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DIRECTORY

Best Book Publishing Companies

Showing 537 publishers that match your search.

Future Tense Books

Genres: Literary Fiction, Narrative Nonfiction, Biographies & Memoirs, Humor, Nonfiction, Fiction, Short Story, Novella, and Poetry

Location: Portland, US

Website: https://futuretensebooks.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
Excavation

Wendy C. Ortiz

Liar

Rob Roberge

User Not Found

Felicity Fenton

Copper Canyon Press

Genres: Literary Fiction and Poetry

Location: Seattle, US

Website: https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
The Book of Questions

Pablo Neruda

Crushing It

Jennifer L. Knox

Water I Won't Touch

Kayleb Rae Candrilli

Knopf Doubleday

Genres: Cookbook, Architecture, Art, Biographies & Memoirs, Business, Historical Fiction, History, Literary Fiction, Mystery & Crime, Environmental, Politics, Math & Science, Religion & Spirituality, Sports & Outdoors, Travel, Self-Help, Comics & Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, and Fiction

Part of: Penguin Random House > Knopf Doubleday

Location: New York City, US

Website: http://knopfdoubleday.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Mid size

💥 Hit titles
Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Secret History

Donna Tartt

Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami

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Talos Press

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Comics & Graphic Novels, and Fiction

Part of: Skyhorse Publishing > Talos Press

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/talos-press/

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Book proposals - View guidelines →

Indie publisher

Mid size

💥 Hit titles
Godblind

Anna Stephens

The Caledonian Gambit

Dan Moren

Herokiller

Paul Tassi

Palgrave Macmillan

Genres: Business, Politics, History, Religion & Spirituality, Academic, Politics, Medical, Law, Math & Science, and Nonfiction

Part of: Springer Nature > Palgrave Macmillan

Location: London, GB

Website: https://www.palgrave.com/us/journals

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Book proposals - View guidelines →

Mid size

💥 Hit titles
The UN At War

John Karlsrud

Persian Gulf

Lawrence G. Potter & Gary G. Sick

Political Asylum

Carol Bohmer & Amy Shuman

Allen and Unwin

Genres: Picture Book, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Sports & Outdoors, True Crime, Health & Wellbeing, Self-Help, Humor, History, Environmental, Politics, Business, Biographies & Memoirs, Mystery & Crime, Romance, Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction, Thriller & Suspense, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Medical, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Children's

Location: Sydney, AU

Website: https://www.allenandunwin.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Manuscript entries & contests - View guidelines →

Indie publisher

Mid size

💥 Hit titles
Lord of the Rings

J. R. R. Tolkien

Love Objects

Emily Maguire

Crazy Rich Asians

Kevin Kwan

Ensorcellia Publishing

Genres: Literary Fiction, Fiction, Novella, Short Story, and Poetry

Part of: Odyssey Books > Ensorcellia

Location: Wellington, NZ

Website: https://www.odysseybooks.com.au/

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Queries - View guidelines →

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
When No One Is Watching

Linathi Makanda

How to Wake a Butterfly

Loic Ekinga

The Universe Made the Stars And Then Made You

Kylie Gifis

Comma Press

Genres: Literary Fiction, Diverse Literature, Fiction, and Short Story

Location: Manchester, GB

Website: https://commapress.co.uk/

Diversity: Diverse Literature

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
You Should Come With Me Now

M. John Harrison & Lara Pawson

Thirteen Months of Sunrise

Rania Mamoun

The Well of Trapped Words

Sema Kaygusuz

Grupo Santillana

Genres: Education & Reference and Nonfiction

Location: Madrid, ES

Website: https://santillana.com/en/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Largest

💥 Hit titles
Español Santillana

Santillana

That Is To Say!

Helene Auge et al

Skyrocket

Sarah Fash

Dover Publications

Genres: Education & Reference, Math & Science, Picture Book, DIY, Mystery & Crime, Thriller & Suspense, Art, Nonfiction, Children's, and Fiction

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://store.doverpublications.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Manuscript entries & book proposals - View guidelines →

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
Abraham Lincoln's Humor: Yarns, Stories, and Anecdotes by and about Our 16th President

John Grafton

Bless This House: Creating Sacred Space Where You Live, Work & Travel

Donna Henes

The Book of Wild Flowers

The National Geographic Society

What do book publishers do?

Sure, a book publisher prints and sells your book. But what they do behind the scenes encompasses much more than that. Publishers handle the entire publishing process for books, including: 

  • Editing the book, i.e. developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading; 
  • Designing the book, i.e. book cover design and any necessary interior book design;
  • Promotion and marketing, i.e. writing the book’s blurb, email marketing, setting up media interviews, etc.; and
  • Production and distribution, i.e. formatting and distributing hardback, paperback, and ebook versions of the book to stores, both online and brick-and-mortar. 

Note that the structure of publishing companies may differ, depending on their size. Bigger book publishers may be made up of publishing houses which may, in turn, be made up of imprints — each of which will have its own brand identity in terms of the type of books it publishes. 

However, regardless of a publisher’s size, the scope of their work shouldn’t change. Once you sign with a publisher, they will do everything that it takes to bring your book to market. 

What are the most prominent book publishing companies?

If we define success by sheer sales volume, then we might point towards the "Big 5" presses and educational publishers (who rake in a LOT of money). Over the past few decades, these giant publishing companies have merged with and acquired most of the mid-sized publishers in the industry. However, a few still remain. Here are today's biggest book publishing companies:

  • Penguin Random House (Big 5)
  • Hachette Book Group (Big 5)
  • HarperCollins (Big 5)
  • Macmillan Publishers (Big 5)
  • Simon & Schuster (Big 5)
  • Scholastic Corporation
  • Pearson Education
  • McGraw-Hill Education
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Cengage Learning

Together, these largest publishers dominate the publishing landscape. Countless beloved books come from their imprints, many of which you’ll find in our directory. 

The rest of the publishing landscape is largely made up of small publishers, or independent publishers. Most big publishers don’t directly accept unsolicited submissions without a literary agent — but smaller publishers do, making them a realistic and worthwhile route to publication. 

I have a long list of publishers. What next?

Congratulations! Now take a moment to thoroughly vet every publisher on your longlist. Scams are a dime a dozen in the publishing industry, and you want to make 100% sure that you’re dealing with a legitimate publishing company. Again, we strongly recommend reading this post and Writer Beware to know what red flags to watch out for.

When you’re confident in all of the publishers on your longlist, it’s time for the most nerve-wracking step: submitting your manuscript to them. 

Check out our free resources if you’re feeling daunted by what comes next. Whether you’re learning how to research publishers or how to personalize a submission, we've got you covered.

Free online materials

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