Every literary magazine will have its own editorial focus and a unique style. If you’re a new writer, you must certainly try to get a piece of your work in a literary magazine. Here are some of the renowned Texas-based literary magazines:

1. The First Line

Each story in the magazine begins with the same first line. The purpose is to jumpstart the writers’ imagination and help them overcome the block of a blank page. This quarterly magazine is based in Plano, Texas. It was founded by Jeff Adams, David LaBounty, and Robin LaBounty in the year 1999. Each issue of the magazine consists of the best short stories having no restrictions on style or genre.

These stories offer an exercise in creativity for writers. They also allow readers to know how many different directions writers can take after starting from the same place. Besides this, The First Line also has a forum for discussing favorite lines in literature. The discussions happen through personal or academic essays.

2. American Short Fiction

Founded in 1991, American Short Fiction seeks out stories that keep the readers hooked. These stories must take a different route, stretching the readers between recognition and surprise. This magazine based in Austin has a national circulation and publishes short fiction, an occasional novella, and novel excerpts. It also strives to publish emerging as well as established contemporary writers.

The magazine sponsors two short fiction contests every year. One of them is the Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize, which had ZZ Packer as the judge in 2018. The second one is the American Short(er) Fiction Prize. In addition to these two contests, the magazine also sponsors online workshops and a reading series in Austin.

3. The Southwest Review

Formerly known as the Texas Review, this literary magazine is based in Dallas, Texas. If you’re a writer based in Dallas, you can find it on the Southern Methodist University campus. The Southwest Review is the third oldest literary quarterly in the country. It began in 1915 at the University of Texas. During the year 1924, it went to the Southern Methodist University.

This was possible because of the efforts of George Bond and Jay B. Hubbell. They had served as the joint editors of the magazine until 1927. In 2005, Willard Spiegelman was honored with the PEN/Nora Magid Award for Magazine Editing. He has been the editor of the magazine since 1984.

4. Concho River Review

This magazine was founded in the year 1987 by Terry Dalrymple. Based in the San Angelo city of Texas, Concho River Review publishes short stories, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and creative non-fiction. The book reviews in this magazine come from the Southwestern authors and discuss Southwestern themes.

An interview with the writer featured at the Angelo State University Writers Conference appears in the fall issue. Since the conference’s inception, interviews with featured writers have been a regular component of the magazine. The Spring 2013 issue featured the interview of the 2012 Texas Poet Laureate, Jan Seale.

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This is when they reach out to a publisher. This is mostly done through a literary agent. There are many choices in publishers for writers in Texas. Here are some of the best:

1. Brown Books Publishing Group

Based in Dallas, USA Brown Books Publishing Group is a publisher with an experience of over two decades. This full service publisher offers all the assistance required for writers. Their services include digital services, planning, editing, book design and layout, ghostwriting, marketing, and distribution. With all these services, writers feel as if they’ve got complete control like self-publishing.

If you’re a first-time writer of business, self-help, motivation, Christian books, or children’s books, you should consider this publisher. Instead of taking over the entire creative process, they believe in collaborating with the writer. One thing to remember here is that this company accepts only some selected works of fiction for publication.

2. Henery Press Publishing

Henery Press Publishing has many years of publishing and media experience in the USA. Many of their books have managed to hit the bestseller list on USA Today. An important thing to remember is that they mainly publish mysteries. Another thing worth noting is that they’re not open to unsolicited submissions. Henry Press Publishing only considers works that are represented by a literary agent or referred by a published author.

3. Cinco Puntos Press

This publishing company is especially interested in works focused on the US-Mexico Border Region, Mexico, and the Southwestern Region. It was founded in 1985 by Bobby and Lee Byrd in El Paso. They’re writers themselves. This is why they understand what new writers wanting to publish their book have to go through.

The company doesn’t accept children’s picture books, book ideas, unfinished titles, poetry and manuscripts written entirely in Spanish. Their manuscript submission process is quite interesting. You need to call their acquisition editor to pitch your idea before submitting your manuscript. When they accept your idea, the manuscript submission process begins.

4. Bright Sky Publishing

Formerly called Bright Sky Press, this publisher is located in Houston. Bright Sky Publishing publishes nearly 20 books a year. They like to have authors with a clear creative, marketing, and business plan in mind while submitting their manuscript. As they’re a non-profit publisher, they offer only publishing services in all formats.

To assist you with designing and editing, they have a sister company called Rule 2 Books. The company accepts manuscripts across all genres of non-fiction and fiction. Currently, they’re not considering adult fiction.

5. Eakin Press

This publishing house was established in 1979 as a trade-book publisher by Edwin M. Eakin in Burnet. They began printing titles of fiction, folklore, and non-fiction by 1984 with close to 250 books in print. In 1983, the firm shifted to south-west Austin.

Three decades later, the firm became an imprint of the Wild Horse Media Group. This is the world’s largest publisher of the history and culture of Texas. Currently, the company doesn’t accept fiction and children’s books.

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