Parisian Phoenix Publishing

My classes at Northampton Community College have proven to be a lot of fun— and working with the students there have revived some lost thoughts of resources I had forgotten. Among them is the annual Guide to Manuscript Publishers compiled by Emily Harstone and published by Authors Publish.

These books, in addition to having a list of publishers who do not require agents, also provide a thoughtful and thorough introduction that prepares you for what to do before you contact those publishers. The book is available free at authorspublish.com if you sign up for their weekly email newsletters which offers week after week of opportunities for writers to submit.

And if you are looking for more writing craft books, allow me to direct you to this: Seven writing craft books recommended. Austin Kleon is on the list!

If you want to learn more about what it takes to put a book together, the community college will offer their self-publishing course in the spring. I will be rebranding that class as “Mechanics of Book Production,” because it’s not just for people who want to self-publish their work. This course walks students through the process of preparing a manuscript for print. If you want to learn more about the three-credit class or consider enrolling (it meets on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. on Zoom), start here.