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DIRECTORY

Best Children's Book Publishing Companies

Showing 170 publishers that match your search.

Quirk Books

Genres: DIY, Cookbook, History, Horror, Humor, Mystery & Crime, Politics, Sports & Outdoors, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, True Crime, Comics & Graphic Novels, Diverse Literature, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, Fiction, Children's, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Novella

Location: Philadelphia, US

Website: https://www.quirkbooks.com/

Diversity: Diverse Literature, LGBTQ, BIPOC

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Queries & manuscript entries - View guidelines β†’

Indie publisher

Small press

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Seth Grahame-Smith

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Ransom Riggs

Geekerella

Ashley Poston

Chicago Review Press

Genres: Middle Grade, Young Adult, African-American, Biographies & Memoirs, DIY, History, Politics, Sports & Outdoors, True Crime, Feminism, Education & Reference, Self-Help, Diverse Literature, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, Children's, and Nonfiction

Location: Chicago, US

Website: https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/

Diversity: Diverse Literature, LGBTQ, BIPOC

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Book proposals - View guidelines β†’

Indie publisher

Mid size

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Abe & Fido

Matthew Algeo

Absinthe & Flamethrowers

William Gurstelle

The Admiral and the Ambassador

Scott Martelle

Pratham Books

Genres: Picture Book, Middle Grade, and Children's

Location: Bangalore, IN

Website: https://prathambooks.org/

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Manuscript entries - View guidelines β†’

Indie publisher

Small press

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Ammachi's Incredible Investigation

Vinayak Varma

Your Body is Yours

Yamini Vijayan

Tine and the Faraway Mountain

Shikha Tripathi

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Harvest House Publishers

Genres: Christian, Cookbook, Health & Wellbeing, Religion & Spirituality, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Children's

Location: Portland, US

Website: https://www.harvesthousepublishers.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Risen Motherhood: Gospen Hope for Everyday

Laura Wifler & Emily Jensen

Israel and the Church

Amir Tsarfati

Jesus Every Day

Mary E. DeMuth

Soho Teen

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery & Crime, Thriller & Suspense, Children's, and Fiction

Part of: Soho Press > Soho Teen

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://sohopress.com/soho-teen/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Mid size

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Mercury Boys

Chandra Prasad

Orpheus Girls

Brynne Rebele-Henry

Hope is Our Only Wing

Rutendo Tavengerwei

Simon & Schuster

Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Literary Fiction, Mystery & Crime, Thriller & Suspense, History, Politics, Romance, Young Adult, Sports & Outdoors, Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Novella, and Children's

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Largest

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Beautiful Things

Hunter Biden

Home Body

Rupi Kaur

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Stephen R Covey

Chronicle Books

Genres: Picture Book, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Cookbook, Photography, Art, DIY, Architecture, Self-Help, Health & Wellbeing, Travel, Humor, Diverse Literature, Children's, and Nonfiction

Location: San Francisco, US

Website: https://www.chroniclebooks.com/

Diversity: Diverse Literature

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Manuscript entries & book proposals - View guidelines β†’

Indie publisher

Small press

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
From Crook to Cook

Snoop Dogg

Dolly Parton, Songteller

Dolly Parton & Robert K. Oermann

Men to Avoid in Art and Life

Nicole Tersigni

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 β†’

Indie publisher

Small press

πŸ’₯ 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

Stone Pier Press

Genres: Cookbook, Environmental, DIY, Nonfiction, and Children's

Location: San Francisco, US

Website: https://stonepierpress.org/

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Book proposals - View guidelines β†’

Indie publisher

Small press

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Growing Good Food: A Citizen's Guide to Climate Victory Gardening

Acadia Tucker

Growing Perennial Foods

Acadia Tucker

Gwen the Rescue Hen

Leslie Crawford

Penguin Random House

Genres: Literary Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Mystery & Crime, Thriller & Suspense, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Biographies & Memoirs, Politics, Cookbook, Romance, Picture Book, Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Novella, and Children's

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes

Largest

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
The Testaments

Margaret Atwood

Where the Crawdads Sing

Delia Owens

The Guardians

John Grisham

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.

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