Have you written a book?
Do you now want to see your manuscript in print?
Below you’ll find 21 top publishing companies for books spread across the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.
1. Skyhorse Publishing
Skyhorse Publishing is based in New York City and is pretty new. The current president Mr. Tony Lyons founded the publishing firm in 2006. Since opening its doors, it has showed no signs of slowing down it has published a broad mix of titles, including 49 New York Times bestsellers.
Skyhorse has great distribution which includes distribution partners such as Simon and Schuster for its global markets. It has published prominent authors, including Mo Yan (The Red Wine Republic, You’ll Do Anything For a Laugh) who won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 2012 and other Nobel Prize novelists such as Samuel Becket (Dream of Fair to Middling Women) and Octavio Paz (The Monkey Grammarian, The Alternating Current ).
According to its website, Skyhorse has about 8,000 titles in its back list and is now among the fastest growing small publishers in the US. But they are still open to submissions for book proposals in a range of categories.
You can get more information here.
2. Turner Publishing
This American independent publisher is based in Nashville, Tennessee but was founded in 1984 in Paducah, Kentucky. It is now one of the top 101 independent publishers in the US and has also been named a number of times in Publisher’s Weekly’s ‘Fastest Growing Publishers List.’
Turner publishes a broad range of titles in the genres of fiction, non-fiction, business, YA, romance, history, health and wellness, and many more. It has great distribution which, according its website, currently spans 55 countries.
With over 5,000 titles published so far, Turner has also published best-selling titles such as Worst Person in the World (Keith Olberman), Hotel California (Barney Hoskins), and Heaven and Hell (Don Felder).
Turner is currently accepting manuscripts and book proposals from both agents and directly from authors. Check out their submission guidelines here.
3. Small Beer Press
Founded in 2000 by Kevin Grant and Kelly Link, Small Beer Press has been acknowledged for some of its YA and Children’s publications as well as a leading, small science fiction and fantasy publisher. The firm is based in Northampton, Massachusetts and publishes novels, anthologies and collections.
Small Beer Press publishes around 6-10 titles every year and sometimes even pays a small advance to selected authors. They have published notable authors including the celebrated English novelist, Joan Aiken (Armitage Family short stories). Others include John Crowley (Endless Things, The Chemical Wedding by Christian Rosencreutz) and Sean Stewart (Perfect Circle).
They are only reading paper submissions at the moment and have a pretty straightforward submission procedure which you can see here.
4. Peachtree Publishing
Peachtree is a well-respected trade publisher based in Atalanta, Georgia who now specialize in YA fiction and non-fiction and a range of children’s books. It was formed in 1977 by Helen Elliot, a music publisher. Peachtree originally published adult humour and adult fiction exclusively by Southern writers.
Over the years, Peachtree has published a number of best-sellers, including Flash Point by Sneed B. Collard III and A Place Called Sweet Apple by Celestine Sibley. The publishing firm endeavours to create books that entertain, educate, encourage and endure.
Note that Peachtree’s review process might take upwards of 9 months. And they don’t accept submissions in the genres of fantasy, adult romance, horror, short stories, hard science fiction, among others.
Review their submission guidelines here to find out if they would be a good fit for your manuscript.
5. Dundurn Press
Dundurn Press publishes about a hundred titles every year in the adult, children’s fiction and non-fiction genres. It was established by Kirk Howard back in 1972 who named it after the historic Dundurn Castle in Hamilton where he’d grown up.
The firm began as a small publishing house but now boasts about 2,500 books in print, including 1,800 eBooks in its publishing program which includes notable, award winning authors such as Brenda Chapman (The Stonechild Rouleau Mysteries) and Barbara Fradkin (Amanda Doucette Mysteries).
The Toronto-based publishing firm has received two nominations (2012 & 2014) from the Retail Council of Canada for the Libris Award for Publisher of the Year.
Dundurn will only accept submissions from authors living in Canada. See submission directions here.
6. Douglas & McIntyre
This Vancouver-based publishing firm was founded back in 1971 by James Douglas and Scott McIntyre. It is now one of Canada’s top independent publishers, and which has been feted in many national and international awards including the Governor General’s Literary Award and the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Many of its titles have topped the best-selling lists including the award-winning novel, The Sentimentalists, by Johanna Skibsrud and The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy. Douglas & McIntyre publishes mostly Canadian authors and is now receiving electronic submissions via Submittable. They no longer accept email submissions.
According to their website, you’ll receive a response within two months if they are interested in publishing your manuscript, which is a relatively shorter time than usual.
They have a detailed submission procedure which you can review here.
7. Greystone Books
Greystone Books began as an imprint of Douglas and McIntyre back in 1993. But since 2013, they have now become independent publishers and have released more than 300 non-fiction titles in environmental, science, health, outdoor sport, popular culture and nature subjects
Founded by Rob Sanders and based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Greystone publishes in Canada, the US, and the UK. It was recognized by Publishers Weekly in 2017 as one of the fastest growing publishers in North America.
Some if its titles, such as The Flood of 2013 (Naheed Nenshi), have been honoured in “The 150 Bestselling Canadian Books of the Past 10 Years.”
