trends, the indie company from Chicago, Illinois, represents stories with a lasting impact that deserve a larger audience. Today, it has more than a thousand books — with 50 more titles added annually.

Chicago Review Press specializes in outstanding nonfiction. The publisher has many offerings in history, true crime, social science, film, music, and politics, to name a few. Recently, it released Amanda Oliver’s Overdue and Jonathan Mack’s A Stranger Among Saints .

Interested writers should first send a query to the appropriate acquisitions editor prior to submitting a proposal.

13. University of California Press

Simply known as UC Press, this university press in Oakland, California, pushes for critical thinking, social progress, and knowledge development. Instead of catering only to researchers and scholars, it strives to help both experts and general readers better understand society and the natural world.

Founded in 1893, the University of California Press focuses on nonfiction (and classic fiction). Subjects range from Asian Studies and African Studies to psychology, religion, language, economics, and music. Some great reads include Kenneth Burke’s A Rhetoric of Motives and Sara M. Benson’s The Prison of Democracy .

Writers should visit the resource page for book authors to know more about acquisitions editors and the publishing process in general.

14. Stone Pier Press

Based in San Francisco, California, Stone Pier Press hopes that society learns to be more environmentally conscious and understanding when it comes to food. Thus, the non-profit publisher specializes in books that teach people about sustainable solutions that individuals and families can practice right at home.

With partners like The Good Food Institute and Center for Food Safety, this non-profit press has titles for adults and kids. Owen Wormser’s beautifully illustrated Lawns Into Meadows is perfect for homeowners while Leslie Crawford’s award-winning Gwen the Rescue Hen is a wonderful read for children.

Stone Pier Press has stopped searching for children’s books, but writers are still free to submit samples of cookbooks, YA fiction, and narrative nonfiction, among others.

Apress is the go-to publisher for readers who want to learn about computer technology. Situated in New York, New York, it currently has more than 3,000 books, all of which are critically evaluated by experts in different technologies.

Whether you’re new to game development and Python or you’re searching for the latest developments in machine learning and enterprise software, Apress has more than enough titles to offer. Professionals particularly like Alex Libby’s Practical Svelte and Valentino Gagliardi’s Decoupled Django .

Check the proposal submission page to get an online form and discover the right acquisitions editor for your book.

16. DAW Books

Donald A. and Elsie B. Wollheim established this acclaimed publisher of sci-fi and fantasy more than 50 years ago. While it’s now part of Penguin Random House, the New York-based DAW Books maintains its familial roots with the help of its current publishers and owners.

Within the aforementioned genres, DAW Books covers distinct subgenres. These include epic fantasy, contemporary fantasy, crime mystery, urban fantasy, and space operas. Ben Aaronovitch’s Amongst Our Weapons and E. J. Beaton’s The Councillor , for example, are both fantasy titles but are widely different.

DAW Books would love to see more manuscripts from agents and writers in underrepresented groups. You can submit your sci-fi or fantasy project online — and this applies whether you’re in the US or not.

17. Counterpoint Press

Headquartered in Berkeley, California, Counterpoint Press is a unique company because it originates from three different indie publishers. Established in 2007, it prints fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that break boundaries and offer fresh perspectives.

Specifically, Counterpoint Press is interested in literary writing. While you won’t find cookbooks and romance novels here, you’ll enjoy reads like acclaimed author Kathryn Ma’s The Chinese Groove and W. Scott Poole’s Dark Carnivals .

Unfortunately, it currently only accepts manuscripts from new authors represented by a literary agent. Still, you should open the submissions page again in the future in case they expand their submissions window to include unsolicited manuscripts as well.

18. Small Beer Press

Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link manage Small Beer Press, a publisher in Easthampton, Massachusetts. It’s known for its eclectic titles and sustainable printing process, which uses recycled materials. Apart from its charming brick-and-mortar bookstore, it also has an online store dedicated to ebooks.

Small Beer Press is filled with excellent books in literary fiction. Richard Butner’s short story collection The Adventurists earned exceptional reviews from Publishers Weekly. Also, Elizabeth Hand’s Generation Loss won the Shirley Jackson Award.

Prospective authors should check the Small Beer Press catalog before sending physical submissions .

19. Page Street Publishing

Based in Salem, Massachusetts, Page Street Publishing has been around for a decade. More recently, it’s undergone significant organizational change as it hopes to be a more inclusive publisher with diversity in both its workforce and author list. Like Small Beer Press, it utilizes environmentally-conscious materials.

Kids and teenagers will appreciate its exceptional portfolio of picture books and YA novels, respectively. Moreover, Page Street Publishing also has nonfiction titles that cover topics like vegan cooking, baking, humor, and hobbies such as knitting and lettering.

Currently, the publisher is open to submissions from authors of YA fiction, picture books, and nonfiction.

Do you know any other publishers for first time authors? If so, please tell us about them in the comments box below!

K. Z. Kwan is a freelance writer based out of Halifax, Canada.

Urban Book Publishers: The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

Urban Book Publishers: Philip Roth: The Biography

Urban Book Publishers: The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country

Urban Book Publishers: The Midnight Library: A Novel

Urban Book Publishers: Eight Hundred Grapes

Urban Book Publishers: The Hate U Give

Urban Book Publishers: The Lost Apothecary: A Novel

Urban Book Publishers: Good Company: A Novel

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The Writer’s Journey: Where To Publish Personal Essays

Table of contents:, 1. what is a personal essay , 2. key features of personal essays:, authenticity: , individual perspective: , emotional connection: , 3. how to write a personal essay, choosing a topic: , organizing your thoughts: , adding details: , being honest: , 4. where can you publish personal essays, online literary magazines: , writing communities and blogs: , newspaper and magazine op-ed sections: , literary anthologies and essay collections: , online writing contests: , specialized niche websites: , 5. guidelines for submission:, 6. reading submission guidelines:, word count: , formatting requirements: , theme or topic preferences: , submission method: , rights and originality: , 7. craft an engaging title and introduction:, 8. polishing your essay:, proofreading: , clarity and coherence: , conciseness: , 9. originality and avoiding plagiarism:, 10. adhering to ethics and sensitivity:, 11. submission process and follow-up:, key concepts and profound details, conclusion:.

Just Press Play To Hear The Piece.

While no one can deny the power of personal essays, there are many reasons why you might be looking for a place to publish your own. You may have been asked to submit an essay to a contest or publication and want to know if it meets their standards, or maybe you’re just hoping to get some feedback on your latest writing project.

Whatever your reason is for Essay Publishing, book publishers New York  got you covered! Keep reading for information on where to publish personal essays and what they look like.

Personal essays are a great way for individuals to express their thoughts, experiences, and opinions on a personal topic. Whether a lighthearted tale or a heartfelt reflection, these essays give readers a glimpse into the writer’s mind and emotions.

To ensure that your essay is impactful and engaging, it can be beneficial to seek professional assistance. Ghostwriting services can help you bring your ideas to life and create a well-crafted essay that resonates with your readers. These services enable you to collaborate with an experienced writer who can transform your thoughts into clear and engaging prose.

Moreover, proofreading services can play a crucial role in enhancing the quality of your essay. These services involve meticulously reviewing your essay to identify and correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Additionally, professional proofreaders can offer valuable feedback on the overall clarity, structure, and coherence of your writing.

It’s important to find your unique voice and share your personal experiences with the reader when it comes to personal essays. However, don’t underestimate professional assistance’s impact on the final result. 

When writing a personal essay, make sure that the following key features are included in it

Personal essays are all about being true to yourself. You can be honest and authentic, sharing your genuine feelings and experiences.

