Are you looking for a list of top book publishers in the Philippines?
Below, we’ve featured 6 publishing houses and have summarized their activities.
1. Bookware Publishing Corporation
In 1992, three friends who were interested in Tagalong Romance novels decided to establish the Bookware Publishing Corporation in Quezon City, Philippines. Their main purpose was that of providing the audience with novels in pocketbook format. Thus, when “My Special Valentine” was introduced on the market, the need of better Tagalong pocketbooks was finally satisfied.
Currently, the range of genres published by the company has expanded significantly – action, comedy, horror, drama, new adult, paranormal, suspense, and young adult are just a few of the categories that are listed on the website. The most popular books can be found here, in case you want to see what the public is most interested in.
In terms of manuscript submissions, your work has to be 22,000-23,000 words long, with a maximum of 10 chapters. A synopsis or teaser has to be sent as well – you can send it through email, courier, or it can be submitted personally.
To find out more about their submission guidelines, you have to access this page.
2. Saint Matthew’s Publishing
Vicente C. Catabijan, Jr. founded Saint Matthew’s Publishing in 1989 in Quezon City, Metro Manila, only to pass the ownership to his son, Raymund S. Catabijan, and his wife, Isabel Diaz-Catabijan, in 1994. They currently have three main imprints: The K-12 Way, which is the worktext (workbook and textbook) branch of the company, Tala Books, which publishes books with a practical approach in terms of social change, and Kahel Press, an imprint specialized in storybooks and guidebooks for children.
Their books are divided into two categories, respectively textbooks and children’s books. Within the first one, you can filter by author, level (from Kinder 1 to Grade 6), and subject (Math, English, Filipino, Reading, Values, and more), while in the second one, you can filter by author, illustrator, age (0-12), and type (History, Non-Fiction, and others). There is also a Teacher’s Corner available here.
Submissions can be made for the Kahel Press imprint – picture books need to be 0-2,000 words long, illustrated books need to be 5,000-10,000 words long, and chapter books must have 10,000-50,000 words. Each category has distinct guidelines, so make sure to read all of them before sending your work.
3. Anvil Publishing
Anvil Publishing was established in 1990 and has been declared the Publisher of the Year nine times ever since. The company is based in Mandaluyong City, NCR, and it works with 565 dealers including the National Book Store, thus managing to sell their books in 60 cities and municipalities. So far, they have succeeded in publishing more than 1,386 titles, out of which 132 have won National Book Awards.
Their interests are divided into three main categories – children’s books (coloring books, storybooks, and more), trade books, which also include self-help, cooking, reportage, history, politics, culture, arts, psychology, poetry, and fiction, among others, and textbooks (nursery, elementary, and secondary levels). There is also an E-books and Audiobooks category available online, where the first one includes genres such as LGBT, education, fitness, humor, and historical fiction.
According to their May 2019 update, submissions are currently closed. However, you can still check their website for future news, in order to find out when they start receiving manuscripts again. If needed, their submission guidelines are available here.
4. Ateneo De Manila University Press
The Ateneo de Manila University established its Press in 1972 in Quezon City, Manila, with the purpose of supporting the University in its attempt to build the nation and achieve academic excellence by producing textbooks and scholarly works.
At first, they were only publishing literary works from or regarding the Philippines, and books on social sciences and humanities. At the present time, they have massively expanded to encompass books on law and society, science and society, theology and religious studies, governance and political change, cultural heritage, and archeology, among many others. Their main purpose, however, is that of publishing books that speak about Asia and the Philippines.
When submitting a manuscript, you must not include the name of the author on the manuscript itself, because they use a double-blind review system. You must include a synopsis or an abstract, which must be followed by the author’s CV. Furthermore, the manuscript must exclude index terms and it must be submitted either on a USB or a CD along with two hard copies. You can check format-related information and other submission-related information on their guidelines page.
5. UST Publishing House
An integral part of the University of Santo Tomas, the UST Publishing House originates from the UST Press, which was established in 1593, long before the University itself. Currently based in Sampaloc, Manila, their main goals are to determine the evolution of the publishing industry in the Philippines, and to raise the standards in terms of academic publishing.
In order to achieve this, the house promotes top creative writers and scholars – medicine, textbooks, journals, and literature are just a few of the categories you can find online.
If you would like to submit a manuscript, you should know that all writings have to go through a highly strict process of selection. In case you want to send a scholarly book, your proposal should be accompanied by an abstract as well. Brief descriptions are only sufficient for literary works. For more information, you can read the guidelines displayed here.
6. University of The Philippines Press
On the 16th of March 1965, the University of Philippines founded its Press, which has since been the official publishing house for all of its divisions. It was also the first University Press in the Philippines, and it is currently based in Quezon City, Metro Manila.
The main purpose of the Press is that of publishing the best books on Philippine Studies and of sustaining those books both socially and critically. The Press strives to promote literacy, so they produce and distribute books that fit in the creative writing genre, as well as books that have to do with the Philippine education. Among their catalogued works, you can find vol. 4 of ‘Science Philippines’ and ‘The Myth of The Barangay’.
If you wish to submit a manuscript for their consideration, you can do so via a diskette or a CD, but it must be written in Microsoft Word. You can choose either Arial or Times New Roman, but it has to be of size 12. You must submit 3 hard copies on high-quality paper, and they need to be the exact copies of the digital file. You can read more about this on the Submission page.
What did you think of our list of top book publishers in the Philippines? Are there any others you know of? Please tell us about them in the comments box below!
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