WE LOVE YOUR STORY

Guest post by Brian Centrone of New Lit Salon Press

Brian Centrone

Founded by Brian Centrone (Publisher) and Jordan M. Scoggins (Creative Director) in 2012, New Lit Salon Press is based on the principle that Words and Art can and should coexist. NLSP is committed to publishing essays, stories, poems, novels, and art from undiscovered writers and promising artists who struggle to thrive in a marketplace that fails to recognize their talent. We believe in what you do.

Stay in touch to learn when NLSP will be accepting submissions.

At New Lit Salon Press we will never suggest to a writer that they should read what we have previously published to see if their story will be a fit for our anthologies. Yes, we would encourage a submitter to check out what we have done in the past so that they can get an idea of how their work will be presented and promoted, but never to see if it is a fit. Unlike other publishers, we don’t subscribe to a “type” of writing, unless you consider good writing to be a type. 

What we’re looking for are stories or poems that have a unique voice and offer a new spin, perspective, or take on whatever theme or genre we’re working in. It is very rare that we have to turn away submissions because we think the writing is poor. On the contrary, we have the unfortunate task of having to turn away excellent writing and writers. 

Putting together an anthology is never easy. When selecting work we have to ensure that the collection is varied, that the scope of the project is being covered, and that a lot of different voices are included. Most of the time we have to decide between stories with similar themes or ideas. How we decide ultimately comes down to which stories captured what we were looking for the most, and if those stories offered a new point of view or if the writer took an unusual, but successful approach in telling that tale. 

Of course, fit is always an issue, both in terms of match and length. If we feel the writer didn’t capture what the call asked for, no matter how good the story or the writing is, it won’t work in the collection. There have been times when we have received excellent stories or poems that were not a fit, but we loved them so much that we found another project for which that work would be a fit. This can’t or doesn’t happen for every piece we have to turn away, but we are always conscious of what possibilities may be available for the work and for the writer. 

The other side of the fit is the physical issue of space. We can only accept a certain number of works into our anthologies. It’s very important that writers adhere to the word count limits set by the publisher/editor. This can impact whether we are able to accept a writer’s story or even whether we are able to accept one or more other stories if we have included the lengthier piece.