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Find the perfect editor for your next book
1 million authors trust the professionals on Reedsy. Come meet them.
DIRECTORY
Showing 37 indie publishers that match your search.
Publisher of: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Short Fiction
Tin House’s legendary literary magazine may have shuttered its doors 2019, but their book publishing program is still going strong. Originally launched as an Bloomsbury imprint, Tin House Books spun off into an indie publisher in 2005. They release around 12 books a year often from first-time authors. Tin House Books publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and they have a penchant for lush, character-driven contemporary novels, playful essay collections, and memoirs that delve into complex relationships with uncompromising insight.
🔥 Hit title: Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl by Jeannie Vanasco
⭐️ Best known for: Essay Collections, Literary Fiction, Memoirs
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? No
Publisher of: Fiction and Nonfiction
McSweeney’s is better known for their humor website, which features snort-inducing titles like “I Regret to Inform You That My Wedding to Captain Von Trapp Has Been Canceled” and “Signs You May Be a Female Character in a Work of Historical Fiction.” But this San Francisco-based indie publisher also runs a small — yet vibrant — books division. Their titles range from brainy, irreverent humor in the vein of their Internet Tendency to more serious fare: politically incisive nonfiction with a progressive bent.
🔥 Hit title: Indelible in the Hippocampus by Shelly Oria (editor)
⭐️ Best known for: Humor, Memoir
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes, in the form of Full Manuscripts. View guidelines →
Publisher of: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry
Two New York-based creatives — sculptor Valerie Merians and writer Dennis Loy Johnson — founded Melville House in the aftermath of 9/11. Their inaugural title was a poetry anthology collection thoughtful, devastating responses to the attacks from the likes of Pulitzer winners and New York State poets. These days, Melville House continues to engage with both politics and high art. Their nonfiction titles tackle tough issues like CIA torture and presidential malfeasance, while their fiction program elevates emerging talents and underrated international writers — voices overlooked by corporate publishing.
🔥 Hit title: Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss
⭐️ Best known for: Journalism, Literary Fiction
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? No
Publisher of: Fiction and Nonfiction
EnvelopeBooks is a new independent publishing house founded in the summer of 2020. An offshoot of Booklaunch, a quarterly books and publishing freesheet that makes its way to 50,000 homes per issue, the EnvelopeBooks imprint is dedicated to working with authors to produce high-quality books.
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes, in the form of Full Manuscripts. View guidelines →
Publisher of: Fiction, Poetry, and Short Fiction
Alternating Current Press is an indie press dedicated to publishing and promoting incredible literature that challenges readers and has an innate sense of self, timelessness, and atmosphere. We love science, history, homebound roots, rural landscapes, sense of place, poetic literary fiction, diverse voices, and all that is electric in the literary world.
⭐️ Best known for: Fiction, Poetry, Short Fiction
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes, in the form of Manuscript Contests. View guidelines →
Publisher of: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Short Fiction
LA-based Rare Bird Books has a strong affinity for edgy, whip-smart titles on sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll: think candid sex worker memoirs and deep dives into the London music scene of the ‘70s. Besides nonfiction, Rare Bird widely publishes a number of genres over its various imprints. California Coldblood, for instance, presides over the press’s speculative fiction titles, while Barnacle Books takes care of crime fiction. As a whole, their titles are both progressive and compulsively readable, no matter if it’s PG-friendly or NSFW.
🔥 Hit title: Camgirl by Isa Mazzei
⭐️ Best known for: Memoir, Mysteries, Science Fiction & Fantasy
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? No
Publisher of: Fiction and Nonfiction
This New York-based press kicked off with a series of Dive Bar guides that showed much-traveled tourist hubs, from San Francisco to Chicago, in an offbeat new light. These days, their list tilts much more towards literary fiction as well as political nonfiction: since the Bush years, Ig authors have been tackling issues from workers’ rights to PTSD care for veterans.
🔥 Hit title: Missile Paradise by Ron Tanner
⭐️ Best known for: Journalism, Literary Fiction
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes, in the form of Queries. View guidelines →
Publisher of: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Short Fiction
Founded in 1974, Graywolf Press is a jewel among independent publishers. The 35 or so titles it releases every year are regularly showered with laurels, from rave NYT reviews to “best of the year” nods. It’s no exaggeration to call Graywolf one of the top publishing houses of any size, despite its relatively modest, $4 million annual budget. No wonder established writers, who have the name recognition to court the Big 5, often opt to stick with this storied small press instead.
