Speculative fiction is generally defined as a genre of fiction where the setting is not in the world as we know it because of supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements.
Three genres are covered by this umbrella term: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
This term is used to cover work that doesn’t fit exactly in one of these three genres, but moves between them.
Many of these publishers are interested in speculative fiction in general. Some publish just one of the genres covered by the speculative fiction umbrella such as horror. Others publish many genres and types of books. Others are just interested in work for younger readers or a specific combination of genres.
Some are small companies, others are imprints of major publishing houses. They are not listed in any particular order.
Not all of them may be currently open to submissions. It is important to note that all of them meet the standards outlined in our guiding principles.
All of the publishers are only briefly described on this page, however if you click on the link, you will reach our full review of them. The review includes submission information and links to their websites.
Flame Tree Press
Flame Tree Press is an imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Flame Tree Press focuses on publishing speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and crime fiction. They have good distribution in the US and the UK. I have seen their books at brick and mortar bookstores on numerous occasions.
Orbit Works
Orbit Works was founded in April 2023, as a new imprint of Hachette/Orbit that is focused on digital publishing. This includes both eBooks and audiobooks. You can read the PR statement about the imprint here. It is led by Orbit Executive Editor Brit Hvide and Editor Stephanie Clark. Orbit Works, like Orbit, is based out of New York. They are open to both agented and unageneted submissions. Orbit is only open to agented submissions and was founded in 2007 to focus on publishing science fiction and fantasy. They have published many well-regarded, bestselling, and award-winning books, in terms of science fiction and fantasy.
Arcadia Books
Jo Fletcher Books was recently rebranded as Arcadia Books. You can learn more about the reabrand here. It is is an imprint of Quercus Publishing, the only imprint that accepts unsolicited submissions. They publish science fiction, fantasy, and horror books for adults. They are not interested in children’s or young adult books, or in short story collections or novellas.
Android Press
Android Press is a new small press based in Eugene, Oregon. This is how they describe their mission: “uplifting author and creator voices from marginalized communities and the Global South, Android Press publishes science fiction, fantasy, and light horror specializing in climate fiction and the various -punk subgenres. We love stories that are rooted in hope and optimism, as well as stories that hold up a mirror to our society, forcing us to reexamine our past and our values in order to move forward and build a better future.”
Page Street Publishing
Page Street Publishing started out focused primarily on gift book nonfiction, but in recent years has built a strong YA division that actively publishes a number of speculative genres, including Fantasy. They have also recently started publishing horror for adult readers.
Aqueduct Press
Aqueduct Press was founded in 2004. Their motto is “Bringing Challenging Feminist Science Fiction to the Demanding Reader”. They go into more details in their mission statement that you can read here. You can get a feel for what they publish by going to their home page here. Their focus is very much on promoting the work they publish, not recruiting authors. Both their website and the covers of the work they publish are basic, but well formatted and easy to interact with. They pair each cover image with a blurb endorsing the book, and most of these blurbs are well chosen.
Mirror World
Mirror World bills itself as a publisher of “escapism fiction for all ages”. They publish both eBooks and paperbacks in a variety of genres, many that fall under the larger speculative fiction umbrella including portal fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, science fiction and paranormal works. They are also open to romance, adventure, comedy, historical, and cross genre/multi genre work. However there are lots of subgenres they are not interested in, even in these genres. Please make sure they are open to your sub-genre before submitting. They usually reopen to submissions in October, but they did not last year.
The Evil Cookie Publishing
The Evil Cookie is a micropress focused on publishing “gore-infested, fast-paced novels/novellas and anthologies.” It is run by K. Trap Jones, an extreme horror author. The publisher’s tagline is “#NoneGorier”.
Bold Strokes Books
Bold Strokes Books publishes only LGBTQ books, which means that its books feature characters that are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans, and queer. They publish general and genre fiction. They offer advances to their authors. Bold Strokes is interested in publishing books that fall under the LGBTQ umbrella including literary fiction, romance novels, young-adult novels, genre novels (including science fiction and mystery), and works of nonfiction. The only genre of books they do not appear to publish is poetry.
