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DIRECTORY

Best Literary Fiction Book Publishing Companies

Showing 122 publishers that match your search.

Catapult

Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Literary Fiction, Narrative Nonfiction, Diverse Literature, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Short Story

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://books.catapult.co/

Diversity: Diverse Literature

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
All You Can Ever Know

Nicole Chung

The Manningtree Witches

A.K. Blakemore

Lean Fall Stand

Jon McGregor

McSweeney's Books

Genres: Literary Fiction, Narrative Nonfiction, Humor, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry

Location: San Francisco, US

Website: https://store.mcsweeneys.net/

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Manuscript entries - View guidelines →

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
Indelible in the Hippocampus

Shelly Oria

Of Color

Jaswinder Bolina

The Fire In His Wake

Spencer Wolff

Melville House

Genres: Literary Fiction, Narrative Nonfiction, Politics, History, Art, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://www.mhpbooks.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
Cat Out of Hell

Lynne Truss

Debt: the First 5,000 Years

David Graeber

Fiasco

Imre Kertész

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Europa Editions

Genres: Literary Fiction, Diverse Literature, and Fiction

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://www.europaeditions.com/

Diversity: Diverse Literature

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Mid size

💥 Hit titles
My Brilliant Friend

Elena Ferrante

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Muriel Barbery

The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine

Alina Bronsky

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

Stairway Press

Genres: Math & Science, Science Fiction, Politics, Thriller & Suspense, Action & Adventure, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Self-Help, Environmental, Biographies & Memoirs, Fantasy, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Short Story

Location: Phoenix, US

Website: https://stairwaypress.com

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
In Global Warming We Trust: Too Big to Fail

Anthony Sadar

Failure To Fracture

Anthony Garone

Cyberwarfare

Larry Bell

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

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

BOA Editions

Genres: Literary Fiction, Biographies & Memoirs, Diverse Literature, Poetry, Short Story, Nonfiction, and Fiction

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://www.boaeditions.org/

Diversity: Diverse Literature

Accepts unagented submissions

Yes Contests - View guidelines →

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
Joytime Killbox

Brian Wood

The Year of the Dog

Deborah Paredez

The OK End of Funny Town

Mark Polanzak

New Directions

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

Location: New York City, US

Website: https://www.ndbooks.com/

Accepts unagented submissions

No

Indie publisher

Small press

💥 Hit titles
The Emissary

Yoko Tawada

A Shock

Keith Ridgway

The Caretaker

Doon Arbus

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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