ECHO Small Press Books The Echo: Teen Art & Lit Mag Gold Star Program Gold Star

As of 2026, ECHO is embarking on a new publishing venture! In addition to The Echo: Teen Art & Lit Mag where we publish art, poetry, and short fiction digitally every quarter and in print once a year, we will be accepting full length novel submissions from teens and accepting one book a year. Deets below, send us your books, nerds.

What and How

• Between 40 and 100 thousand words (we can wiggle on these)
• Must be written by a 13-19-year-old (we cannot wiggle on these)
• Novel must be a standalone that isn't part of a series
• Our thoughts on genre. We want YA, but not required
  • If romance, 3 or lower on the spicy scale, spice is ok as long as there's plot, no 50 shades/wattpad
  • If horror/thriller, use gore responsibly, it can be a little traumatizing but not a 'scar you for the rest of your life' level of gore 3/5 guts level
  • If sci-fi, aliens allowed but math is banned from the Echo (sorry, Andy Weir).
  • NO fan fiction, all characters and worlds must be original
  • If Fantasy, the spicy rule above also applies. Original worlds/magic systems/creatures preferred
• We are open to mature content but give us trigger warnings
• No AI
• Traditional text-based novel (no graphic novels or designed novels, sry) open to novels in verse and connected short stories

Do these or die

• For phase one of submissions, we only want three chapters or 5000 words and a short summary or pitch, in phase two, authors will be contacted for the rest
• Submission window: June 1st- August 31st
• Full manuscript must be completed prior to submission
• Please be nice to our layout team and send us a word document
• If you have art (cover/chapter page), you are welcome to send it in phase two
• In phase three a final novel will be selected, and we will begin working with you on final edits
• Authors will need to remain in contact will our staff throughout the publication process

What we want/don't want

• We are a bunch of liberal teenagers and a 30-year-old man who has the soul of a liberal teenager, we have opinions
• No homophobia
• No sexism, racism, sexual assault, transphobia, praise for deportation, cultural shaming, pedophilia, zoophilia/bestiality
• We want:
  • Diverse characters who develop over the course of the story
  • Fast-medium moving plot that hooks the reader from the beginning
  • Diverse and not repetitive vocabulary throughout
  • A chronological order of events, with a clear beginning, middle and end that is not told out of order (flashbacks are fine)
  • Plot twists
  • Conflicts that are resolved without a lot of violence (Intelligent fighting)
  • Foreshadowing

Mula

• The selected author will receive a $200 advance paid through PayPal or Venmo
• The first print run will be 200 copies, and the author will receive 25 of those
• The novel will be for sale on the website and in person events
• If the book goes into a second printing, the author will receive 15% in royalties on additional sales
• Intended publication date is April 2027

Not Open