Angry Robot
Angry Robot is a respected science fiction and fantasy publisher that occasionally dips into related genres (such as urban fantasy, steampunk, and horror). Angry Robot was originally funded by HarperCollins. They are now part of Watkins Media Ltd. They offer advances and good royalty rates. The contract they offer covers print, eBook, and audio book rights. They currently have one open reading period a year for general submissions. For unagented Black writers, they had ongoing submissions at the time of writing, see their blog post for details.
CamCat Books
CamCat Books is a small independent publisher that was founded in 2019. They publish a wide variety of genres including science fiction and fantasy.
Baen
Baen is an established publisher of science fiction and fantasy novels.
Aethon Books
Aethon Books is a print and eBook publisher that focuses on science fiction and fantasy although they now also publish thrillers. 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.
Tartarus Press
Tartarus Press is a small British publisher that opened in the 1990s. They specialize in publishing literary supernatural/strange/horror fiction. They are best known for their limited edition hardbacks with distinctive cream covers. They also publish paperbacks and eBooks. The press has won a number of genre awards over the years.
Brother Mockingbird
Brother Mockingbird Publishing is a small independent press. Among many other genres they publish science fiction, horror, and fantasy.
Blind Eye Books
Blind Eye Books publishes science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and romance novels featuring LGBTQ protagonists. They are a print publisher and their book covers are beautifully designed and really stand out. The books they have published have won and been nominated for a number of awards, including the Lambda.
Severed Press
Established in 2008, Severed Press is a eBook and print-on-demand publisher focused on publishing horror and science fiction. They are established and respected within these genres, and the books they publish have excellent genre-appropriate covers.
Hydra Publications
Hydra Publications is based in Indiana, and should not be confused with Random House’s Hydra imprint, or Hydra House, a Pacific Northwest based publisher of speculative fiction. Hydra Publications started out publishing a wide variety of genres, but now publish mainly speculative fiction, with a few imprints outside of that. Learn more here. They are closed to submissions at the time of this update.
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.
Tiny Fox Press
Founded in 2015 as a collective of writers, Tiny Fox Press originally focused on publishing work by the editors. This is a form of self-publishing, but they have branched out since then, although they are still publishing some books by the editors. They primarily publish science fiction, fantasy, and YA. You can learn more here.
Graveside Press
Graveside Press is the Horror imprint of Paper Angel Press, which you can learn more about here. It’s important to read that review as well, as it covers more of how the press as a whole operates. They are a relativity new imprint having been founded in October 2024. You can already get a good feel for the books they have already published, by going here. They accept all submissions via Duotrope’s submission manager Duosuma. They also publish horror for younger readers.
Artemesia Publishing
Artemesia Publishing was founded in 2004, and they describe themselves as a micro-publisher. Although based on the titles section of their website they publish work at the rate of one title per month, which is actually a lot more than many other small presses. Most of what they now publish is genre fiction, including Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy. They were closed to submissions at the time of this update.
Castle Bridge Media
Castle Bridge Media is an independent publisher that focuses on genre fiction, particularly horror, science fiction, thriller, and fantasy. They accept direct submissions and also submissions from agents. They appear to list most of their agented deals on Publishers Marketplace, so if you’re interested in seeing what they’ve accepted recently, and have a Publishers Marketplace membership, I encourage you to visit their listing here. They are based in Denver, Colorado.
Cemetery Gates
Cemetery Gates Media was founded in 2015 by longtime friends John Brhel and Joe Sullivan and focuses on publishing fantasy and supernatural fiction. Cemetery Gates Media is based in Binghamton, New York. They have published a number of anthologies that seemed to do well, and they have paid all contributors. The anthologies reflect a wide range of work. At first they were solely focused on publishing their own work outside of anthologies, but that changed in late 2020 when they launched the Debut Horror Novel Series. They are currently open to submissions for this years series. Learn more here. They are closed to submissions at the time of this update.