Each personal essay is unique because it comes from your viewpoint. It’s your chance to share what matters and how you see the world.

These essays often aim to connect with readers emotionally. Whether it’s joy, sadness, excitement, or contemplation, personal essays can evoke various emotions in readers.

By understanding and emphasizing the key features of personal essays, writers can craft compelling pitches to attract publishers’ attention. Pitching to publishers opens doors for personal essays to be published, shared, and appreciated by a wider readership, creating opportunities for meaningful connections and impact.

For Essay Publishing, you first need to know how to write it. Here is how you can write a personal essay in a few steps:

Select a topic, akin to finding a book title by its plot, that is meaningful to you…

. It could be a personal story, an idea, or an experience you want to share. 

Plan how you want to present your story. Consider the beginning, middle, and end of your essay. You also need to plan on formatting for publishing according to the requirements of where you want to publish. When you think through all of this, the process of writing an essay further can be easy.

Use descriptive language, as detailed in how a writer can edit a narrative , to paint a vivid picture for your readers. Include sensory details to make your essay more engaging.

Be true to yourself. Don’t be afraid to share your true feelings and experiences, even if they might feel vulnerable.

When it comes to sharing your work with the world, finding the right platform is crucial. Here are various places where you can consider sharing your stories:

These websites are like treasure troves of interesting content. Places such as “The Sun Magazine,” “Tin House,” and “Narratively” love personal essays. 

They’re on the lookout for captivating stories that touch the hearts of their readers. These platforms aim to collect different perspectives and thoughts, making them perfect for your essays.

Websites like “Medium” and “WordPress” offer spaces for writers for Essay Publishing. They provide an excellent opportunity to showcase your work to a broad audience. 

Additionally, Medium has a Partner Program that could reward you based on how much people enjoy reading your essays.

Consider sharing your essays with the opinion sections of well-known newspapers like “The New York Times,” “The Guardian,” or “The Washington Post.”

These places have lots of readers and discussions. Contributing here allows you to be part of important conversations happening in society.

Some organizations create collections of essays on particular themes. Submitting your work to these collections can get your essays published in print or online, giving you exposure to a wider audience.

Writing contests hosted by websites like “Writer’s Digest”  and “The Writer Magazine” are great avenues for getting your essays noticed. 

These contests often have different themes and offer prizes, making them an exciting way to share your stories.

Depending on the topic of your essay, there are websites dedicated to specific interests. Whether about travel, parenting, mental health, or lifestyle, these platforms cater to diverse topics, providing a perfect space for your unique stories.

Submitting your essays to different platforms requires attention to specific publishing contracts , guides and practices. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown to help you ace the submission process:

Before submitting, carefully read and understand the submission guidelines and publisher-author relations of the platform you’re interested in. 

Each platform has its own set of rules, preferences, and expectations for submissions. Pay close attention to details such as:

Ensure your essay meets the specified word count requirements. Some platforms might have a specific range they prefer.

Check for specific formatting guidelines, such as font size, spacing, or file format (e.g., .docx, .pdf).

Some platforms might have themes or topics they’re particularly interested in. Align your essay’s subject matter accordingly.

Note whether submissions are accepted via email, online forms, or submission portals. Follow the specified submission procedure.

Understand the platform’s policies regarding ownership of the content. Ensure your essay is original and not previously published elsewhere.

Capturing the attention of editors or readers starts with an enticing title and introduction. Craft a title, similar to how you’d write a thank you note , that reflects the essence of your essay and compels the reader to delve deeper. 

Your introduction should be engaging, drawing in the audience and setting the tone for the rest of the essay.

Editing and revising your essay are crucial steps before submission. Ensure your writing is clear, concise, and error-free. Here are some tips:

Check for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and punctuation issues. Consider using grammar-checking tools or seeking assistance from a trusted proofreader.

Ensure your ideas flow logically and are presented coherently. Avoid overly complex sentences or jargon that might hinder readability.

Eliminate unnecessary details or repetitive information. Keep your essay focused on its central theme or message.

Maintain the authenticity of your work by ensuring it is entirely original. Avoid plagiarism by attributing sources correctly if using external references or quotes. Plagiarism can severely impact the credibility of your submission.

Be mindful of sensitive topics or personal information shared in your essay. Respect the privacy of the individuals mentioned and adhere to ethical considerations. Ensure your content does not harm or offend any particular group or individual.

Follow the platform’s submission instructions meticulously. Submit your essay within the specified timeframe, if provided. After submission, be patient. Responses may take time. If allowed, follow up politely if you haven’t received a response within the expected timeframe.

The world of personal essays offers a myriad of opportunities for aspiring writers. From online journals to renowned newspapers, the options are vast. Selecting the right platform involves understanding your essay’s theme, audience, and aspirations as a writer. 

Authenticity, clarity, and adherence to submission guidelines are paramount for Essay Publishing. Lastly, embracing your unique voice makes your essays resonate with readers across the globe.

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Philip Roth: The Biography

Appointed by Philip Roth and granted independence and complete access, Blake Bailey spent years poring over Roth’s personal archive, interviewing his friends, lovers, and colleagues, and engaging Roth himself in breathtakingly candid conversations. The result is an indelible portrait of an American master and of the postwar literary scene.

Bailey shows how Roth emerged from a lower-middle-class Jewish milieu to achieve the heights of literary fame, how his career was nearly derailed by his catastrophic first marriage, and how he championed the work of dissident novelists behind the Iron Curtain.

Bailey examines Roth’s rivalrous friendships with Saul Bellow, John Updike, and William Styron, and reveals the truths of his florid love life, culminating in his almost-twenty-year relationship with actress Claire Bloom, who pilloried Roth in her 1996 memoir, Leaving a Doll’s House.

Tracing Roth’s path from realism to farce to metafiction to the tragic masterpieces of the American Trilogy, Bailey explores Roth’s engagement with nearly every aspect of postwar American culture.

The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country

In New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub's riveting thriller, uncovering secrets in the past draws one woman into a killer's web.

On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration. Taking the stage after the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, Gorman captivated the nation and brought hope to viewers around the globe. Her poem “The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country” can now be cherished in this special gift edition. Including an enduring foreword by Oprah Winfrey, this keepsake celebrates the promise of America and affirms the power of poetry.

The Midnight Library: A Novel

A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

Over twenty years ago, the heiress Patricia Lockwood was abducted during a robbery of her family's estate, then locked inside an isolated cabin for months. Patricia escaped, but so did her captors — and the items stolen from her family were never recovered.

Until now. On the Upper West Side, a recluse is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, alongside two objects of note: a stolen Vermeer painting and a leather suitcase bearing the initials WHL3. For the first time in years, the authorities have a lead — not only on Patricia's kidnapping, but also on another FBI cold case — with the suitcase and painting both pointing them toward one man.

Windsor Horne Lockwood III — or Win, as his few friends call him — doesn't know how his suitcase and his family's stolen painting ended up with a dead man. But his interest is piqued, especially when the FBI tells him that the man who kidnapped his cousin was also behind an act of domestic terrorism — and that the conspirators may still be at large. The two cases have baffled the FBI for decades, but Win has three things the FBI doesn't: a personal connection to the case; an ungodly fortune; and his own unique brand of justice.

The Hate U Give

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Want more of Garden Heights? Catch Maverick and Seven’s story in Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas's powerful prequel to The Hate U Give.

But with the odds decidedly not in her favor, Amelia knows this feeling can’t last forever. After all, what can?

The Lost Apothecary: A Novel

Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary’s fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries.

Meanwhile in present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, running from her own demons. When she stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London two hundred years ago, her life collides with the apothecary’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.

