Updated Dec 12, 2019
All of the publishers on this list publish children’s books. Some just publish picture books, some publish only middle-grade fiction, and some publish a wide variety of genres aimed at adults as well. Some are looking for educational work, others are open to anything. A number of these publishers are large and established. Others are small and just starting out.
The majority are currently open to submissions, but not all of them are. For this article, we have written a brief review of every publisher, focusing on the essentials. However, if you click on the heading with their name you will be able to read the full review of the company. The publishers are listed in no particular order.
If you are focused on publishing a novel aimed at young adults, this list of Y.A. publishers is for you.
None of the publishers we review require agents or previous publications.
Nobrow Press is a respected publisher of graphic novels and Flying Eye is their children’s book imprint. Flying Eye publishes both fiction and nonfiction picture books. Nobrow Press and Flying Eye are both different from what we normally review because they are looking for either an author/illustrator or an already formed author-illustrator pair with a book to pitch. They do seem to make exceptions, but for the most part they are not interested in matching illustrators with authors.
Allen & Unwin is a large independent Australian Press that is open to submissions on a wide range of topics. They have won a number of Australian publisher awards. They accept based on pitches, and have a system known as the “Friday Pitch” which ensures that at least one editor reviews each unsolicited pitch.
Sleeping Bear Press is a well regarded publisher of board books, picture books, middle grade readers, and young adult fiction. They offer advances to some authors. They have good regional distribution in the Midwest and ok distribution in North America. Their books have won a wide variety of awards, all of them are listed here.
Gibbs Smith is an established publisher with good distribution and a focus on cook books, interior design and architecture books, and board books for children. They have published a number of bestsellers, including a board book version of Pride & Prejudice.
Ripple Grove Press is a newer family-run children’s book publisher based out of Portland. They focus on publishing original, beautifully illustrated children’s books. Their website is clear and transparent. It lists their distributor and their literary agent for other publishers interested in translating their work.
Mighty Media Press publishes children’s books, mostly picture books but also those aimed at middle grade readers. Their books have beautiful illustrations.
Mighty Media Press’ website is not like most book publishers. It does not focus on promoting a catalog or trying to recruit new authors, in fact it took me a little bit to figure out that they were a book publisher at all, although
Flashlight is an award winning publisher of illustrated Children’s Books. They publish books aimed at 4 to 8 year olds. They only publish 2 to 4 books every year, so they are very selective. The books they publish are beautifully illustrated. They also have good distribution internationally and nationally. The theme of the book must be universal, and the book should focus on family and/or social situations.
Andersen Press is a British book publishing company that specializes in Children’s books. They also have an American branch. It was founded in 1976 by Klaus Flugge, and was named after Hans Christian Andersen. Random House has a holding in the company and has a strong association with Andersen.
Artisan Artisan focuses on publishing visual-heavy nonfiction books. The visuals themselves vary between photography, illustration, or graphic design, but the idea is that these books communicate ideas and lessons because of their strong visual components.
They are a small press that focuses on publishing women and women identifying authors. The books they publish on female protagonists and the female perspective. Black & White Black & White Publishing was founded in 1995 and is now one of the largest Scottish publishers. They currently have over 200 books in print. They are based in Scotland but they are open to publishing work by authors of any nationality or current geographic location.
Histria Books was founded in 1997 as an academic press, it has since become an independent one. It is now based out of Palm Beach and Las Vegas. They publish general interest books, fiction and literature, and children’s books, as well as scholarly books in broad range of categories John Blake Books
John Blake Books has been publishing bestselling books since 1991. They focus on non-fiction, particularly on on mass-market autobiographies/memoirs. They also have a music imprint, a children’s Dinosuar imprint and an imprint dedicated to history, art, humor and gift books. Persea Books
Persea Books is an independent book publisher based out of New York that was established in the 1970s. Since then, they have gained a reputation for publishing thoughtful books in a variety of literary genres. Piccadilly Press
Piccadilly Press is an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, one of the biggest publishers in the UK. They focus on publishing work for kids between the ages of 8-12. Most of their imprints are not open to unsolicited submissions, but Piccadilly is.
Blue Moon is a boutique Canadian Publisher. They focus on publishing Literary Fiction and Women’s Fiction, as well as Young Adult and Middle Grade works. The stories they publish span various genres including contemporary, historical, mystery, science fiction, and fantasy.
