Blue Dot Kids press is a small publisher that focuses on publishing purposeful books for kids under 12. They focus on publishing “stories that connect us to each other—and to the home we call Earth”. They also really believe in the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. You can get a good feel for what they’ve previously published here. They accept agented and unagented submissions.

On their website they say they publish 10 titles a year, but based on their new and upcoming list here, they’ve only published 3-4 books a year most years. But perhaps I’m missing something.

There was one section on their submission page where the phrasing was unusual. They said “We select a few agented and unagented authors each year for our traditional publishing program.” This confused me because it implied to me that they also had a hybrid/vanity publishing program as well. However I could see no indication on their site or elsewhere that they ran anything outside of their traditional publishing program (otherwise I would not have reviewed them). If they do re-direct anyone to paying option, please reach out to support@authorspublish.com.

They offer advances as well as ongoing royalties. They also emphasize their focus on publicity, and it does seem like past books have sold well based on the number of reviews they’ve received. Consortium is their distributor.

They are open to submissions of Middle-grade fiction and graphic novel fiction, specifically realistic, adventure, and magical realism fiction, for kids ages eight to twelve, as well as highly illustrated Middle-grade nonfiction. They are also open to fiction and nonfiction chapter books and graphic novels for seven to ten year olds, as well as fiction and narrative nonfiction picture books and board books.

For all of these age groups will only consider stories that fall into one or more of the following three categories:

1. Nature/Environment: Appreciation of nature, conservation, environmental stewardship, science, STEAM and STEM

2. Social and Emotional Learning: Empathy, resilience, growth mindset, emotional intelligence, creative problem-solving, imagination, curiosity

3. Global Citizenship: Celebrating our big, beautiful world

They stress that they are not interested in nonfiction that doesn’t contain a narrative and doesn’t have informative back matter. They also are very much NOT interested in fantasy stories, religious-themed stories, or any work aimed at readers over the age of 12.

They are open to submissions from previously self-published books as long as the authors are open to their book being re-edited and re-branded.

All submissions must be made through their Google form, after reading their complete submission guidelines here. If you haven’t heard from them after four months, please assume rejection. They are also open to submissions from illustrators.