Owl Canyon Press is an independent publisher based out of Boulder, Colorado. They were founded in 2011. They publish fiction, nonfiction, young adult fiction, and works in translation. It’s easy to get a feel for what sort of work they publish by browsing their catalog.
They have local distribution, but outside of Colorado, I suspect you have to order online, based on the information available online and browsing my own local bookstore.
The covers are a solid mix. None are terrible, but most are not great. The website is aimed at readers not writers, which is always a good sign. They don’t reveal much in the way of staff or staff experience, which would have been helpful.
They do have contact information for someone to contact in regard to foreign rights, which makes sense as they have a partnership with Aiora Press, which is based in Athens, Greece.
They ask that you query first with sample chapters rather than submit a full manuscript. Your submission should include answers to an extensive list of questions that they share on their website. One of the more unusual aspects of the list is they want you to share endorsements, which would be blurbs by other more established authors supporting you. I have not seen their contract.
Make sure to follow their submission guidelines. They try to respond to submissions with 3 months, 6 at the longest, if you haven’t heard from them by month 7 they encourage you to query about the status of your submission.
To learn more or to submit, please visit their submission guidelines here.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, The 2019 Guide to Manuscript Publishers, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The Authors Publish Guide to Children’s and Young Adult Publishing.
She occasionally teaches a course on manuscript publishing, as well as a course on publishing in literary journals.
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