This independent press is based in London, and was founded in 1984. They have published, and reprinted many well-known authors over the years, including reprinting some of D.H. Lawrence and Leonard Cohen’s work and publishing Nick Caves’ first novel. It has changed ownership a few times since it was founded, most recently in 2018, where it became part of the press group it now is.
They are currently open to submissions through December 31st. They are open to fiction and poetry submissions. Their work leans literary although they do have a crime focused imprint. You can get a feel for what they’ve published most recently by going here, and scrolling down.
They are distributed by Booksource in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and by Simon and Schuster in the UK and Canada.
They are very established, although I’ll admit I felt myself a little uneasy reviewing them because of this: “Note: in the past we worked with a few talented writers on co-operative hybrid projects, under an entirely separate imprint, Maida Vale; historically, there was also Dexter Haven Limited, a separate publishing company that Black Spring ran. The DH imprint is closed, and Maida Vale is no longer taking on new writers. We hope this will clarify our ongoing focus on our traditional imprints. Maida Vale the imprint has some excellent books and will continue to support its list of books. Please note many presses have hybrid imprints, and we continue to think this model was a good way to support certain unusual, very original, maverick and eccentric visions and voices.“
While it is true that many presses have hybrid imprints, including the ones I review, I think it’s very important to only review presses that don’t re-direct authors submitting to a traditional imprint to a hybrid imprint. On their Submittable account they have strived to make it clear that they are only offering traditional contracts to submitters by saying, “If you wish to submit your work to be considered for traditional publication by The Black Spring Press Group, and its imprints, please attach the following, in a word or PDF set of documents: a query letter; a synopsis; a writer’s biographical statement; and the entire manuscript.”
What makes me uneasy is just that they still have this hybrid imprint, but don’t seem to be accepting submissions to it, which is unusual. However they very much stress that they want unagented submissions and believe they are valuable.
To learn more or to submit, go here.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2026 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.
