Written by Emily Harstone June 5th, 2025

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in June 2025


This list focuses on ten 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.

AM Ink
AM Ink is a Western Massachusetts based press that initially published biographies, children’s books, novels, and short story collections.  They have published many books, including bestsellers. They have also sold television rights, and had movies made from their books. Most of what they have published has not been particularly successful though. They are currently open to short story collections through the end of June as well as various other genres through the end of August (visit their website to learn more about the other genres).

Great Place Books
This small press publishes literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and work in translation, at the rate of about one to two books per year. They state: “Our mission is to be a home for rigorous, weird, beautiful books—and their readers. These books are imperiled by the stratification and commercialization of publishing. Against the grain of the industry and the times, we aim to support the careers of idiosyncratic and alluring writers whose voices might otherwise be lost.”

Shadow Mountain
Shadow Mountain is an imprint of Deseret Book. Both publishers have their roots in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but  Deseret Books focuses more on producing faith-based content. Shadow Mountain publishes primarily fiction and they have published a number of New York Times bestselling books. Because the company is run by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, books have to be approved by in-house censors in order to be published. They are very firm about publishing “clean books only”. However the authors need not be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are open to submissions from June 1st through the 7th.

Quarto Publishing
The Quarto Publishing Group is an international publishing house known for its illustrated books. They publish most of their work through a number of niche imprints each with their own focus. All of their US imprints are distributed by Hachette.

Entrepreneur Press
Entrepreneur Press is part of Entrepreneur Media. They focus on publishing books with “actionable solutions to help you excel in all your business”. The books they publish fall into three categories: Starting a business, running a business, and growing that business.

Able Muse
Able Muse is a small literary press that has one free reading period every year, from 1st May through 15th July. They also publish a literary journal, and they host a number of contests every year. They publish poetry and fiction primarily, and they will consider nonfiction as long as you query first. Most of the fiction they publish is short story collections and unlike other small presses, some of what they publish is genre work.

Saqi Books
Saqi Books was founded in London in 1983. The roots of Saqi Books are in Lebanon and they focus on publishing trade and academic books on the Middle East and North Africa written by authors based all around the world. They publish around 20 titles a year. They have been awarded the British Book Industry Award for Diversity in Literature, the IPG Diversity Award, as well as the Arab British Culture and Society award. You can learn more about them here.

Redleaf Press
The motto for Redleaf Press is “Exceptional Resources for Early Childhood Professionals”. Established in 1973, they are a nonprofit publisher of curriculum, management, and business resources for early childhood professionals. They are not interested in any work outside of the context of their focus.

Biteback Press
Biteback Press is based in London, England, and is focused on publishing work on political and current affairs titles. They also publish history, memoir, espionage, sport and general non-fiction, and they do not publish fiction of any kind. You can get a good feel for what they are currently publishing by seeing their new releases here. They have international distribution. Their covers are genre appropriate. Their website is well organized.

Guppy Books
Guppy Books is a respected publisher of children’s fiction. Founded in 2019 by Bella Pearson, the books they have published have been finalists and winners of a number of awards. You can learn more about the company and their track record, here. They are based in the UK, and generally not open to unagented submissions except via their free contest. The contest is not open yet, but because it will be open only for a week, we’re including it in this list. The contest will be open to submissions from 6th June, from 9am on Monday 16th June to 5pm Friday 20th June 2025 GMT. It will only be open to Middle Grade Fiction.

Also if you are a US resident who has yet to publish a book and are a writer of color or an Indigenous writer of children’s books, you should look into Lee & Low Books: New Voices Award. Lee & Low is an established press that hosts this award biennially. They ask that you make sure you are able to abide by the eligibility and manuscript submission guidelines before entering. New Voices Award winners receive a standard publication contract, including Lee & Low Books’s basic royalties as well as an advance in the amount of $5,000.


Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript SubmissionsSubmit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2024 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.

 

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