With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating debut novel of secrets, vengeance and the remarkable ways women can save each other despite the barrier of time.

Good Company: A Novel

Flora Mancini has been happily married for more than twenty years. But everything she thought she knew about herself, her marriage, and her relationship with her best friend, Margot, is upended when she stumbles upon an envelope containing her husband’s wedding ring—the one he claimed he lost one summer when their daughter, Ruby, was five.

Flora and Julian struggled for years, scraping together just enough acting work to raise Ruby in Manhattan and keep Julian’s small theater company—Good Company—afloat. A move to Los Angeles brought their first real career successes, a chance to breathe easier, and a reunion with Margot, now a bona fide television star. But has their new life been built on lies? What happened that summer all those years ago? And what happens now?

With Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s signature tenderness, humor, and insight, Good Company tells a bighearted story of the lifelong relationships that both wound and heal us.

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can’t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job—despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar’s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records. In early seventies New York City, just as she’s finding her niche as part of a flamboyant and funky creative scene, a rival band signed to her label brandishes a Confederate flag at a promotional concert. Opal’s bold protest and the violence that ensues set off a chain of events that will not only change the lives of those she loves, but also be a deadly reminder that repercussions are always harsher for women, especially black women, who dare to speak their truth. Decades later, as Opal considers a 2016 reunion with Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate an oral history about her idols. Sunny thought she knew most of the stories leading up to the cult duo’s most politicized chapter. But as her interviews dig deeper, a nasty new allegation from an unexpected source threatens to blow up everything. Provocative and chilling, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev features a backup chorus of unforgettable voices, a heroine the likes of which we’ve not seen in storytelling, and a daring structure, and introduces a bold new voice in contemporary fiction.

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Publishing Myths: “It’s Impossible to Sell a Story or Essay Collection”

In our column debunking the myths of the publishing industry, a veteran agent explains why selling a story or essay collection can be difficult (but not impossible) in today’s book market.

Janet Reid, Literary Agent

"Never miss a chance to do good"--David Stanley

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Essay collections.

I have written a collection (55k words) of memoir essays...sort of a memoir of unconnected chapters. I've sold some that have been published in large and small magazines. I have queried a zillion agents without success and have concluded that unless the author has some celebrity, agents (and the large publishers) are not interested in this sort of thing. Just too uncertain to make enough money to justify the time and effort. I'm okay with that. I am thinking I might try the small publishers directly. I am not interested in self publishing at all. May I ask for any advice you might offer.

73 comments:

Good tips here, Janet. Doesn't platform count for something if you happen to be one of the "exceptions"? You may not have a perspective on a major historical event, but you write about life and the world about you in a way that evidently others enjoy. That "evidently" is demonstrated by the fact you have a huge blog following, or you're a regular commentator on NPR, or millions of Twitter followers hang on your every tweet. Something about the author's memoir, or essay collection, has to tell the editor, "Lots of people will buy this." Another crushing truth about publishing is, yes, they're in it for the money first and foremost. That seems harsh to us arty types who like being creative because that's who we are, and financial gain isn't paramount in our minds. But publishing's a business filled with people who want to feed their families, put gas in their cars, pay their bills, and maybe buy some nice things. Thanks for asking your q., Opie. Good insights, Janet--thank YOU! :)

Opie: that's also a problem in novels, having episodic chapters that don't have a larger "narrative arc" as Janet writes. Is there someway you can organize the essays so that there is an arc? A larger overall point? I'm thinking of Chicken Soup of the Soul type books. What made them such a sell-out (are they still?) Janet, are you able to share, in vague-protect-privacy language, what it was about the memoirs that you thought had real potential but received no nibbles?

"No, not everyone has led a life that's interesting to other people." ^^ This is one of those things that I think we often forget about simply because it's an unpleasant reality. There are some people who have lives I'd love to read about—ahem...Julie Weathers...ahem—and others, like myself, who have led a life that people would not want to pay to read about.(not necessarily dull but not salable either) Side note: I think many people think of smaller publishers as a sort of fallback, which isn't necessarily the best approach.

Well hello, I could have been today's Opie but I am not. My memoir collection (essays/articles/columns)connects to readers in a general sense as shared experience with insight. Some are funny, informative and quite moving. The book's arc and flow carries readers along my life/writing path from first published piece as, why I wrote what I wrote and what happened after. And I have built a platform, of sorts, above my minnow in a mud puddle fame. A winner right? Slams on brakes here. Like you Opie, I have queried a bazillion times and the response from some agents has been very supportive and actually quite respectful and nice. Makes me feel as if writing the book was the right thing to do but not at the right time. And that is because in order for a memoir like mine, and perhaps yours, to make it we have to do, at least, two things. Publish books that make people want to read about us the author OR write something that goes so viral readers clamor to know who we are and what we are about. I have often called "query" a four letter word for all writers, but for essayists like us, "platform" should be spelled WTF. Taking a memoir class helps, I did that. Everybody there had a story, some amazing, some self-serving, some just plain BS. But what I really learned was to ask myself, "the question": What would make someone want to spend twenty bucks on your story? More importantly, why would someone spend a significant chunk of time out of their lives to read your essays? If you can answer that you do have a winner.

Opie, what are your writing goals? Do you want to be a essayist? If that is where you want to focus your time and energy, then writing for magazines (just as you have been) might be a better fit than trying to publish a full-length book. If you really do want to publish a beginning-to-end memoir, can you do what Lisa suggested and discover the red thread that connects your essays? Step back and show us the bigger picture. Whatever you decide to do with your memoir, don't forget your other writing projects if you have them.

OP, the silver lining is, you had some of them published. So you know the writing isn't half bad and that other people actually enjoy your work. That is more than some debut authors know when they start querying! That narrows down what you need to work on. Sounds like everyone here has already pointed out what that might be! Good luck.

This is a tough position to be in. Even though OP is against it, my initial feeling was this was a tailor made case for self-publishing. However, I think others are much better informed on this topic. Carolynn, Lisa, and Amy made some excellent points. Good luck to you.

OP, I think you may have a better chance if your essays are humorous in the vein of Erma Bombeck, Art Buchwald, or our own Julie M. Weathers. People's lives may not be as interesting as we ourselves would like to imagine, but if you can make people laugh that's a whole other ballgame. People will fork over the $16 for a good laugh on the first page even if no one has ever heard of you. Maybe I'm wrong, but I know I would. Good luck!

I feel awful for "saying this out loud" so to speak, but when I hear about a series of unrelated personal essays, I think that's a blog. There is SO much of this sort of thing out on the internet for free, there has to be a seriously compelling reason to invest in the cost to produce it on paper (and/or e-book form), and for anyone to spend money on it. A woman at my church self-pubbed, knowing how hard it is to sell memoir, but she has tirelessly supported her work and has had quite gratifying success with it. Like EMG, this sounds to me like a candidate for this kind of debut.

I guess my question would be what kind of 'no's Opie is getting. I would feel extremely nervous sending a collection of essays to a small publisher if I'd only been getting form rejections (of course, I get nervous writing emails to family members). And what are your motives for wanting to be published, Opie? I'm little unpublished nobody over here, but what you want out of getting published might be achieved by alternative methods. I'm not familiar with publishing essays, but if they're largely unconnected, is there a particular reason you're aiming for a book deal as opposed to getting the essays published individually (as you have been doing)? If you can narrow down on the reason, you might be able to focus your efforts more effectively on a particular route. But what do I know? Best of luck!!

