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DIRECTORY

Best Horror Book Publishing Companies

Showing 51 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

Northodox Press

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Horror, LGBTQ+, Literary Fiction, Mystery & Crime, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller & Suspense, Urban Fiction, Women's Fiction, and Young Adult

Location: Manchester, GB

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

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Partial manuscript entries - View guidelines β†’

Indie publisher

Small press

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Clockwork Magpies

Emma Whitehall

Out of Human Sight

Sophie Parkes

Airedale

Dylan Byford

Tuxtails Publishing, LLC

Genres: Action & Adventure, DIY, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Literary Fiction, Middle Grade, Mystery & Crime, Narrative Nonfiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Self-Help, and Short Story

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://www.tuxtailspublishing.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No Manuscript entries - View guidelines β†’

Indie publisher

Small press

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Captain Jenkins: Flowers for Alcyon

Jessica Scott Romano

How to Be an American in Italy

Jessica Scott Romano

Beautiful in Death

Caroline Taylor

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Penguin Random House India

Genres: Literary Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Education & Reference, Biographies & Memoirs, Horror, Action & Adventure, Self-Help, Historical Fiction, Sports & Outdoors, Mystery & Crime, History, Business, Travel, Women's Fiction, Thriller & Suspense, Architecture, Art, Cookbook, Humor, Fiction, Nonfiction, Children's, Poetry, and Short Story

Location: New Delhi, IN

Website: https://penguin.co.in/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Largest

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Azadi

Arundhati Roy

In an Antique Land

Amitav Ghosh

Sach Kahun Toh

Neena Gupta

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 β†’

Indie publisher

Mid size

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Godblind

Anna Stephens

The Caledonian Gambit

Dan Moren

Herokiller

Paul Tassi

Inimitable Books

Genres: Action & Adventure, BIPOC, Diverse Literature, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, LGBTQ+, Literary Fiction, Middle Grade, Mystery & Crime, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller & Suspense, Women's Fiction, and Young Adult

Part of: Ulysses Press > Inimitable Books

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://inimitablebooksllc.com

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Book queries - View guidelines β†’

Indie publisher

Small press

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
The Legionnaire

Samantha Traunfeld

Down the Well

Veronica King

The Storm Gathers

Maelan Holladay

Inkyard Press

Genres: BIPOC, Diverse Literature, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Thriller & Suspense, and Young Adult

Part of: HarperCollins > Harlequin > Inkyard Press

Location: Toronto, CA

Website: https://www.harlequintradepublishing.com/shop/brand/inkyard-press.html

Accepts unagented submissions

No Manuscript entries - View guidelines β†’

Small press

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Counting Down with You

Tashie Bhuiyan

The Keeper of Night

Kylie Lee Baker

Shadow of the Fox

Julie Kagawa

Tor.com

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Diverse Literature, Fiction, Novella, and Short Story

Part of: Macmillan > Tor/Forge > Tor.com

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://www.tor.com/

Diversity: Diverse Literature

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Mid size

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Binti

Nnedi Okorafor

Every Heart a Doorway

Seanan McGuire

The Red Threads of Fortune

Neon Yang

Austin Macauley Publishers

Genres: Academic, Action & Adventure, African-American, Architecture, Art, Biographies & Memoirs, BIPOC, Business, Catholic, Children's, Christian, Cookbook, Diverse Literature, DIY, Economics, Education & Reference, Environmental, Fantasy, Feminism, Fiction, Health & Wellbeing, Historical Fiction, History, Horror, Humor, Islam, Jewish Literature, Law, LGBTQ+, Literary Fiction, Math & Science, Medical, Middle Grade, Mystery & Crime, Narrative Nonfiction, Nonfiction, Novella, Photography, Picture Book, Poetry, Politics, Psychology, Religion & Spirituality, Romance, Science Fiction, Self-Help, Short Story, Sports & Outdoors, Technology, Thriller & Suspense, Travel, True Crime, Urban Fiction, Westerns, Women's Fiction, and Young Adult

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://austinmacauleyusa.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
Revelations

Xavier Reyes-Ayral

The Magic of Christmas Ravioli

Nina Pfister

Gone But Not Betrayed

Gary M. Williams

Saga Press

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Fiction

Part of: Simon and Schuster > Gallery Books > Saga Press

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://sagapress.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes

Mid size

πŸ’₯ Hit titles
This Is How You Lose the Time War

Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

The Hollow Places

T. Kingfisher

The Grace of Kings

Ken Liu

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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