UPDATED March 7th 2024: They have been closed to unagented submissions for some time and I suspect they will remain that way.
Talos Press, an imprint of the independent publisher Skyhorse, is open to unagented submissions of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
They have good distribution.
There have been problems with their parent company, Skyhorse, which you can learn more about here, however things seem to be improving, and the imprints did not seem to be affected by the issues.
They ask that your proposal to them includes:
- A brief query (cover) letter
- A one- to two-page synopsis
- Market analysis, including research on competitive titles
- A sample chapter or two
- Your curriculum vitae (bio) including a list of any previous publishing credentials
If they are interested in seeing more than the first 50 pages they will contact you. Electronic submissions are preferred and they try to respond to all the submissions they are interested in, in the first 4-6 weeks. If they are not interested in a manuscript they do not respond.
I would encourage you to spend some time browsing their catalog to get a better feeling for what they have previously published. Their cover art ranges from good to excellent, which is nice. They also publish a lot of book series’, and they often publish multiple books by the same author.
To learn more visit their submission page here.