Princeton Architectural Press is a small press that focuses on publishing books on architecture, design, photography, landscape, and visual culture. They also publish beautiful stationary and children’s books. They are based in New York. In 2009 they were bought by McEvoy Group. They are now a sister company to Chronicle Books. Shadow Mountain Shadow Mountain is an imprint of Deseret Books. Both publishers are Mormon, but Deseret Books focuses more on producing faith-based content. Shadow Mountain publishes primarily fiction and they have published a number of New York Times bestselling books. Because the company is Mormon run, books have to be approved by in-house censors in order to be published. They are very firm about publishing “clean books only”. However the authors need not be Mormon.
Text Publishing in an Australian press that has published a wide variety of best sellers. They have won the small publisher of the year award three times. You can get a feel for what they publish here. One of their biggest hits in recent years is the internationally bestselling novel The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion (the first in a series of Rosie novels). They don’t publish picture books or early readers. They do publish middle grade readers and books aimed at young adults.
Familius is a newer publisher, established in the last few years, but the head editor is established and has a good track record of working at other publishing companies. Duopress
duopress is a publisher of innovative non-fiction books and gift books. They publish a large variety of non-traditionally formatted books for children, including board books that fold out, flash cards, and sticker books. They also publish more traditional books for children, including local books (such as Portland Baby). Most of what they publish is aimed at the very young (two and under).
Nosy Crow is a UK-based publisher of children’s books and apps aimed at children. They accept international submissions from all over, but everyone outside of the UK must submit via email (which is their preferred method of submission). They have wide distribution within the UK. The books they published are aimed at children up to the age of 14, although the bulk of what they publish is for children under the age of 12. The young adult books that they do publish are not issue-based, and should not involve drugs, sex, or violence. Most of the apps they publish are aimed at kids between the ages of 2 to 7.
Peachtree Publishers is a well respected independent publisher with good distribution. They are based out of Atlanta, Georgia, and they specialize in publishing children’s books, young adult books, self help titles for parents and educators, and guides to the American South.
Hot Key is a UK based publisher of books for children ages 8 to 18. They are interested in publishing a wide variety of books that cover a number of genres and age groups. They do not focus on publishing books that are particularly educational. They have published some very famous authors including Garth Nix. The director of the company is very experienced. They are a newer press, but they have good distribution, are part of a much larger company, and have already published a number of successful books.
This Philadelphia based press publishes just 25 books a year in a whole range of genres, from children’s books to nonfiction to science fiction. Unlike most publishers that tackle a large range of topics, Quirk books has a clear marketing plan and to a certain degree their books have a cohesive feel, because they all are quirky.
Free Spirit Publishing is an established publisher with good distribution. They publish primarily nonfiction, mostly curriculum based, where they have a number of niche focuses.
They do publish fiction but only in the form of board books (aimed at infants to 4 year olds) and picture books (for ages 4 to 8) that focus on social skills and getting along, early learning, character education, self-esteem, and other topics related to positive early childhood development.
MB Publishing is a small press based out of Bethesda, Maryland. They focus on publishing children’s books and Judiaca (things pertaining to Jewish life and customs) also largely aimed at children. MB Publishing was founded over 5 years ago by Margie Blumberg as more or less a self-publishing operation. She still continues to publish her own work through MB Publishing. There is an old interview about the details of that here.
Turner publishes books in a wide range of categories and formats—fiction and nonfiction. They publish mainly in print but have electronic options as well. They are a major independent publishing house that has a number of imprints. They publish children’s books under their imprint Ramesy & Todd.
Triangle Square is an imprint of Seven Stories Press that focuses on publishing young adult novels and children’s books. Seven Stories Press is an independent publisher that is well respected and has been around for twenty years. Their books are distributed by Random House. Triangle Square focuses on publishing high quality writing that is educational.
Maverick Children’s Books is a UK based publisher of children’s books. Their books generally have wonderful covers and illustrations, and are quirky. They publish a variety of books for children but only appear to be open to submissions in the picture book category. You can learn more about the team behind Maverick here.
Tilbury House publishes adult books too (only nonfiction), but they mainly focus on publishing children’s books with a social message. Most focus on the environment, cultural diversity, nature, and social justice. They have published a number of award winning books that are greatly respected. They focus on getting these books into schools. The books they publish are for children between the ages of 7 to 12.
