10 PLUS U.S. PUBLISHERS WHO ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS FROM WRITERS

SEE UPDATE: APRIL 30th, 2011

Last week in the post 10 U.K. publishers who accept submissions from writers
I promised to put up a list of ten U.S. publishers.

Well, here it is.

I repeat the preamble to the U.K. list below. PLEASE READ IT:

The links I've posted here will take you straight to the appropriate page on the publisher's website detailing their submissions policy and instructions. PLEASE read these carefully and do as asked.

While on any site I strongly recommend you browse around a bit and familiarise yourself with the publisher's list, seek out their blog (if they have one) and gather clues on their current acquisitions policy.

If a publisher has a newsletter, and they seem as though they could be a possible home for your work at some point in the future, then sign up.

PLEASE, don't just smash, grab and send; give careful thought to your query and show consideration.

You know the drill - but if you don't, don't send, otherwise a few more doors may close.

This collection is a mixed bag, PLEASE read the notes, not all the publishers listed are fiction publishers, (there are some interesting non-fiction imprints here) do not assume any of the publishers acquire the kind of fiction you produce.

Before getting your hopes up, run a check on those publishers you are not familiar with; perhaps run them through Writer Beware and/or Preditors & Editors.

OK, first up, five imprints from the US Macmillan stable: Tor, Forge, Orb, Sevens Seas and Farrar, Strauss & Giroux.

• Newmarket Press, has a fiction list which includes the actor Gene Hackman's novel Wake of the Perdido Star, which I alluded to in this post.

• Sourcebooks has guidelines for general submissions and specific guidelines for romance here.

• Beaufort Books

• Gibbs Smith. Utah based outfit. (Would not be my first choice. I'd be a bit circumspect here and do some thorough research before getting too involved.)

• Sterling Publishing - a wholly owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble.

• Llewellyn Publications deals mainly with New Age, spritual growth type stuff but they do have a mystery fiction imprint - guidelines here.

• Melville House - PLEASE make it your duty to read their guidelines.

• Soho Press

• Soft Skull

OK, here's a sub-list of publishers that may interest writers of kids' stuff:

• Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin, writers for younger readers only.
• Boyds Mills Press - four imprints (including Rotterdam based Lemniscaat for the European market) for younger readers.
• Albert Whitman
  
• Charles Bridge
• Beacon Press, based in Boston, also has a childrens list, and will look at illustrated books.
  

As you'll likely know, despite efforts to revive the form, seriously published short-stories have just about died in the U.K. so it's always a pleasure to come across publishers who are still on the lookout for well-written collections of short-stories: Cantara Books is one such, and, interestingly, are positively interested in novellas. OV Books, an imprint of Dzanc Books, is another and will only look at collections of short-stories. Black Lawrence also look at short-story collections, translations from French and German, and poetry, as well as creative non-fiction, but take note of their submission windows.

Here's one just for CANADIANS.

Here's one for Black American writers - fiction, non-fiction and educational texts: Asabi Publishing.

And, to round off, two interesting non-fiction imprints:
Quirk who are looking for entertaining (not necessarily entertainment) non-fiction.
The New Press.

How many did I say? Not counting individual imprints there must be twenty two publishers here.
Best of luck with your queries. Let me know how you get on.