You know, I've led a seriously interesting life. I've done way more than the average person, know more 'celebrities', have had more experiences, gotten to do many, many things most women never entertain trying let alone doing. It's been a great, fun ride. But the bottom line is, who cares? Oh sure, maybe in conversation, I might mention something, but honestly, no one wants to read an unrelated series of events of my life because, I'm no one. So they don't care. This sounds harsh, but it's true. OP, you have had the opportunity to sell some of your experiences. I have too. But an entire, $12 or $15 worth of unrelated life experiences when no one knows who you are is going to be an almost impossible sell. Now, if you could find a way to have a running narrative through them with a cohesive story, you could make it a work of fiction and that might sell it. But then you're faced with, what next? You've written your experiences, woven them so people are dying to read them and now, when you are expected to write the next book, what have you got? If your heart is set on the essays of your life, continue to write them and find outlets such as magazines and such. If your heart is set on a book, imagine a concept/story that people can't put down and write that. Either way, be prepared for a lot of rejection before someone loves your work. If they ever do.

I think the tipping point here is the spot between successful writer and celebrity writer. A celebrity writer could pull it off because their work would get air time in many markets. A successful writer will only be able to reach those who have an interest in the genre they write in. Pehaps Diane is right and these would make a good blog. Maybe it will become successful enough that you become a celebrity. There is only one way to really find out and that is to do it.

"Unconnected chapters means there's no narrative arc." Oh, that pesky fatal flaw, the words used when an editor read my first attempt at writing a book. I like the advice given by Janet, and others here. Is the collection a lighthearted collection of humorous essays, ala David Sedaris? Is it more of a soul searching, been there done that, collection of experiences which could help others, ala Chicken Soup for the Soul? Honestly. This is why I'd never attempt to write non-fiction - or a memoir. For one, I think it's got to be one of the hardest writing forms to do, and to do it well. Hello Betsy Lerner and THE BRIDGE LADIES. Then there was Cheryl Strayed and WILD. So many others. Anyway. H.A.R.D. If I could just veer OFF TOPIC a sec... Julie Weathers - yes, there were quite a few children, and some of the names I ran across were Leanna Donner, Eliza Donner, Virginia Reed - who survived. Virginia Reed was 13 at the time. One of the Donner girls - only 4. I think the other, 11. Maybe they are the ones...? John Frain - Jay Fosdick was believed to have been one of those cannabilized. Starved Camp was the actual name of one of the camps where some survivors wintered. Forlorn Hope was another camp and a phrase used to describe the current state of mind -even at the worst of it. Timothy Lowe - thanks! And yeah, so many instances of this happening (more than we care to know...) Thanks to all who took a guess or let me know they got it. Back to the regularly scheduled program!

I’m breaking the rules today. Thoughts on memoir class for an essayist. There were fifteen of us sitting around a huge table. First meeting we went from person to person sharing why we were there. Of the ones I remember there were three cancer survivors, (scary), a best friend and spouse of two people who did not survive cancer, (sad), a wealthy woman who wanted to share her amazing life, (it wasn’t that amazing), a professional story teller who wanted to tell her story of being a story teller, (huh), a young girl who had spent a year in India and Nepal, (been there, did that but in another country) and me, my statement to the class: “I met my parents for the first time after they died.” It certainly got the class and teacher excited. I even told them I was interviewed on national TV regarding the backstory of the pitch. That was almost ten years ago, the memoir sits unfinished in a file drawer. Of the fifteen, I became a columnist and the story teller has published 2 books. My point, well, I don’t have one other than we all have a story and that was 199 words of mine. I still think Janet should have a 100 word memoir or essay contest. Oops back to Carkoon for me.

At the moment I'm listening to the audio book Between You and Me: Confessions Of Comma Queen by Mary Norris. It's a memoir of unconnected life events BUT they are all woven together by Mary Norris' knowledge of the English language. Perhaps the format is the problem. Trying to sell a collection of unconnected. As a reader I need to feel an emotional arc. How could you connect these stories and give the 55k words an overall emotional arc, an overall theme?

Opie/NM: If you can find a way to hook your experiences into current events, that would be a great way to sell a story to a magazine. For example, "My pet Shih Tzu was a stunt double for Donald Trump's hair." I've been tempted to write about my experience in exile on Carkoon, but there are two things against that: 1) "Carkoon" is owned by Disney (which, btw, the Carkoonians are very happy about. It seems, during the George Lucas regime, you could never be sure things were in the same place they were yesterday). 2) Janet might enjoy it so much, she'll send me back so I could write a sequel... 8-O

I have a somewhat unrelated question: is a breathtaking writing style enough? If your collection of essays with no platform, a fantasy novel with a cliché plot, a literary novel with no solid story-arch, but the writing style is rich and engaging, is that enough?

How refreshing the sentence "Crushing facts...No One Else Cares". A newbie to this blog, I've found it eye-opening to read after a year of rejections. We are forever optimists. Great quotation. "A man must love a thing very much to practice it not only without hope of fame or fortune but [also] without hope of doing it well." G.K. Chesterton Opie - Good luck and hope you find that unique thread to weave a pattern into your work. Could it be risk, loss, lessons learned, the untold secrets of the color yellow, the benefits of growing older, or even 'why I drink whiskey at 8:00 AM'?

Colin, you are too funny! But no, my experiences, while unique, have no real thread to tie them all together except that they belong to me. And I am unfortunately, not famous so no one really cares. Oh, people will express an interest when I mention something, but their interest wouldn't hold up once the stories started flowing because...just because. So I'll continue to work on my PNHistRom and see where that takes me. And if it goes nowhere, I can always fall back on something else though I would still write.

"In an unexpected turn in the US elections today, Colin Smith - not only a dark horse, but an Englishman, won Super Tuesday in a landslide. For both parties. Let's got to Chet for a breakdown of the numbers ..." I quit, Colin's comment is the winner. See y'all on the other side of the returns!

Hello, Kae!! *BIG WAVE* What a brave soul you are... uh... I mean, welcome to the blog comments!! Lovely to have you around. :D

Angie – I loved Between You and Me! I've read David Sedaris. Another writer of collections of humorous personal essays is Jenny Lawson. I read about 3/4 of her first book. Yes, she's hysterically funny, but I lost interest just over half-way through and never finished. She does have a through-line of “life with mental illness,” but it wasn't enough to sustain me. Her blog is huge though, and she has two books, both of which are best sellers. So there's certainly a market for the humorous stuff. Maybe OP can pick one set of essays that have some sort of through-line, and develop that set into a full-length single-topic memoir or maybe even a full-length novel. You can always “become famous”. Try running for president. The field seems especially needy this time around.............

Wait, wait, wait... Can I vote for Colin in both primaries? Finally, a candidate I can believe in - one that a) doesn't know he's running and b) one that we can exile to Carkoon should we all suddenly need to move to Canada.

lol... "dark horse"! Don't forget, I'm of British stock. Thoroughly Western European genes. I'm so white, they could market me as sunscreen. I daren't go outside in shorts for fear of damaging people's corneas. But I appreciate the sentiment. Y'all are too nice. :D

This hits home for me..I have one novel published, but my agent has been shopping my memoir around since October and I am getting that sinking feeling. Though it does have an arc, and *I* feel it is compelling, apparently the world does not. It's hard to face reality sometimes, but perhaps the essays can be reworked into a novel, or some other work, even a memoir if it is changed some. On the bright side, a friend of mine did just get her memoir published. So there is hope, it does happen! I will only say what I am doing: 1. File drawer. 2. Work on something else. 3. In six months, revisit file drawer.

