Permanently Closed: Adams Media in late 2016 was purchased by Simon & Schuster. They are no longer accepting direct submissions

“It’s all in the name. When we envisioned what a new Young Adult imprint should be, we recalled the books that changed our lives, the kind readers don’t see so much anymore — enduring, exciting, intensely readable young adult stories about young people facing an all-too-challenging contemporary world. Merit Press plots twist and turn with a mix of extraordinary, heartbreaking and seemingly magical events, from shattered friendships, to burgeoning romance to searing secrets and life-and-death danger. In short, they’ll offer readers an emotional journey of adventure and love, dread and delight, peopled with authentic characters that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.”

–Mission statement from the editors of Merit Press

Merit Press is a newer imprint of the large predominantly non-fiction publisher Adams Media. They have published around 20 books over the past few years. They mostly publish print books, generally in hardcover. They don’t even have eBook versions of most of their books at this point, which is unusual for a publisher today, particularly a YA Publisher.

The covers are generally well designed, well blurbed, with arresting back cover text. They have published a number of debut novels.

The editors at Merit Press prefer their protagonists to be over the age of fourteen. Most are female. They want to these characters rising to meet the challenges of today.

All submissions must be made via email. You can send a full or martial manuscript (65k-to 100k words) and query letter to their email address: meritpress@fwmedia.com.

To learn more about their catalog, browse it here.