Some publishers open and close their doors to submissions on a routine basis. It can be hard to determine if they are open or shut to submissions, and when you should submit. The following publishers, however, are always open to submissions from writers without agents or previous publishing experience. All of these publishers meet our guiding principles. All of our reviews link to the publishers’ submission guidelines.

Please let us know if one of these publishers unexpectedly closes to submissions. (support@authorspublish.com)

Harlequin
Many famous romance writers got their start at Harlequin. They were acquired by Harper Collins a number of years ago. Their submission process is very user friendly. Their many romance  imprints (and one mystery imprint) are almost always open to submissions as well, including Carina Press, Afterglow Books, Mills & Boon, Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense.

Chronicle Books
Chronicle is a large independent San Francisco-based publisher that publishes highly acclaimed children’s books, bestselling cookbooks, gift books, and a variety of nonfiction. Most have a strong visual element. Their books are beautifully made.

Page Street Publishing
Page Street Publishing is a publisher of full color, mostly hardcover, gift books, cookbooks, and craft books, as well as children’s and young adult books. They recently expanded into the adult horror market. Most of them have an important visual component. They are distributed through Macmillan in every country but Canada (where they have a different distributor). They publish around 60 titles a year.

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Founded in 1911 and located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company is an independent publisher of religious books. They have a large range, including academic books and reference works in theology, biblical studies, and religious history, as well as popular titles in spirituality, social and cultural criticism, and as literature. They also have an imprint for young readers. They are primarily a print publisher with excellent distribution. 

Gibbs Smith
Gibbs Smith is an established publisher with good distribution and a focus on cookbooks, interior design and architecture books, and board books for children. They have published a number of bestsellers, including a board book version of Pride & Prejudice.

Turner Books
Turner publishes books in a wide range of categories and formats—fiction and nonfiction. They publish mainly in print but have electronic options as well. They are a major independent publishing house that has a number of imprints. They publish everything from mystery to self-help books.

Kensington Press
Kensington is a large independent publisher that is open to direct submissions. Kensington publishes mainstream novels and seems to put a fair amount of pressure on the authors to promote their books. They publish a large number of books per year.

Entangled Publishing
They’ve run into a number of issues over the years, which are covered by our review, but they are still one of the largest and most responsive independent romance publishers. They have published a lot of bestselling books over the years.

Storm Publishing
Storm Publishing was founded in 2022 by Oliver Rhodes, the founder of Bookouture. They published their first book in the spring of 2023 and Rhodes brought a number of Bookouture staff members over to Storm with him. Storm Publishing focuses on publishing adult fiction including thrillers and crime fiction, historical fiction, romance, women’s fiction and science fiction and fantasy.

Andrews McMeel
Andrews McMeel is a large publishing house that publishes up to 150 books a year. They are one of the largest publishers that will read proposals by authors that have not been previously published and do not have an agent.

Haymarket Books
Haymarket Books is an established nonfiction publisher with excellent distribution. They are interested in publishing manuscripts that are accessible to a wide range of progressive and radical political activists. These books should also be useful to an academic audience. They do not publish dissertations. To learn more, go here.

Holiday House
Holiday House is an established and reputable children’s book publisher. Holiday House has been around since 1935. They publish picture books as well as books aimed at children grades 1-3, grades 4-6, and grades 7 and up. They are based out of New York City. They have published many well-known books and authors, including Kenneth Grahame. The books that they have published have won numerous respected awards and honors.

Timber Press
Timber Press was founded in 1978 and publishes work about the natural world by experts in the fields of gardening, horticulture, and natural history. They were bought by the Workman Publishing Company in 2006. Timber Press is recognized internationally as a leading gardening publisher and their books have received awards from the American Horticultural Society, the Garden Writers of America, the Garden Media Guild, and the National Garden Club of America. They have published a number of bestsellers, including Marta McDowell’s Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life. They are based out of Portland, Oregon.

Familius
Familius is a newer publisher, established in the last few years, but the head editor is established and has a good track record of working at other publishing companies. The books they publish cover a wide range of topics and are for varied audiences. They publish nonfiction for adults, often aimed at healthy eating, and family values. They also publish fiction and nonfiction for children of all ages including young adults. 

TCK Publishing
TCK Publishing was founded in 2011 by Tom Corson-Knowles. Tom Corson-Knowles is also an author and has published a number of his own books through TCK Publishing. It’s not clear if he started TCK Publishing as a way to self-publish, but it is clear that TCK has moved past that, publishing many books, on a number subjects, by many authors. They are currently only open to nonfiction submissions.

Aethon Books
Aethon Books is a print, eBook, and audio book publisher that focuses on science fiction and fantasy. They are open to all sub-genres within these genres including hard sci-fi, epic fantasy, space opera, military SF, alt/history, and time travel. They recently started accepting thrillers.

North Atlantic Books
North Atlantic Books is a publisher located in California. They have been publishing books since the 70s. They started out rather small and independent but now they are much larger and have excellent distribution through Penguin/Random House.

Sourcebooks Casablanca
Sourcebooks was founded in 1987, and in 1996 Sourcebooks Casablanca joined the family and from the start they have focused on publishing romance. They publish romances that fall within the following subgenres: paranormal romance, romantic suspense, contemporary romance, erotic romance, and historical romance (prior to 1900).

Bookouture 
Bookouture is a digital publisher that was purchased in 2017 by Hachette. Bookouture was extremely successful in their own right. They started out in the UK but they have outposts in a number of countries now. They focus on publishing commercial fiction. They primarily publish women’s fiction, romance, thrillers, and chick lit. They recently started a new imprint called Second Sky that focuses on publishing science fiction and fantasy books. You can learn more about Second Sky here.

Thames & Hudson
Thames & Hudson was founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath. Their goal was to create a ‘museum without walls’ and it is named after the rivers flowing through London and New York. They have over 2,000 titles in print. They publish high-quality books in the following categories: the arts (fine, applied, decorative, performing), architecture, design, photography, fashion, film and music, archaeology, history, popular culture, and children’s books.

The Quarto Publishing Group
The Quarto Publishing Group is an international publishing house known for its illustrated books. They publish most of their work through a number of niche imprints each with their own focus. All of their US imprints are distributed by Hachette.

Dragonblade
This digital-first publishing house only publishes works of historical fiction with a clear focus on romance. Within the historical romance genre they are open to most subgenres including: Viking, Regency, Georgian, Tudor, Highlander, Medieval, Victorian, Roman, Civil War, Restoration, Edwardian, etc. They are interested in anything pre-20th century except Westerns and Amish. They are also open to time travel, historical fiction, historical fantasies, and historical mysteries as long as there is a romance component that ends happily ever after.

Headpress
Headpress was established in 1991 although the publishing arm wasn’t active till 1992, according to their FAQ. Headpress focuses on publishing nonfiction. The subject matter they publish varies widely. They say “When Headpress first started, much of this was considered the counterculture. Now it is pop culture.” They publish work on cult film, strange music, pulp literature, fanzines, conspiracy theories, sex and gender, occult and folklore, true crime, etc. It is still run by one of the three founders, David Kerekes.

No Starch Press
No Starch Press is a small press that focuses on publishing work on technology, particularly work with “a focus on open source, security, hacking, programming, alternative operating systems, LEGO^®, science, and math.” Their motto is “the finest in geek entertainment.” They are distributed by Penguin Random House.