The Quarto Publishing Group is an international publishing house known for its illustrated books. They publish most of their work through a number of niche imprints each with their own focus. All of their US imprints are distributed by Hachette.
Immedium was founded in 2004 and is led by experienced professionals, who have written critically acclaimed books, marketed print and digital media, and sold #1 nationwide best-sellers. Aquanauts, a series of books they published, was turned into a successful TV show for children.
Chronicle Books is a reputable publishing house that publishes many wonderful books, however for the sake of this list, I am just focusing on their children’s line. They have published a number of books that have been nominated for the Caldecott, the most prestigious Children’s book award. They publish a large number of children’s books every year and have excellent distributors.
Paulist Press is an established press that has been around for 150 years. Paulist Press publishes Christian books in a wide variety of sub-genres, including children’s books. They have excellent distribution and sales within that market.
ABDO Books is a publisher that focuses exclusively on educational books for children 4 to 12 years old. They sell many books to schools and appear to be rather good at niche marketing.
August House was established in 1978, originally it focused on publishing poetry but in the 80’s their focus switched to folklore and after that, to storytelling. They no longer publish poetry, instead they focus on publishing children’s books, although many of these are influenced by folklore. They currently publish children’s folktales, picture books, early-grade chapter books, and storytelling resource materials.
Kane Miller is an award winning publisher of educational children’s books. Their most famous book to date is the children’s classic Everyone Poops, the English translation of Minna Unchi, a Japanese children’s book written by Taro Gomi. They have good distribution, there books are widely available at libraries, and they generally do an excellent job.
LEE & LOW BOOKS’ motto is “About Everyone. For Everyone”. They focus on publishing multicultural children’s books. They are the largest multicultural book publisher in the United States. The books they publish largely have an educational element and they offer books for readers starting at the age of 4 and going all the way up to age 18. They are an independent publisher that has published hundreds of books and been around for twenty five years. In 2014 they were named “Indie Publisher of the Year“.
Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian small press based out of Vancouver. They have won the Jim Douglas Publisher of the Year Award (from the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia), and they have been a finalist for Small Press Publisher of the Year (awarded by the Canadian Booksellers Association) five times.They have good distribution in Canada and on the West Coast. I’ve seen a number of their books in stores in the Pacific Northwest. They also regularly host and promote events for their authors, and that is a good sign as well.
This children’s publisher focuses on science and math books that parents and children read together, meaning they offer family focused rather than school focused learning.
Pajama Press is a publisher of books for children and young adults. They focus on publishing literary works. They publish books that fall into a wide range of categories including: picture books, board books for the very young, middle-grade novels, young adult novels, and nonfiction for all juvenile categories.
Dawn Publications is a boutique print press focused on publishing books connecting children and nature. They usually just publish six books a year. Their niche focus really seems to pay off; their books have gone on to win a wide variety of awards. Dawn was founded in 1979. The Our Mission Page, although a little tricky to find without a direct link, is well worth the read.
Skypony Publishing is a division of Skyhorse Publishing. This division focuses on publishing work for children, and are also open to publishing Young Adult work as long as it intersects with other areas of interest for the publisher such as ecology, farm living, wilderness living, recycling, and other “green” topics.
Dancing with Bear is a print and e-book publisher that publishes exclusively Christian manuscripts. They publish books for adults but they also have a children’s line. They are currently open to submissions in all categories.
A small print publisher based out of Arizona, Hohm has been around for many years. They are a respected press that has published a number of well known authors. The publish a wide variety of genres, including poetry, nonfiction, and children’s books. They generally focus on eastern religion and spirituality. They are not interested in fiction or short story collections.
Eifrig Publishing is a small independent publishing company that focuses on publishing children’s books. They also publish family psychology books, some nonfiction for adults, and books on education. They publish some eBooks. Their motto is “good for our kids, good for our environment, and our good for our communities.” .
Jolly Fish Press was started in 2012. They are based out of Provo, Utah. Jolly Fish has a major distributor and a large staff for a relatively new press. Their authors have won numerous awards. They publish commercial and literary fiction, historical, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, humor, horror, thriller, middle-grade, and young adult. They also publish motivational nonfiction, self-help, biography, and memoir. They are going through ownership changes at this time, so approach with caution.