Greystone is constantly seeking quality non-fiction book proposals and manuscript submissions and does not publish fiction or poetry.
Check out their submission guidelines here.
8. Heritage House Publishing
Art Down founded Heritage House Publishing back in 1969 after he’d written and released his hugely successful book, Wagon North Road. Based in his native Victoria, British Columbia, the fledgling publishing company has gone on to publish a number of titles in the genres of humour, contemporary art, indigenous studies, political issues, nature, children’s books among others.
Heritage House Publishing comprise a small, passionate team of publishing professionals who have produced provocative, best-selling titles such as John Knox’s humour and human interest books (Hard Knox, Opportunity Knox, and On the Rocks with Jack Knox). Others include Lisa Jean Russ’s Flight to Stuttgart and The Spitfire Luck of Skeets by Keith Ogilvie.
They accept unsolicited submissions and may take up to six months to respond to queries. Check out their submission requirements here.
9. Joffe Books
Joffe Books is based out in London and it opened its doors back in 2013, originally focusing on publishing new e-books. It has now experienced phenomenal growth and has published a number of best-selling crime fiction, thrillers and mysteries.
The firm is run by founder and bestselling author, Jasper Joffe, and has reportedly sold 1.4 million of its books in 2017. It had 17 of the best-selling 100 books on Kindle in February 2018 in the UK. Some of its bestselling authors include Joy Ellis (The Lost Daughters), H.E. Durrant (Dead Jealous), and T.J. Brearton (Gone).
Joffe Books accepts submissions from agent, established authors, first-time authors, and just about anyone in between. Check out their submission procedure here.
10. Black & White Publishing
Black and White are committed to publishing some of the best titles from the most talented authors in the UK and beyond its borders. It was founded in 1999 by Campbell Brown (current MD) and Alison McBride and has grown to become one of Scotland’s leading independent publishers.
Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Black & White has published more than 300 books in the genres of non-fiction, biography, sport, humour, and even selected fiction, YA, and children’s books. , A number of the titles have become best sellers, including Daniela Sacerdoti’s Glen Avich’s series of novels (Watch Over Me, Take Me Home and Set Me Free) and Estelle Maskame (Dare to Fall) whose YA fiction books have attracted passionate and loyal fans all over the world.
Black & White are interested in publishing commercial women’s fiction, crime and psychological thrillers, celebrity memoirs, YA, lifestyle, humour and other kinds of literature that falls within their criteria.
Check out their submission criteria here.
11. Nimbus Publishing
Nimbus is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and publishes about 50 new titles every year in a range of genres and subjects that are mostly relevant to the Atlantic provinces. That may seem a bit narrow but Nimbus also has an imprint (Vagrant Press) that publishes fiction. Nimbus is now the largest English-language publisher in the east of Toronto as well as the biggest book distributor due to its partnership with Atlantic Publishers.
A number of its titles have received accolades and nominations. They include The View from a Kite by Maureen Hull, which won Moonbeam Award as well as being shortlisted for the CLA Young Adult Book of the Year Award. Others include Brian Tucker’s Big White Knuckles, and Sherie Fitch’s Kiss the Joy As it Flies which was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
Nimbus has a fairly simple submission procedure, with a list of dos and don’ts which you can review here.
12. Acre Books
Acre Books is the book-publishing offshoot of the well-respected and long-established Cincinnati Review. It has built on the excellence of its parent publication and has had quite some success, producing imaginative, surprising, and absorbing works of poetry, fiction, literary non-fiction, and hybrid forms.
Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Acre Books publishes about 6 titles each year and is devoted to finding remarkably talented newcomers into a broad readership. They have published notable titles, including Jenn Scott’s Her Adult Life: Stories and Sarah Kersting’s Duty to Warn.
Acre Books is looking to expand its books list and adding to its growing staff to handle more book proposals. It had closed its submission window a few months ago but has indicated that it will reopen them on August 1.
Check out their website here to learn more.
13. Prometheus Books
Founded by the philosopher Paul Kurtz back in 1969, Prometheus Books was named after the Greek God Prometheus who was famous for stealing fire from Zeus and giving it to humanity, a metaphorical act of bringing enlightenment to mankind.
As seen from many of the titles it has published so far, New York-based firm has now published a range of titles that have focused on science, secularism, freethought, humanism, scepticism, and similar topics. Some of the notable authors published include T.S. Joshi (The Modern Weird Tale) and Isaac Asimov (The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn).
Due to its partnership with Penguin Random House, Prometheus has great distribution of both its print and eBooks. You can download a guide to their submission requirement here.
14. Angry Robot Books
Angry Robot is based in Nottingham, UK, but it has also been publishing titles in the US thanks to its partnership with Penguin Random House. It was formed by Marc Gascoigne in 2008 as an experimental imprint of Harper Collins but is now a fully-fledged publishing house.
Notable titles by Angry Robots include the Moxyland, a cyberpunk dystopian novel by South African writer, Lauren Beukes, and Kaaron Warren’s 2009 horror novel, Slights.
