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DIRECTORY

Best Book Publishing Companies

Showing 532 publishers that match your search.

Versify

Genres: Picture Book, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Diverse Literature, Children's, and Poetry

Part of: HarperCollins > Versify

Location: Boston, US

Website: https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/versify

Diversity: Diverse Literature

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Manuscript entries -

Mid size

💥 Hit titles
Anya and the Nightingale

Sofiya Pasternack

The Year I Flew Away

Marie Arnold

Emmy in the Key of Code

Aimee Lucido

Coffee House Press

Genres: Literary Fiction, Narrative Nonfiction, Biographies & Memoirs, Diverse Literature, Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Short Story

Location: Minneapolis, US

Website: https://coffeehousepress.org/

Diversity: Diverse Literature

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Manuscript entries - View guidelines →

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
I Hotel

Karen Tei Yamashita

Indecency

Justin Phillip Reed

Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife

Sam Savage

Saraband

Genres: Environmental, Biographies & Memoirs, Narrative Nonfiction, Self-Help, Diverse Literature, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, Fiction, and Nonfiction

Location: Manchester, GB

Website: https://saraband.net/

Diversity: Diverse Literature, LGBTQ, BIPOC

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
Shocked Earth

Saskia Goldschmidt

Westering

Laurence Mitchell

Bleak

R.M. Murray

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Unnamed Press

Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Literary Fiction, Narrative Nonfiction, History, Diverse Literature, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Short Story

Location: Los Angeles, US

Website: https://www.unnamedpress.com/

Diversity: Diverse Literature

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Manuscript entries & queries - View guidelines →

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
The Border of Paradise

Esmé Weijun Wang

The Confession of Copeland Cane

Keenan Norris

A Certain Hunger

Chelsea G. Summers

Knopf Doubleday

Genres: Cookbook, Architecture, Art, Biographies & Memoirs, Business, Historical Fiction, History, Literary Fiction, Mystery & Crime, Environmental, Politics, Math & Science, Religion & Spirituality, Sports & Outdoors, Travel, Self-Help, Comics & Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, and Fiction

Part of: Penguin Random House > Knopf Doubleday

Location: New York City, US

Website: http://knopfdoubleday.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Mid size

💥 Hit titles
Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Secret History

Donna Tartt

Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami

Aria Publishing

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction, Romance, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Crime, and Fiction

Part of: Head of Zeus > Aria Publishing

Location: London, GB

Website: https://ariafiction.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
The Ladies' Midnight Swimming Club

Faith Hogan

One Last Greek Summer

Mandy Baggot

The Girl from Vichy

Andie Newton

Two Dollar Radio

Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Cookbook, Narrative Nonfiction, Literary Fiction, History, Horror, Humor, Mystery & Crime, Politics, Science Fiction, Thriller & Suspense, Westerns, Fiction, and Nonfiction

Location: Columbus, US

Website: https://twodollarradio.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Manuscript entries - View guidelines →

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
A History of My Brief Body

Billy-Ray Belcourt

Whiteout Conditions

Tariq Shah

Found Audio

N.J. Campbell

Saga Press

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Fiction

Part of: Simon and Schuster > Gallery Books > Saga Press

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://sagapress.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Mid size

💥 Hit titles
This Is How You Lose the Time War

Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

The Hollow Places

T. Kingfisher

The Grace of Kings

Ken Liu

Bonnier Books

Genres: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Biographies & Memoirs, Mystery & Crime, Thriller & Suspense, Self-Help, Picture Book, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Nonfiction, Fiction, and Children's

Location: Stockholm, SE

Website: https://bonnierbooks.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Largest

💥 Hit titles
The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Heather Morris

10 Rules For Talking

Tim Harkness

The Foundling

Stacey Halls

Taylor & Francis Publishing

Genres: Medical, Psychology, Math & Science, Law, Sports & Outdoors, Politics, Environmental, Business, Art, and Nonfiction

Location: London, GB

Website: https://taylorandfrancis.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Largest

💥 Hit titles
How Learning Happens

Carl Hendrick & Paul Arthur Kirschner

Closing the Reading Gap

Alex Quigley

Motivational Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Paul Earnshaw & Cathy Atkinson

What do book publishers do?

Sure, a book publisher prints and sells your book. But what they do behind the scenes encompasses much more than that. Publishers handle the entire publishing process for books, including: 

  • Editing the book, i.e. developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading; 
  • Designing the book, i.e. book cover design and any necessary interior book design;
  • Promotion and marketing, i.e. writing the book’s blurb, email marketing, setting up media interviews, etc.; and
  • Production and distribution, i.e. formatting and distributing hardback, paperback, and ebook versions of the book to stores, both online and brick-and-mortar. 

Note that the structure of publishing companies may differ, depending on their size. Bigger book publishers may be made up of publishing houses which may, in turn, be made up of imprints — each of which will have its own brand identity in terms of the type of books it publishes. 

However, regardless of a publisher’s size, the scope of their work shouldn’t change. Once you sign with a publisher, they will do everything that it takes to bring your book to market. 

What are the most prominent book publishing companies?

If we define success by sheer sales volume, then we might point towards the "Big 5" presses and educational publishers (who rake in a LOT of money). Over the past few decades, these giant publishing companies have merged with and acquired most of the mid-sized publishers in the industry. However, a few still remain. Here are today's biggest book publishing companies:

  • Penguin Random House (Big 5)
  • Hachette Book Group (Big 5)
  • HarperCollins (Big 5)
  • Macmillan Publishers (Big 5)
  • Simon & Schuster (Big 5)
  • Scholastic Corporation
  • Pearson Education
  • McGraw-Hill Education
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Cengage Learning

Together, these largest publishers dominate the publishing landscape. Countless beloved books come from their imprints, many of which you’ll find in our directory. 

The rest of the publishing landscape is largely made up of small publishers, or independent publishers. Most big publishers don’t directly accept unsolicited submissions without a literary agent — but smaller publishers do, making them a realistic and worthwhile route to publication. 

I have a long list of publishers. What next?

Congratulations! Now take a moment to thoroughly vet every publisher on your longlist. Scams are a dime a dozen in the publishing industry, and you want to make 100% sure that you’re dealing with a legitimate publishing company. Again, we strongly recommend reading this post and Writer Beware to know what red flags to watch out for.

When you’re confident in all of the publishers on your longlist, it’s time for the most nerve-wracking step: submitting your manuscript to them. 

Check out our free resources if you’re feeling daunted by what comes next. Whether you’re learning how to research publishers or how to personalize a submission, we've got you covered.

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