Whoops! I forgot to do newbie orientation for Kae! Welcome to the comments of Janet's blog, Kae Bell . I hope your experience will be fun and rewarding, and not simply an extension of the pit of despair in which you currently reside, if you are a writer like the rest of us. On the top right of the blog, you will find some useful links. If you want to understand some of the odd, seemingly meaningless words we like to throw around (e.g., "QOTKU", "Carkoon", "synopsis"), there is a glossary you can use for reference. If you wish to become further identified with the regular commenters, there's a list of Blog Commenters and their Blogs. Please contact me to be added to that list. Christina Seine has created a lovely Pintrest page you can be added to, and if you want us to know generally where you are in the world, you can add yourself to the map. On behalf of my fellow commenters, and Mighty QOTKU herself, I hope your time with us is both pleasant and... um... educational. You can find the Emergency Exit doors to the left and the right of the aircraft... oh sorry, wrong speech... ;)

Did somebody mention blogging? To most of you Reiders and lurkers, your writing-world is, in overwhelming numbers, fiction, either in process or published. You non-fiction writers are immersed in fact and platform. Essayists are different. We splay ourselves for the reader. It’s not easy writing about that which defines who we are. Essayists are brave writers because we reveal that which others tuck away and hide behind make believe. To seek a national audience beyond a blog is courageous for essayists because the consequences of our reviews affect us personally. Connecting the dots for writers like us is near impossible. Getting published in any form is God-damned hard. And I know that because every single one of you reading my words right now knows the game. That is why we are here. Essayists are not simply bloggers we’re writers too.

Kae, what Colin is trying to say is there is No Exit. This is no fault of Jean Paul Sartre. You have entered the belly of the beast. Please try to keep your demons on a leash, but under no circumstances should you ever tame them. Tamed demons simply do not sell. Welcome to the shark tank.

I found this question interesting, and it prompts a few questions for me, too (I'm usually a lurker here, commenting infrequently, but always gaining a lot from Janet's posts and subsequent comments from readers). I, too, have a collection of essays. They aren't connected by a story arc either, but rather by theme. I suppose one could call it an unorthodox travel memoir--the theme is middle-aged woman traveling for a year in Europe, going from farm to farm, working and learning (beekeeping, wine-making, olive harvesting, etc), and examining our relationship to the land and to each other in this context. The essays range from quite funny to tear-jerking; foreign language struggles, culture clashes, to various people's experiences of war. I always try to find a way to tie it to the land, though. I've done a lot of research for querying my novel, have thrown myself into the chum bucket, and have been querying widely. But I know almost nothing about querying memoir or travel essays--especially without the story arc Janet mentioned. I think my essays fall somewhere in between those two (i.e. memoir/travel). I'm wondering if the thematic core I've described here would suffice in the absence of a true story arc. Based on Janet's reply to the OP, I think humor might be the best angle I can offer, and could perhaps front-load the collection with those. But not sure. It currently exists as a blog, but not one I've promoted at all; only among family and friends. Not all essays on the blog are suited for the collection, and others are still on my laptop, not the blog. But if any thoughtful reader here wishes to see it, you can click on my name here (I think?). I hope that's kosher--I'm not trying to do my own blog promotion here. I'm sincerely interested in feedback from this thoughtful group of writers about the viability or interest in such a collection. Perhaps it's only destined to be a blog for family/friends. If you send me a message through the blog form there I can point you toward the funniest or saddest or most poignant of the posts, rather than have you sift through all of them. At the very least, I can promise you some pretty pictures and travel inspiration. (I'm happy to give you travel tips, too.) But I'd be grateful for any thoughts about whether it would grab interest as a collection, and the best approach for querying, if so. Janet, I hope this is OK.

Thanks Colin! I appreciate the guidance and the welcome!

Jennifer D: Janet's link rule is that it's okay to post links as long as you aren't trying to increase anyone's bank account or naughty bits. Some of us (e.g., me) feel a little awkward posting links to our own blogs. But since you're not me (at least I don't think you are), here a link to your blog: http://terroirblog.blogspot.com/ My initial thought from your comment is whether there's some way you can connect the various aspects of farming into a travelogue, or maybe pick a broad theme, maybe one of growth (e.g., learning through travel how the ordinary can be extraordinary) so you start of in the first chapter with one set of presuppositions, and end up in the last chapter with those presuppositions challenged. Just some ideas. :)

EM: LOL! OK. You're doing the next newbie orientation! ;)

Excellent thought, Colin. I'll revisit the blog and the stuff that didn't get onto the blog, and see if that emerges as a possibility. Even if the growth theme doesn't seem to work (though there was certainly growth), perhaps another will fit with your suggested approach. Thanks for offering up the idea. If you'd have seen my face before posting any mention of my blog, you might have laughed. I stopped just short of hitting "post" and sent an email to Janet to check if it was OK, because I didn't want to be That Asshole, as I said to her. I didn't know her rules about it, but I do now. Thanks. I only wish I'd had some "naughty bits" to add to the blog, alas my travel adventures were mainly G-rated, except for some swearing when I was attacked by a rogue bee at the apiary. So PG-13, I guess?

Jennifer D - Here's a list of memoirs/collected essays that came to me off the top. I think all but the first author already had celebrity and/or platforms, so if you don't have that, you might research what made the first one publishable and/or what was the "hook". Gretchen Berg – I Have Iraq in my Shoe Cheryl Strayed – Wild David Sedaris – Me Talk Pretty One Day Jenny Lawson – Let's Pretend This Never Happened Mary Norris - Between You and Me Stephen King - On Writing [of course I had to list this one!]

Colin, I am far too impolitic to do the initial welcome. We would never have another newbie again if I did the welcome. Let's not frighten them away. We need you to soften them up a bit. You make kale smell grand. Which is why you, and not I, are being elected president of the United States (or mayor of Carkoon) today. I get the two confused. Back on topic, I must agree with Diane- a disjointed memoir has mostly evolved into blogs. Even my tiny blog of despair has become my own bit of memoir. I am sure that does make memoir without an arc or hook a harder sell. Although I am very interested in all the vignettes and memoirs here in the shark tank. I am always in search of new characters to shake up my fiction.

EM: Mayor of Carkoon?! I think not. You saw what happened last week when Janet tried to send me back there. I haven't had a query rejected that quickly! I'm persona non grata there--or I would be if they knew what that meant. For the record, I'm okay with that. I like it here. :D

Looking at this as a reader, from a humanist perspective, I think everyone's lives are incredible in their own ways, that everyone has a story to share. Just look at HONY, which is constantly proving this through the captions of their photographs. Some of the most moving and memorable moments come from people who are just living their everyday lives, that Brandon just happened upon and provided an outlet for. My life is richer for hearing some of these stories, and I hate to think how I might have missed them had such an outlet not existed. But publishing is a business, and as others have noted, the primary goal is financial. Everything else--being able to touch people, move people, share your story--is a beautiful byproduct, but not the purpose of the industry. I inherently disagree with it--as an artist and an idealist, I think everyone should have their voice heard and be able to tell their stories because everyone's lives are different and everyone has something to add to this living experience (and as Doctor Who likes to say, there's not one person in this world who isn't important. Yeah, I went there). But that's my own idealism, not the reality. As an industry, I understand and respect that the rules and standards are put in place for a reason--it's a business, and businesses need to make money. But, Opie, you do have options. That's the great thing about today. HONY "broke the rules" by adding short, personal essays to his photographs. Other writers "broke the rules" by sharing their story via blogs, mixed media, self-publishing. If traditional publishing is your dream, absolutely go for it--find that thread and follow it to create a narrative and then keep querying. That narrative is vital to storytelling no matter what medium you're working in. But know that you have options, too, to share your voice and your story--it's just a matter of figuring out which one works best. Best of luck.

