Submission Guidelines for Writer’s Relief
Wishing someone would help you research and prepare your submissions to literary agents and editors? You’ve come to the right place!
Writer’s Relief (est. 1994) can save you COUNTLESS hours of struggle and may be able to improve your acceptance rate. See our Services page for plans and pricing.
Writer’s Relief cannot accept every writer into our Full Service program (we accept about 20% of authors who apply). Clients’ writing must be strong and appropriate for submission.
Click on the video below to hear about Rosalia’s publishing experience!
Read our Submission Guidelines below!
FAQs for Review Board Submissions
What is Writer's Relief?
Writer’s Relief is an author’s submission service (not a literary agency, publisher, or publicity firm). We help creative writers get published by targeting their poems, essays, short stories, and books to the best-suited literary agents or editors of literary journals.
We can make your submissions for you. We will:
- Identify the best literary agents for your book manuscript. Literary agents are key to publishing your novel, memoir, or nonfiction book.
- Identify the best literary journals for your poetry, short story, or personal essay.
- Create your cover or query letters.
- Proofread and format your submissions.
- Develop strategies that get literary agents and editors excited about your writing.
- Make more time for you to write without sacrificing the quality and efficiency of your submissions.
- Help you get published more often in reputable markets.
What is the Review Board?
The Review Board is a process through which we determine if your work is a good fit for our Full Service program. Writers accepted by the Review Board will be offered a spot on our client list.
What is my financial obligation if I submit my work?
Submitting your work to the Review Board for consideration is always free. If your work is accepted, you will be offered a spot on our client list. You will only be charged then if you decide to come on as a client—there is a one-time registration fee, and then fees associated with each two-month cycle for the Full Service.
Will you give me a critique of my work?
No, sorry! Our response (whether we offer you a place on our client list or not) will indicate our feelings about your writing’s “submittability” to targeted literary markets. When you submit work to our Review Board, it is only for the purpose of assessing whether your writing is strong enough for you to become a client. Submitting to our Review Board is always free, and we want to keep it that way. If we sent a formal critique to every writer who applies, we’d have to charge a fee to those making Review Board submissions.
If you receive a rejection, this is simply a reflection of how marketable we feel your work is. You may want to consider attending writing classes or workshops to fine-tune your writing technique.
If my work is accepted, how long will it take before you publish it?
This is a great question. We DON’T publish any work. We are not a publisher, literary agency, or publicity firm. We’re an author’s submission service; we help authors make submissions to literary agencies and literary journals. Our work is based on flat fees. Please take a moment to learn more about Writer’s Relief before deciding whether or not to submit for consideration.
How do I know you won’t steal my writing or my idea?
We think there should have been a special canto of Dante’s Inferno dedicated to plagiarists. We won’t steal your work or your ideas. We’ve been in business since 1994; we live to help writers, and we cheer when our clients reach their goals!
Can I submit my previously published writing or my self-published book?
If you are submitting a book, previously published and self-published works are welcome.
If you are submitting short prose or poetry, do NOT send previously published works—whether they appeared in print or online. This policy is necessary due to current industry-wide trends and guidelines.
How much does Writer’s Relief cost? Do you work on commission?
Please see our services page for our flat-fee pricing. We do not work on commission.
How long does it take to receive a response from the Review Board?
If you are submitting during a formal call for submissions (because you have an inside track as a subscriber of Submit Write Now!), then you’ll hear back relatively quickly.
If you are submitting outside of a formal call for submissions, we’ll hold your submission until we have openings for new clients writing in your genre.
I have another question. Can I contact you?
Sure! You are welcome to
- Email your question to Info@WritersRelief.com
- Use our online chat feature during business hours
- Call us toll-free at (866) 405-3003 and speak with a submission strategist
- Visit our main FAQ page
- Send a message via carrier pigeon…(Okay, maybe not this last one. Our dovecote is full.)
Submission Guidelines
We accept submissions online via our Submission Form (files should be DOC, DOCX, or PDF). If you are not able to submit via our online form, please email ReviewBoard@WritersRelief.com to make alternate arrangements.
We are currently accepting submissions in the following genres:
- Novels and nonfiction books (Submit the first 13 pages, a short synopsis/proposal, and a sample query if you have one). Your novel/memoir must be complete, and the ideal length for a completed book is 50,000 to 125,000 words.
- Stand-alone poems (Submit 9-12 unpublished poems; based on industry preferences, we do not work with rhyming poetry)
- Short stories and personal essays (Submit three pieces, each under 3,500 words)
Please Note: Our primary focus is on American markets. We target American literary agents for books. And for short prose and poetry, we target American markets and some overseas publications that accept submissions in English. Therefore, we can only work with manuscripts written in English.
Click to upload your writing TODAY using our simple online submission form!
**We are NOT currently reading submissions in the following genres:
Poetry collections
We can’t work with poetry collections, but we CAN work to place individual poems in literary journals. Literary agents rarely consider collections of poems, and publishers for collections are few and far between. We do help poets proof and format their poetry collections to submit to contests and publishers or for self-publishing. Contact Proof@WritersRelief.com.
Once you have published individual poems, you may want to consider self-publishing your poetry collection. Our Self-Publishing Relief division can help you navigate the self-publishing process from manuscript to a finished book you can be proud to put your name on! Learn more about our packages and pricing here, and be sure to check out our reviews.
Children’s Books
We are not currently accepting books for young children, such as picture books.
Freelance articles
We are not a freelance submission service. We work with CREATIVE writing only.
Chapbooks
We are not currently working with chapbooks, since the markets are very limited. Some chapbooks are published via competitions. Many poets have turned to self-publishing for their chapbooks.
Our Self-Publishing Relief division can help you navigate the self-publishing process from manuscript to a finished book you can be proud to put your name on! Learn more about our packages and pricing here, and be sure to check out our reviews.
We also help poets proof and format their poetry chapbooks to submit to contests and publishers or for self-publishing. Contact Proof@WritersRelief.com.
Scripts, screenplays, plays
Sorry! We are not currently working in these genres.
Click on the video below to learn more about our Review Board process!
Thanks for reviewing our submission guidelines. Our Review Board is looking forward to reading your work!