Angry Robot typically does not accept unagented book proposals and submissions. However, they relax this rule once a year, specifically within the month of May. Check out their submission page here.
15. Hot Key Books
This London-based publishing outfit is owned by Bonnier Books, the family-owned publishing giant based in Sweden, and which is among the top-15 publishers in the world. Bonnier has a long, rich history dating all the way back in 1804.
Hot Key now publishes thought-provoking novels and standout quality fiction that everyone likes to talk about. Notable authors include Eileen Cook (With Malice) and Anne Cassidy (No Virgin).
They accept submission from new authors. Send an email with your proposal or PDF copy of your manuscript and you’ll get a response if they are interested in publishing your work.
Check out their website for more information here.
16. Head of Zeus
Head of Zeus is an independent publisher based in London, and which opened its doors in January, 2012. It has since published a mix of general and literary fiction, genre fiction and non-fiction which earned it the Publisher of the Year Award in 2017.
Head of Zeus published Alex Dahl’s The Heart Keeper and Edgardo Franzosini’s hypnotic novel, The Animal Gazer. It has built a submission portal which authors can use to submit their manuscripts. The portal is currently closed but it periodically opens to allow submissions from authors who have already registered.
You can register here.
17. Allen & Unwin
This Australian independent publisher churns out about 250 titles every year and is now one of the country’s leading publishers. Allen & Unwin publishes a range of general non-fiction, literary and commercial non-fiction, academic and professional titles, YA books and children’s books. It has bagged 13 Publisher of the Year Awards, including the inaugural award in 1992.
The publishing firm began its operations back in 1976 as part of a UK company, George Allen & Unwin. It became an independent publishing firm after a buyout by its Australian directors and has since gone on to publish best-selling authors such as Michael Connelly (The Night Fire) and Jodi Picoult (My Sister’s Keeper, The Story Teller, and other titles).
Allen & Unwin have created a submission system which you can review here.
18. Text Publishing
Based in Melbourne, Australia, Text believes that reading should be a marvellous experience and has been keen on publishing books that help change people’s lives. The independent publisher of literary and commercial fiction and non-fiction firmly believes in the phrase “Lost in a book.”
Diana Gribble and Eric Beecher founded Text in Melbourne back in the early 1990s and the firm has gone through several reinventions to become a notable publisher in Australia. It has won several ABIA Small Publisher of the Year awards, including the first Leading Edge Books Small Publisher of the year in 2018.
The firm has published prominent authors such as John Clarke (A Pleasure to be Here, The 7.56 Report), Hellen Garner (This House of Grief), and Judith Brett (The Enigmatic Mr. Deakin).
Check out Text’s manuscript submission guidelines here.
19. Boolarong Press
While this commercial trade publisher specializes in history, biographies, and Australian children’s story books, it also publishes other genres. Founded in 1978 by Les Padman, Bollarong Press was initially a Queensland book publishing company. It is famous for having published Tom Hurstbourne or A Squatter’s Life, the long-lost 145-year old manuscript that is regarded as Queensland’s first.
The publisher runs several book publishing conferences every year where you can personally hand it your manuscript. Boolarong is now accepting manuscripts from aspiring authors in the genres of fiction, biographies, children’s books, educational, and non-fiction.
If you can’t attend the conferences, then you can check out the online submission page here.
20. Black Inc.
Founded in 2000, Black Inc is an independent Australian publishing house that is also part of Schwartz Media, which is responsible for The Monthly, Australia’s leading current affairs magazine.
The Melbourne-based publisher produces quality non-fiction and poetry. It provides highly skilled and carefully selected editing, packaging and promotion to all its authors who benefit from the enormous distribution capacity of United Book Distributors (linked with Penguin Random House).
Among the notable authors published by Black Inc. and its imprints include Billy Griffiths (Deep Time Dreaming) and Irris Makler (Just Add Love).
Black Inc. is currently accepting manuscript submissions from Australian authors ONLY and is not accepting fantasy, science-fiction, erotica, crime/mystery or picture books.
Find out more about their submission guidelines here.
21. Ventura Press
This is one of Sydney’s top independent book publishers. It initially operated as Jane Curry Publishing from 2002, but was rebranded as Ventura Press in 2015 to also accommodate a distribution partnership with Simon & Schuster Australia.
Ventura Press publishes a range of fiction and non-fiction title and is well known for publishing quality titles by internationally respected authors. They include Blanche d’Alpuget (The Lion series) and Annemarie Fleming (The Collected Minutes of the Bad Mothers’ Meetings).
Ventura has made it publishing even more diverse and more accessible to aspiring authors through its two imprints; Peter Bishop Books and Impact Press. It is looking for manuscripts in the genres of contemporary fiction, history, ethics, health, memoirs, among others.
It is currently only accepting submissions from people living in Australia or new Zealand. Find out more here.
What other publishing companies for books should be on this list? Please tell us about them in the comments box below!
John Nasaye is a Developmental Editor and Content Developer. He spends most of his waking hours helping authors develop and polish their manuscripts. You can catch him on his Social Media Pages: Twitter: @nasaye, Facebook: John Nasaye or send him an email: nasaye at gmail dot com.