Update: As of Jan 5th 2021 they are closed to submissions of manuscript. No word yet if it temporary or permanent.
Daunt Books is a UK-based publisher that has its roots as a travel bookstore. They currently are interested in publishing writing that has a strong sense of place. This should be in the genre of literary fiction. They publish both novels and short stories. They also are interested in narrative nonfiction/memoir.
They do not consider poetry, family memoirs, children’s books, or genre fiction of any kind.
They have good distribution in the UK. I do think it’s largely limited to that region. For that reason I think mainly UK authors should focus on submitting here; but their guidelines do not state that geography is any limitation, so if you feel like your book is a good fit, and the distribution limits work for you, I would submit.
When you submit include a short paragraph outlining why you think your work would be a good fit for them. Reading their about page, and reviewing their catalogue, and perhaps even reading a book or two will help with that. I know this might seem obvious to you, but please don’t submit unless you think your book is a good fit within the context of their pre-existing catalogue.
For fiction they ask that you submit the entire manuscript, and a one-page synopsis. For nonfiction, all they want is an outline of the book and a sample chapter. All relevant attachments should be on one email.
Submissions can be made via email or post. They do respond to all submissions that follow their guidelines, but they do warn that responses take a while.
To learn more or to submit go here.
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.
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