All of the presses on this list meet all but one of our guiding principles. All of these presses only accept work from writers with a specific geographic region or nationality.
Because of that, we have never reviewed these presses, but they are still good presses. Starting in 2019 we created this list, as a reference point for writers, and have received a lot of positive feedback and support in terms of updating it.
This list is organized by country. It only covers a limited number of countries at this time. If this article does well, we will keep expanding the list and include more countries in the future.
Currently, this list only covers the US, Canada, Australia and NZ, the UK, Scotland, Ireland, and Singapore, but we are hoping for that to change.
Not all of the publishers on this list are currently open to unagented submissions, but most are.
I’ve done basic research about the publishers, but I haven’t done in-depth research as I do for a full review, so keep that in mind.
If you know of a press to add to this list, please send me an email at support@authorspubish.com.
United States
Red Adept Publishing
This multi-genre small press has managed to end up with a number of books on the New York Times Bestseller list. They are only open to submissions by US-based writers.
Hub City Press
A respected press with great distribution. They publish books of literary fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, regional nonfiction, nature, and art. They only publish work for adults. They accept non-agented submissions in March/April and September/October. According to their website, “Hub City publishes writers living in or from the South. What’s the South? A complicated issue, to say the least, but the short answer for our purposes: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia. At the same time, we’re interested in boundaries, borders, and in-betweens, so if you want to make a case for a state not listed here, we’ll take a look.”
Johnson Books
An imprint of Bower House Books that publishes regional nonfiction focused the mountain and desert West.
They do not have strict geographic guidelines, but much of what they publish is about Georgia and the American South. Although they also publish on a number of other subjects.
Islandport Press
They do not have strict geographic limitations but the vast majority of what they publish for adults, and all of what they publish for children is centred in New England sensibilities, and they prefer to work with authors and illustrators who are connected to New England or the Northeast United States. They are a wonderful small press that was founded in 2000.
Down The Shore
They are a small publisher established in 1984, that specializes in beach and coastal subjects, largely in terms of New Jersey and the Jersey shore.
Canada
Anansi Press
A wonderful Canadian press focusing on publishing a wide range of literary works. They accept submissions twice a year, for a one month period. Currently the months they are accepting submissions are August and February.
Groundwood Press
My favorite Canadian children’s book publisher, and an imprint of Anansi Press, they are open to children’s picture books, non-fiction, and novel length fiction.
Red Deer Press
A respected and established publisher of Children’s books. They used to be open to submissions from outside of Canada, but they’ve recently limited their perimeters to only “encourage” Canadian authors, and they are now only open to submissions via post.
Caitlin Press
Caitlin Press is a British Columbia based literary press. They only publish authors from BC.
Mother Tongue Publishing
They publish literary fiction and memoirs by writers based in British Columbia.
Invisible Publishing
Invisible Publishing publishes literary fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction by Canadians.
Coach House Books
Coach House Books is one of the largest publishers in Canada. They are a wonderful press that only publishes Canadian authors.
Cormorant Books
Cormorant Books publishes literary fiction, literary nonfiction, poetry, and translations of Québécois authors. They are only open to Canadian authors.
Dundurn Press
One of the largest Canadian presses. They have over 2,500 books currently in print. They publish a variety of fiction and nonfiction. They are currently closed to submissions but plan to reopen in March 2022.
Ekstasis Editions
A Canadian publisher of poetry manuscripts, fiction, and children’s books. They have been around since 1982.
ECW Press
They are only open to fiction and poetry books submitted by Canadians; there are no citizenship restrictions on writers submitting nonfiction.
Stelliform Press
Always open to BIPOC authors they have at least one reading period a year where they are open to submissions by all authors. They publish science fiction, fantasy, quiet horror and literary works with speculative elements, such as novellas (17,500–39,999 words), novels (60,000–100,000 words), and short story collections and non-fiction books/collections (40,000–60,000 words) which build narratives around climate change and its resultant ecological destruction, and acknowledges the work necessary to live within the problems Western lifestyles have created. They do not strictly limit submissions to Canadian and Indigenous authors but have primarily published work by them.
Freehand Books
A Canadian press that started out as as an imprint but is now independent. They publish literary fiction, literary nonfiction, memoir and graphic literature. They have good distribution.
Ronsdale Press
A literary house that publishes a wide variety of work including children’s books. They accept work only from Canadian citizens or landed immigrants to Canada.
NeWest Press
NeWest publishes outstanding literary works by established and emerging Canadian authors at the rate of 10-12 books a year. They have good distribution. They are temporarily closed to new submissions and plan to reopen in summer 2021.
Mansfield Press
This Toronto based small press publishes poetry, literary fiction, and creative nonfiction.
Talonbooks
They publish work of significant literary or cultural importance by Canadian authors.
Wolsak and Wynn
At the very start of their guidelines they state: “We are a Canadian press dedicated to publishing clear, passionate Canadian voices. As such, we publish very few non-Canadians. However, we encourage Canadian authors of diverse backgrounds and communities to submit.” Their books are well edited and beautifully printed.
Australia and New Zealand
Hachette Australia
Hachette is only open to direct submissions from residents of Australia or NZ.
Penguin Random House
A big five publisher. They are only open to submissions from Australians.
Black Inc. and Nero Books
This established and award winning Australian press has imprints that focus on nonfiction and fiction.
Victoria University Press
Victoria University Press is New Zealand’s leading publisher of new fiction and poetry, and a scholarly publisher specializing in NZ history, biography and essays. Submissions are restricted to people who live in or are strongly connected with Aotearoa/ New Zealand.
Echo
They are a publisher of mainstream fiction and narrative nonfiction for adults. On their website they state “We want to publish Australian authors, but we want the books also to have global appeal, as we work closely with our UK sister imprints.”
Ginninderra Press
A small press that focuses on publishing quality nonfiction, fiction, and poetry.
Text Publishing
An established and respected publisher of We are broadly interested in publishing fiction and non-fiction, including middle grade and young adult.
Fremantle Press
Fremantle Press accepts submissions of unsolicited manuscripts from authors of Western Australian origin or whose main place of residence is Western Australia, or non Western Australian authors whose work has a strong Western Australian focus. They publish non-fiction, fiction and narrative non-fiction, poetry, and books for children and young adults.
Giramondo
Giramondo doesn’t have any strict guidelines in terms of geography, but they do appear to have a track record of publishing primarily writers from Australia and New Zealand, so I have placed them here. They publish quality poetry, nonfiction, and fiction.
Walker Books Australia and New Zealand
A terrific children’s book publishers that is closed to unsolicited submissions outside of Walker Wednesday, a biannual event you can learn more about here.
Melbourne University Press
They accept unsolicited submissions of nonfiction work.
UK, Ireland
Tramp Press
Tramp is a literary press based out of Ireland that has great distribution. Within Ireland they are distributed by Gill & Macmillan. Throughout the rest of the world they are distributed by Macmillan. They do not accept submissions from the US and Canada.
Sandycove
They are an imprint of Penguin Random House Ireland, that consider manuscripts and proposals, in all genres. They are open to submissions from the UK and Ireland.
Claret Press
This Literary press is only open to submissions from the UK.
Currach Books
An independent publisher of Irish interest books.
Floris Books
A publisher of specialized non-fiction and Children’s books. They are open to unagented submissions from Scottish authors only right now.
Singapore
Epigram Books
They are an independent publisher established in 2011, with imprints in Singapore and London. They say “We are keen to read and publish new writing by Singaporean authors and authors writing about Singapore.” So they don’t have strict geographic guidelines but a specific geographic focus.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2020 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.