In any non-fiction book proposal, one of the main questions to ask yourself is "Who would be my targeted audience? Not all readers in general, but who would feel compelled to buy my book? Once I reached past 11 different sub-groups, I realized that I have a story; about living before, during and after a wildfire in a rural setting. Having a career in Forestry has given me training and resources that the average person would not have concerning prepping and wildfires. When I wrote about the fire on my blog, people actually blogged about taking note of what we did and applied it to their property, for where they were living. There is one group of the readers right there. Also, we stayed on; not moving away and letting someone else clean up. No, the forest doesn't recover right away when the soil is burnt down to rock, and yes, the wildlife suffers from injury, lack of food and shelter for years afterward. My house burned over while I watched from my hayfield, my horses were let loose to fend for themselves, and then the aftermath of terribly burnt, blinded cows screaming until they could all be put down is something that needs to be written down for others to learn from. That's why I am writing my story; there are who people want to know. Hopefully someone will want to publish it. But I won't know unless I try.

*hi-fives Susan for the Who reference*

Kae, I'd say that we're more like The Hotel California, once you check in you can never check out. Jeez, I love the Eagles so much I could write an essay about them, but don't worry Reiders, I won't. Here's the link. Colin if you could do the honors please... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrfhf1Gv4Tw

Colin: High-five back atcha! ;) I'm convinced DW should be required viewing, or part of a humanities curriculum, if only to keep reminding us of our humanity when the world forgets. That's the power of storytelling right there!

OMG Janice, the cows. Makes me cry. Breaks my heart. I'd buy the book because my son-in-law fights wild fires when he's called upon to help.

2Ns: My pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrfhf1Gv4Tw Susan: Who is the only reason to own a TV! :) Great storytelling has been a hallmark of the show, even when the budget couldn't make it as good as the writers imagined.

OP here. I've lurked here for a while and sincere thanks to Janet and to all the posters. Janet and you others pretty much confirm what I thought was the case. Particular thanks to 2Ns for her thoughts. Unlike you guys I don't think of myself as a writer. It is something to which I never aspired. I'd like to think I am a storyteller but even that is something about which I am not so sure. My story is pretty simple. In my late fifties, about a dozen years ago now, I sent my best friend a longish email recounting a recent experience. His reply surprised me....my story was so interesting and agreeably told I should submit it someplace for publication. Of course I ignored him but a year or two later his earlier comments gave me the courage to submit a different story to a large print publication and I was pretty astounded when they bought it. Over the years I have been lucky enough to sell a number of stories to various print publications, large and small. ("Sell" is sort of a generous term to use when I get $10, but some have gone for three figures...) Writing is an avocation for me. I enjoy pondering, recalling various events in my life, many in which I am more observer than participant, and to often gently explore the emotions they may generate. No, there is no arc to these. Some are funny (I think) some serious, some in between. I just sit down and begin writing when something pops into my mind that I wish to think about or recall. A story about when I ran away from home at age eight all the way to my backyard or another about my mom's decades of dramatic accounts about her yearly perceived struggles getting ingredients for a dish served at a family dinner, ending when I reached my sixties. So I really write for my own enjoyment. I do not need to have a book published to be satisfied. I guess I thought that since I had some modest success with individual stories and received some very nice comments from some readers I would look into seeing if I could get a collection published. (Sort of a Chicken Soup thing, I suppose, but without the excess emotion or inspiration and not with a single theme.) Not at all an ego thing so I am not at all interested in self publishing. I don't show my stories to anybody unless they get published....except to that original best friend who, sadly, nears the end of a medical story from which he will not recover.

1eye, I'm sorry about your friend. That's always so very hard to go through. (your name is way long so sorry, I shortened it) I'm thinking after your explanation that doing the essay route is, for you, going to be the best way to get your voice heard. And that's a wonderful thing! Janice, you made me cry. :( I'm going off topic for a sec... HOLY CRAP! SNOW!!! Okay, that is all...

Jennifer D - one thing I do to see how essayists organize books on one topic but with very different essays is to see if there's a table of contents. Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist is a great example. **off topic** I'm recently returned from a trip to NOLA. I visited the Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone, famous for all the famous writers who have stayed there over the years. I sipped bourbon and thought fondly of this group.

1eye (stealing from nightsmusic) I'm very sorry about your friend

1 eye, (I shortened your name too), you may not think of yourself as a writer but you certainly are one. Tack onto writer, words like record keeper, story teller and history saver. Your experiences are of value and it is wonderful that you have found a way to share them, even if it's for ten bucks. When at a crossroads in my own writing, and to paraphrase something Janet said to me, (which I have shared here often), if what you are writing brings you joy, then you should continue on your path. You and I both know, plus a few other Reiders here whose parents liked Ike know, there's a richness to what we have experienced in our lives that should be saved. This is not to diminish the experiences of those living wonderful and enriching lives now, not to dismiss their struggles or difficulties, not to overlook the deadening burden of things like student debt and politics gone crazy, but if we don't do what you are doing, if we don't share what it was like to us then the foundation shoring up their future crumbles. Okay I'm off my soapbox, have commented way too many times today. Breathe easy Reiders I'm off to work and out of your hair Janet.

2Ns, 1I... love it! :) Isn't it true that any sale to a magazine is noteworthy on a query, since not only does it say someone liked your stuff enough to pay money for it, but that it was critically assessed by an editor who was willing to part with cash for it? Clearly, the more prestigious the mag, the better it looks on a query. But even $10 is good--I wouldn't sneeze at it. :) I'm commenting way too much. OK... sorry.

Oh, 2n's. My parents liked Hoover! We're all storytellers. Some of us tell real ones, some of us tell the ones in our minds, but we belong to a fraternal organization, mostly unorganized and with so many different branches, that is almost as old as time. It's a fine organization to belong to. And it's still snowing! Supposed to get 9 inches by this evening.

This is one memoir that you're going to want to read. It will be BIG. It's written by a friend of mine. (No reflection on her.) Running on Red Dog Road and Other Perils of an Appalachian Childhood by Drema Hall Berkheimer, http//amazon.com/0310344964, and other fine booksellers. Due for publication April 14. I hope I got the Info correct. If I didn't, look it up--and the reviews.

Here you are, Rena. Hopefully, since this isn't increasing *my* bank account, Her Sharkiness will permit it: Running on Red Dog Road and Other Perils of an Appalachian Childhood by Drema Hall Berkheimer

1eye (1i?) - I'm sorry about your friend. That is hard. It sounds like he started something good, though. I would consider you a writer. Actually, you are technically more of one than me since I've only been doing this hard-core hobby for a few years and am not yet published. I think people on this blog come from about every background, part of the world, and present day situation. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do! O.T. - did I hear Colin (or possibly a shih tsu?) was running for pres? Because I will vote for either one right now based on current candidates. OK, shutting up now...

Lennon: There are rumors that Puddles the Stunt Dog might be running as an Independent. Do they allow write-in votes? :)

I voted for both Colin and the Shih Tzu in the primary. Colin will make an excellent president and the Shih Tzu can do everything else

What a timely post this morning. My writer's group meets tonight, and "Why do we write?" is the scheduled topic. Because you have to get the story out of your own head, or get it into someone else's? To be published? Published for a sake of personal achievement, recognition, fame, money? Figuring out why I would write, have written, or should write, seems to be the key to knowing when I have been successful. Thank you, guys and gals, for this blog, and your candid thoughts. Thoughts on ALL things, I've learned hanging out here!

