Written by Emily Harstone February 2nd, 2023

Zondervan: Now Accepting Nonfiction Submissions

Important: Read This Before Submitting Your Manuscript

Seven common manuscript submissions mistakes that are very easy to avoid.

Zondervan is one of the largest and most established Christian media companies. They are based in Grand Rapids Michigan, but have an international presence. They are now owned by HarperCollins. They are a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

They only have two imprints that are open to direct submissions:

  • Zondervan Reflective books aim to be good, engaging reads that encourage deep reflection, inspire action, and call for a response. The goal for books in this imprint is to be part of the conversation, to engage readers, and to explore from historically orthodox Christian commitments the really tough questions Christians face today. Topics for such books include leadership, ministry, the intersection of faith and culture, and biblical and theological perspectives on contemporary issues. The authors of such books are expected to have demonstrable expertise on the subject being addressed.

  • Zondervan Academic books seek to show the breadth and diversity—both theologically and globally—of Christianity in its broadly evangelical expression. College and seminary textbooks, Bible commentaries, reference books, and scholarly monographs in the biblical, theological, and related disciplines are included in this imprint.

All submissions to either of these imprints must be made via email. You should make it clear which imprint is the best fit in the subject line of the email.

They ask that your proposal be no more than 5 pages and include the following:

  • A brief description of the proposed book

  • The unique contribution of the book and why you feel it must be published

  • The table of contents, including a two or three sentence description of each chapter

  • Your intended reader

  • Your curriculum vita including your qualifications to write the book

It’s important to note that on their submission page they share the link to their vanity imprint run by Authors Solutions. We’ve written about imprints like this here, and they should very much be steered clear of.

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 2022 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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