🔥 Hit title: Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
⭐️ Best known for: Literary Fiction, Memoirs
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes, in the form of Contest Entries. View guidelines →
Publisher of: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Short Fiction
This indie publisher got its start because Ezra Pound didn’t believe in a certain Harvard undergrad’s future in poetry. James Laughlin, then a college sophomore, went to the legendary modernist for advice. And Pound, who had been critiquing his work all semester, urged him to give up writing and “do something useful” instead. Thus New Directions Publishing was born. Laughlin retained a love for verse, so the budding press’s first books were poetry anthologies and collections by the greats — including Pound. These days, New Directions boasts a rich collection of fiction and criticism as well, especially works in translation.
🔥 Hit title: The Emissary by Yoko Tawada and Margaret Mitsutani (translator)
⭐️ Best known for: Literary Fiction, Poetry Collections
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? No
Publisher of: Fiction and Nonfiction
Forest Avenue Press focuses on literary fiction, occasionally dipping their toes into memoir as well. Regardless of genre, they aim to publish work animated by joy: not necessarily stories with happy endings, but work that shows off the author’s capacity for humor and freewheeling imagination. As a result, their catalogue abounds with oddball books, each with a broad palette of literary influences. An author-focused press with a relatively small stable of talent, Forest Avenue lavishes more time and money on marketing each title than your typical indie publisher.
🔥 Hit title: Queen of Spades by Michael Shou-Yung Shum
⭐️ Best known for: Literary Fiction
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes, in the form of Full Manuscripts. View guidelines →
Publisher of: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Short Fiction
This Massachusetts-based press prides itself on the high production value of its titles, which range from novels and creative nonfiction to poetry. They treat their books as art objects — “a joy,” in the press’s own words, “to hold as well as read.” Crack open those impeccably printed pages, and you’ll find artful language, unsurpassed lyricism, and playful experimentation with form, no matter what the genre. The bulk of Tupelo Press's catalogue consists of poetry collections, although they also publish literary fiction and creative nonfiction.
🔥 Hit title: Good Bones by Maggie Smith
⭐️ Best known for: Poetry Collections
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes, in the form of Contest Entries. View guidelines →
Publisher of: Fiction and Nonfiction
Brooklyn-based Akashic Books was founded by the post-hardcore bassist Johnny Temple in 1997. It still operates out of the borough’s trendy Old American Can Factory, putting out galleys in the same industrial complex where electronica acts jam and indie painters hang their canvases. But in the last decade, they’ve started selling books all over the country. Dedicated to “reverse-gentrification of the literary world,” they highlight marginalized and anti-establishment authors, giving them an outlet for work considered too niche (or too incendiary) for corporate publishing.
🔥 Hit title: A Tall History of Sugar by Curdella Forbes
⭐️ Best known for: Mysteries, Literary Fiction, Crime Fiction
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes. View guidelines →
Publisher of: Poetry and Short Fiction
Founded in 1976, BOA Editions focuses on poetry. Though they publish fewer than 20 books a year, their editors are discerning enough to sniff out plenty of prizewinners. BOA’s roster includes decorated — and phenomenally popular — poets like National Book Award finalist Lucille Clifton and Naomi Shihab Nye, the first Arab American to be named the Young People’s Poet Laureate. But BOA also looks beyond verse, running several contests for short fiction writers, as well as poets seeking publication.
🔥 Hit title: Blessing the Boats by Lucille Clifton
⭐️ Best known for: Poetry Collections
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes, in the form of Contest Entries. View guidelines →
Publisher of: Fiction and Nonfiction
This Brooklyn-based outfit specializes in children’s books, as gorgeously illustrated as they’re richly imagined. But their catalogue goes far beyond the big red dogs and very hungry caterpillars you probably remember from your own childhood. That’s not to say that you won’t find any woodland critters cavorting in Enchanted Lion’s titles. But this indie publisher puts a premium on the “power of cultural exchange.” Enchanted Lion excels at putting out picture books set all over the world, many of them translated from languages like French and Japanese.
🔥 Hit title: Cry, Heart, But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved and Charlotte Pardi
⭐️ Best known for: Children's Books
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes, in the form of Full Manuscripts. View guidelines →
Publisher of: Nonfiction
This edgy, Manchester-based press has furnished a voice for the counterculture since 1991. Originally founded to sell VHS copies of a controversial cult director’s latest release, Headpress hasn’t strayed far from its roots in pulp, grindhouse, and all things indie film. Beyond its sharp criticism of movie genres that don't get a lot mainstream attention, Headpress publishes widely across the spectrum of quirky nonfiction. Look through its list of titles, and you'll see everything from deep cuts on underground music to trippy meditations on European folklore.
🔥 Hit title: Bleeding Skull by Joseph A. Ziemba and Dan Budnik
⭐️ Best known for: Biography, Film, Journalism
💌 Accepts unagented submissions? Yes, in the form of Queries. View guidelines →
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