2Ns...thanks for the kind words, and thanks to others as well. I read a piece in the NYTimes a couple of years ago by Saul Austerlitz, "The Lost Art of the Condolence Letter" in which he says, "I write to remember and to be remembered." I thought that was pretty good. Yah, my kids have seen things I've written that get published but I have a lot more that has not been. I think one day I'll print it all out and put it in a file in a drawer for them to find a long time from now. Jeez, since I'm soon 70 perhaps I'd better get going! Because I write my tales for my own enjoyment I follow my self imposed rules that anything I get published must be in print....something tangible I can hold (talk about being an old fart)...and I gotta get paid something, anything. No freebies.

I self-published a compilation of essays (blog posts) back in Dec of 2011, titled "How Did This Happen? Lunch with Imaginary Friends and Other (mostly) True Stories." I described it as slices of life from the "empty nest" years that, it turns out, aren't so empty after all. I had very low expectations for sales and knew the only people who would buy it were friends and family. Because it's true, no one else cares. The reason I did it was to see whether I could. At the time, I kept hearing how easy it was to self-pub and ALSO how incredibly difficult it was. I figured the only way to find out whether it was easy/difficult for ME was to try it. It wasn't all that difficult and I'm really glad I did. The most interesting feedback was from two of my nieces, and the most flattering was a reviewer who said it reminded him of Bill Bryson's writing. Anyway, the point is that there are many reasons, other than sales, for publishing a collection of essays. In your case, 1eye, there is incalculable value in passing on your stories to your children and generations to come. I wish I had realized when I was younger how much I would come to regret not writing down or recording the stories told by relatives who have since died. And yes, you are a writer. Best of luck to you, whatever you decide.

This post comes at a perfect time for me. Since mid-November I've sent out 14 queries (eight women, six men) for what I call a non-fiction book, and what others might call "memoir." It's funny, and in my query letter I said "...this is what happens when David Sedaris rewrites A Year In Provence." I have gypsies, a contractor who went to prison for manslaughter, an African princess, and title NOT to the apartment building I've renovated twice, but to the crappy little one next door. So far, I've received requests for 50-100 pages from four agents, all of them women, and form rejections from the other four. So, some sort of reply from all the women. From the men, nothing. Not even a form rejection, which I've found really odd, since my husband plays a prominent role in the story. He's an Ivy League educated trial lawyer, I'm a college dropout from Iowa. We're quite different, and yet we're a perfect fit. It's still out with one agent who requested pages. I received rejections from the other three, but they were the nicest rejections ever written: "You had me laughing from the first paragraph, no small feat at 5AM.", "I found myself longing to sit down with you over some liquor-infused champagne to hear all the details" and "I enjoyed your clever writing and, strangely, I suppose, your fraught adventure in France." And yet, all three said the same thing - books like this have become fairly hard to publish, it's a competitive market, and publishers want a "platform." I'll cast the net wider, but I have a couple of questions: 1. Should I only query women? 2. Would changing my last name to Kardashian help?

I'm also an essayist/memoirist. If your essays are "literary," you will have the best luck with small presses with an artsy feel, like Heart and the Hand, Green River Press, Gray Wolf, etc, and university presses like the University of Georgia. It's also possible to get the attention of one of these presses by publishing in a literary magazine, or entering a chapbook contest. Chapbooks are often made up of an essay collection or short prose of some kind. You can find reputable literary magazines by searching for "Pushcart Prize rankings" - there are a couple of lists online of magazines ranked by how many Pushcarts they've won, and that is reasonably legit. If your essays are not "literary," the best way to get your book published is to get an essay in a high-profile place like The New York Times' Modern Love, Motherlode, or Opinionator sections; Washington Post's Post Everything, or the personal essay column of a large newspaper like the Boston Globe. If your essay hits big, you'll get interest in your other work and agents may contact you. But it sounds like the most important thing for you is to keep writing - so keep placing essays, and as you get more paying markets, aim for more prestigious markets, and that may provide the satisfaction you're looking for. Good luck!

No One Else Cares. Boy, that has been going through my head all day. It's been kind of a gloomy day here, and I've been ruminating about how little I understand the publishing business. I read, read, read as much as I can about it, but always feel a bit out of synch. OP, it's great that you are satisfied with your writing and with how it's been published.

If you can't tell me what the book is about in 25 words or less, it's really hard to pitch it. And I don't mean just to me, I mean it's hard for me to pitch it to an editor, an editor to her boss, or to the acquisitions meeting, for sales to pitch it to accounts, for film guys to pitch it to producers, for subrights agents to pitch it to audio publishers and translation agents. Even beyond that, word of mouth (the single best way to expand your audience) is essentially one reader pitching it to another. When you ask a friend what they're reading and they go into a meandering monologue trying to explain it, you're probably gonna tune out before they've gotten very far. Whereas if I say "Cinderella's a cyborg" or "supervillains face off" you know right away if you'd be interested or not. This is why high-concept stuff is easier to sell, because it's simply easier to talk about. I dearly love some books that are difficult to explain, but those aren't the ones I tend to push on acquaintances. Opie and the other essayists might look into Medium. It's a platform that seems well-suited to essays and long-form writing without the legwork of trying to get eyeballs on a personal blog.

"Cinderella's a cyborg." I loved the Lunar Chronicles. Just sayin'. Wonderful storytelling. Shutting up now. Really. :D

Putting on my dusty librarian hat: There is a difference between an autobiography, a memoir and collection of essays. We shelve these in different places in the library. Biographies have their own Dewey Decimal classifications. Memoirs do not. (Auto)biographies are about a person (ie, Dawn French's "Dear Fatty"). Memoirs are about a subject (theme, event) irrespective of the person (ie that beguilingly strange memoir about a mother who takes her ill little daughter to South America for an exorcism; how did that end up in our collection?). Essay collections tend to be given a subject, depending on what they're about, and shelved accordingly. (hint for everyone writing a book of any kind: do you know what shelf it would go on in the library? You really need to know this, so you know how to pitch it to agents/editors/readers. For those who would say, "shelve it in fiction", do you know what genre sticker we should whack on it? Do you know which "If you enjoyed..." list we should put it on? You should. If you can't classify it, how can we?)

Commenting on the sly from the Day Job, as the home internet is down for the neighbourhood. Bethany asked: ...is a breathtaking writing style enough? If your collection of essays with no platform, a fantasy novel with a cliché plot, a literary novel with no solid story-arch, but the writing style is rich and engaging, is that enough? Almost. Very much almost. Sometimes so almost that some readers will forgive the gravest of sins if you can hook them with the writing. Last year I read an indie Fantasy author whose permafree novel hooked me . His voice and style had good pacing. It promised so many, many things... ...all of which the rest of the series failed to deliver. And that was a great big shame. If you look through the GoodReads ratings, you'll find quite a mixed bag of reactions. I read about three of his books in hopes that he'd pull a smerp out of a hat somewhere, but he didn't. Alas.

Julie, I want to hug you! Thank you for understanding; I believe that is why it's important to write this book so that others can understand also. Living right in the middle of it as it happens gave us a perspective that not many have experienced. Caroly2nns - Your son is one of my sub-groups :) thank him for his service - he has one of the hardest jobs on the planet. Nightmusic - :( We had to force ourselves to look for the good. I remember the first time I laughed out loud afterwards - it was when I had a chipmunk with no ears show up on my doorstep for birdseed! I realized that if wildlife can tough it out, so could we :) 1eye- You are a writer - you were just busy collecting stories for awhile :)

Janice, Well, my post made no sense due to my rearranging. Anyway, you need to write this book. People need to know. "Ah, I'll just burn this trash instead of paying to haul it off." 7,000 burned acres and hundreds of dead cattle and horses later, not to mention the personal property and someone would have gladly paid you that $15 to haul trash. Don't give up on it. My dad was a fire watcher for years in the western Montana mountains out of Lincoln, MT. It's important for people to know. It's bad enough when you can't help it due to lightning.

