This list focuses on nine publishers that we are excited about that are open to submissions this month. Some are only open for a short period of time, others will be open the whole month and beyond. At least four of these are presses we have not covered previously.
Please note that if a publisher doesn’t have a specific submission window they can close at any time, and publishers that use Submittable can close at any point because of submission caps (although these publishers generally reopen to submissions at the end of the month).
If a publisher has closed to submissions unexpectedly, please send us an email at support@authorspublish.com.
Please read the full review, which we link to in the publish name, and carefully consider fit before submitting work. I can not stress enough that you should only submit to presses that are a good fit for your work, and that you should carefully read and follow submissions guidelines before submitting that work. Over the past year we had several presses ask to be de-listed because they were deluged by submissions, even after moving to this format. Still more presses have had to temporarily close to submissions because of an influx of inappropriate submissions.
Dreamsphere Books
Dreamsphere Books publishes fantasy, science fiction, horror, thriller, and mystery books. They focus on publishing genre work, but are not interested in YA Romance or Adult Romance as other imprints, Deep Hearts YA and Deep Desire focus on these genres. Dreamsphere is an imprint of Story Perfect Books which you can learn more about here. It’s a small, family-run company based in Canada, and one of the editors does self-publish his work through one of the imprints. You can learn more about the Dreamsphere here, including the staff.
Wild Heart Books
This small press focuses on publishing “historical romance novels set prior to 1950 and woven with the truth of God’s love”. You can see their staff page here. They were founded by an established Christian Historical Romance writer. They really focus on their niche, and seem to be successful within that context. A number of their books have over 70 ratings on Amazon. Their covers are well-designed and genre-appropriate.
Slashic Horror Press
Slashic Horror Press is an LGBTQ+ Horror press. They welcome submissions from allies, but LGBTQ+ voices come first and foremost. They also state that “if you only have a gay character on page 50 and they don’t do anything except re-affirm stereotypes… then you aren’t an ally. ” They are only interested in work that feature LGBTQ+ content, including themes, plot, and characters. If this is not a good fit for you, please do not read further. They also are not interested in any genres outside of adult horror (although they have a YA imprint that is open to submissions here). They are open to all sub-genres within horror and to novella submissions as well as novels. They prefer work between 30,000 and 90,000 words. They are not interested in short story submissions.
CKN Christian Publishing
CKN Christian Publishing is an imprint of Wolfpack Publishing. CKN is currently open to unsolicited manuscripts in Clean Fiction. They are open to the following clean genres but prefer series to stand alone novels: Romance, Historical Fiction, Western (including romance and non-romance), Amish, Mystery (all sub-genres, including cozy), Post-apocalyptic, Thriller. They do not share their definition of clean fiction, but it generally means fiction without profanities, that are not explicit sexually, and do not contain graphic violence.
Inner Traditions and Bear & Company
Founded in 1975 by Ehud C. Sperling, Inner Traditions has always focused on publishing work related to spirituality, the occult, as well as Eastern religion, philosophy, and practices. In 2000 they acquired Bear & Company, which focused more on Native American culture, alternative Christianity, New Age, and healing arts. You can learn more about the founding and growth of Inner Traditions here. They are currently distributed by Simon & Schuster.
Carolina Academic Press
Carolina Academic Press was founded over 50 years ago, focusing on publishing nonfiction books aimed at lawyers. They are still primarily a law publisher, but they’ve also published titles in other areas for a long time now, including titles on history, sociology, criminal justice, education and politics. You can learn a little more about them here.
Blue Dot Kids Press
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.
Inkubator Books
This Dublin, Ireland-based press focuses on publishing crime fiction, mystery, and thrillers. They do not publish work outside of this genre, and they do not publish work outside of Amazon. Most of the work they publish do very well on Amazon through Kindle Unlimited. The books they publish are not just available digitally, they also use Amazon to offer print on demand (POD) copies. You can learn more about the company here, and see the masthead here. It’s worth mentioning that one of their directors, Brian Lynch, comes from a background in television. This seems to impact the publisher’s approach and makes them a little different then a lot of other publishers.
Andrews McMeel Publishing
Andrews McMeel is a large publishing house that publishes up to 150 books a year. They are one of the largest publishers that will read proposals by authors that have not been previously published and do not have an agent. Andrews McMeel Publishing is a leading publisher of general nonfiction trade books, gift books and humor books. Their company’s core publication categories are: cookbooks, comics & humor, and puzzles & games. They are open to some other categories as well; looking through their web catalog is the best way to get a feel for what kinds of books they publish.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2025 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.