Sourcebooks Horror
Their Horror imprint is now a few years old and they have published a lot of books under that imprint now, although it’s hard to know exactly how many because they still do not have a formal Horror section on the site. Their book covers for this imprint are really well done. They have published many of Darcy Coates books, and they all appear to have sold well. The search function has been improved and searching the site for horror, can now bring up a lot of options that are actually in that genre. To learn more, go here.
Three Ravens Publishing
Three Ravens Publishing is a fiction publisher focused on genre work, particularly science fiction and fantasy, but are open to other genres as well. They are active on social media, and attend various conventions, both good signs. They also appear to obtain part of their funding from Patreon, which is unusual, but hopefully indicates a strong supportive fan base. They are currently closed to submissions.
Black Bed Sheet Books
Black Bed Sheet Books publishes horror, and science fiction & fantasy, and have been publishing since 2008. Their primary focus is horror. They were founded and are still run by Nicholas Grabowsky, a horror writer. You can learn more about the publisher here, but sections of that page appear to be fairly out of date, so please take that into consideration. According to the masthead and distribution information, they do work with a fair number of editors and they have some international distribution. They do their own wholesale work within North America.
Tiny Ghost Press
Tiny Ghost Press is a small press that focuses on publishing YA fiction that centers LGBTQIA+ characters. This means that in their own words, they want “YOUNG ADULT novels, written from a QUEER perspective, That is stories featuring a queer protagonist or from a queer author. We’re interested in everything from contemporary romance, to dystopian adventures, and if your story dabbles in the spooky, the supernatural, or the paranormal, or has a speculative element even better!”
Literary Wanderlust
Literary Wanderlust is a Denver based independent publisher. They were founded in 2014 and they publish print and digital books. They currently open to submissions in a number of genres including Adult Paranormal and Urban Fantasy, and YA and Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.
One More Chapter
One More Chapter, HarperCollins UK’s award-winning digital-first publisher, is currently open to submissions. They focus on publishing commercial fiction. Because they are a digital-first publisher, even though they are based in the UK, their eBooks and audiobooks are accessible globally. They are open to a number of genres including, Horror, YA/Crossover/Adult Fantasy and Romantasy (Romance and Fantasy). They have had issues with Submittable before, and there are more details about that in the review.
Shadow Mountain
They are primarily open to middle grade fantasy books, rather than adult fantasy books, so if that is not a good fit for you, skip past. They have published a number of New York Times Bestselling books in the MG Fantasy market over the years. They are open to submissions only four weeks a year.
The Story Plant
The Story Plant was founded in 2008 by two editors with industry experience, Lou Aronica and Peter Miller. In 2013 they were acquired by Studio Digital CT, LLC, a limited liability company headed by Lou Aronica. It is now run by Aronica and Mitchell Maxwell. They publish a wide varitey of genres including cross genre work, fantasy, and science fiction.
Turner Books
Turner publishes books in a wide range of categories and formats—fiction and non-fiction. 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 are currently particularly interested in fiction in the following categories,
Dystopian, Horror, Fantasy, Romantasy, and Sci-fi.
Second Sky
Second Sky is a brand new Science Fiction and Fantasy Imprint of Bookouture, which is an established digital publisher of commercial fiction, and an imprint of Hachette UK. We don’t review publishers till they have been been actively publishing for a year, but we make exceptions for imprints, as there is already an established parent company attached.
Mischief & Mayhem
Mischief and Mayhem are the YA imprints of the romance publisher Entangled Publishing. Until recently they were called Entangled Teen, but they have since been rebranded. Please read the review of Entangled Publishing first, as they have had a number of issues over the years, that you should take into consideration. Mischief focuses on publishing general YA for readers 13 and up, with fantasy, sci-fi, horror, contemporary, thriller, with sweet romantic elements. Mayhem focuses on publishing YA for readers 16 and older fantasy, sci-fi, horror, contemporary, thriller, with romantic elements. Learn more here.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2024 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