Judy Moore, Since it's Super Tuesday (still fiscal Super Tuesday until everyone wakes up Wednesday) I'll cast a vote: I strongly discourage you from changing your last name to Kardashian. Lots of baggage that'll come with that move. That leaves your alternative: querying only women. I don't know the demographics of the agent profession (except they all grew up in Lake Woebegone), but I suspect you'll still have the vast majority to query. If you allow write-in votes, I'd suggest that your sample size was too small and you try a few more males. If all else fails, self-publish and give it as a gift to that husband. I bet he'll defy the odds and accept it without even needing a query.

Sometimes I wish I was a morning person so I could hang out here when the reef is crowded with Reiders. But this is good practice for the lonely life of a writer. Instead I'll just remind y'all what a superlative line Michael Seese had during the most recent contest: "They won't find her until spring, when the ice has grown weary of her, too." Oh, that just dances on your tongue like a swizzle stick.

John, look at the bright side. If you were around when the party was in full swing, you could spend hours here. It's a great place to be, but I decided sometime back, those hours could be spent writing. I leave a comment early and (most of the time) don't return until late at night if I have time. I miss a lot, but there are priorities and Janet's WIR covers some of the good stuff. Judy Moore, I hate to say this, but timing is everything. Publishing is no exception. Ten, even five years ago, agents would've been all over your story. It sounds wonderful and like John said, perhaps you just haven't queried enough agents. If, however, you keep getting the same response "great writing, but hard to publish" you may have to save it for later. Everything goes in cycles and perhaps in a few years agents will once again be looking for expat adventures. Good luck, I hope to someday read it.

Or, I hope to read it someday. Anywho, I was going to send you an email, but it seems like there's no way to contact you directly. (Janet wrote about this not too long ago.) I was going to tell you that I know an agent who is interested in anything that pertains to France. She might be just the agent you need to contact. I don't have that info on me (I'm typing all this from my phone) but when I get home I can send it to you.

(Completely out of order in case y'all are wondering what Janice is talking about. I couldn't stand the typos and had to get up in the middle of the night to fix them.) Y'all are very kind in comments about a Julie Weathers, whatever it would be. Crazier Than A Peach Orchard Pig, But Mostly Harmless, by Julie Weathers. Yep, I can see that doing well. This really is like the story I told about the lady in Surrey. She bemoaned no one wanting her "My man done me wrong story" when she was sitting on a fascinating story about giving it all up to go help in Indonesia after a tsunami and teaching women to make elephant dung paper for note cards to support their families. Anything can sell if it's written well. A Southern Belle Primer: Why Princess Margaret Will Never Be a Kappa Kappa Gamma is one of my favorite little essay books. I'm not sure how well that book sold, but it's hilarious and she's written other southern belle etiquette primers with fascinating stories. Erma Bombeck. Kae, welcome to the tank. Original questioner, I don't know what the answer is. If you feel strongly about your project, find some way to publish. Life is short. 1eye. I'm glad you found your voice, but so sorry to hear about your friend. Janice, I agree about the heartbreak of the fires. Every year we have range fires in west Texas. Everyone thinks, "Oh, what can burn out there? It's all sand. There's more out there than you think or there wouldn't be thousands of cattle. A train will spark a fire, lightning, many times some moron tossing a cigarette out of a vehicle, arson, carelessness. Ranchers scramble to move cattle, open gates, cut fences, but invariably we wind up with one of them on the news the next day, wiping tears away, talking about neighbors coming in to ride pastures to put down burned cattle. We hear helicopters for days as everyone who has one sweeps pastures trying to locate crippled, burned, missing cattle. Every danged year. Even if they don't look damaged, cattle suffer from smoke inhalation, burned feet that slough weeks later, and other damage. It's gut wrenching. The first range fire of the season cranked off Feb. 1 and burned 1,700 acres near the LX Ranch in the Panhandle. Good luck with the book. It needs to be written.

Colin: Too nice? Nonsense! We're desperate.

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Justice Department Publishes New Rule to Update Definition of “Engaged in the Business” as a Firearms Dealer

The Justice Department today announced it has submitted to the Federal Register the “Engaged in the Business” Final Rule, which makes clear the circumstances in which a person is “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms and thus required to obtain a federal firearms license, in order to increase compliance with the federal background check requirement for firearm sales by federal firearms licensees.

“Under this regulation, it will not matter if guns are sold on the internet, at a gun show, or at a brick-and-mortar store: if you sell guns predominantly to earn a profit, you must be licensed, and you must conduct background checks,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This regulation is a historic step in the Justice Department’s fight against gun violence. It will save lives.”

“The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act enhanced background checks and closed loopholes, including by redefining when a person is ‘engaged in the business’ of dealing in firearms. Today’s rule clarifying application of that definition will save lives by requiring all those in the business of selling guns to get a federal license and run background checks — thus keeping guns out of the hands of violent criminals,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “I applaud the hard work of ATF in drafting this rule and reviewing the hundreds of thousands of public comments, which overwhelmingly favored the rule announced today. Because of that work, our communities will be safer.”

“This is about protecting the lives of innocent, law-abiding Americans as well as the rule of law. There is a large and growing black market of guns that are being sold by people who are in the business of dealing and are doing it without a license; and therefore, they are not running background checks the way the law requires. And it is fueling violence,” said Director Steven Dettelbach of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). “Today’s Final Rule is about ensuring compliance with an important area of the existing law where we all know, the data show, and we can clearly see that a whole group of folks are openly flouting that law. That leads to not just unfair but, in this case, dangerous consequences.”

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), enacted June 25, 2022, expanded the definition of engaging in the business of firearms dealing to cover all persons who devote time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominately earn a profit through the repetitive purchase and sale of firearms. On March 14, 2023, President Biden issued Executive Order 14092, which, among other things, directs the Attorney General to develop and implement a plan to clarify the definition of who is engaged in the business of dealing in firearms and thus required to obtain a federal firearms license. The Final Rule conforms the ATF regulations to the new BSCA definition and further clarifies the conduct that presumptively requires a license under that revised definition, among other things.

Federally licensed firearms dealers are critical to federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement in our shared goal of promoting public safety. Licensees submit background checks on potential purchasers to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which helps to keep firearms out of the hands of prohibited persons. Further, licensees keep records of sales transactions to help ensure that when a gun is used in a crime and recovered by law enforcement it can be traced back to the first retail purchaser; they help identify and prevent straw purchasers from buying firearms on behalf of prohibited persons and criminals; and they facilitate safe storage of firearms by providing child-safety locks with every transferred handgun and offer customers other secure gun storage options. Unlicensed dealing, however, undermines these public-safety features — which is why Congress has long prohibited engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without the required license. 

To increase compliance with the statutes Congress has enacted, the Final Rule identifies conduct that is presumed to require a federal firearms license. And, in addition to implementing the revised statutory definition discussed above, the Final Rule clarifies the circumstances in which a license is — or is not — required by, among other things, adding a definition of “personal firearms collection” to ensure that genuine hobbyists and collectors may enhance or liquidate their collections without fear of violating the law. The Final Rule also provides clarity as to what licensees must do with their inventory when they go out of business.  

The Final Rule goes into effect 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register.

On Sept. 8, 2023, the  Justice Department published a notice of proposed rulemaking , and during the 90-day open comment period, ATF received nearly 388,000 comments.

The final rule, as submitted to the Federal Register, can be viewed here .

Please note:  This is the text of the Engaged in the Business Final Rule as signed by the Attorney General, but the official version of the Final Rule will be as it is published in the Federal Register.

Learn more about the rulemaking process here .

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