Love the Word

The Big Six Houses

Officially, the big six publishing houses are the five following publishers: HarperCollins, Hachette Books, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon and Schuster.

While the “Big 6” typically have strict guidelines against accepting un-agented submissions, some of their smaller imprints are flexible. Please see the list below, with emphasis on the houses that print adult and young adult romance novels. Notice the lines each has, which are the imprints or houses dedicated to specific story themes.

Mass market paperback, Trade paperback (not print on demand) and hardcover.

1. Harper Collins —

Founded in 1817 and is the second-largest consumer book publisher.

Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing operations in 17 countries. With more than 120 branded imprints around the world, HarperCollins publishes approximately 10,000 new books every year, and has a print and digital catalog of more than 200,000 titles. HarperCollins authors include winners of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Newberry and Caldecott Medals, and the Man Booker Prize.

Submissions

No unsolicited manuscripts with exceptions during open submissions periods.

HARPERCOLLINS IMPRINTS

4th Estate
Founded in 1984, 4th Estate is one of the most innovative imprints in the industry, with a reputation for publishing critically-acclaimed and beautifully-designed titles.
Avon
Set up in 2007, Avon sells commercial fiction in digital publishing and paperback. Avon builds big-brand authors. Avon has become renowned for its digital publishing as well as its prowess in paperback.

Avon Books— Historical romance, paranormal, urban fantasy, contemporary and regency.

Avon Impulse

Avon Impulse – digital-first publishing imprint of Avon Books. Editors spot trends and manage your career; marketers; publicists.

Harper Audio
Children’s stories, thrillers and bestsellers.
Harper Inspire
UK Christian market. Classic titles, distribute globally.

Harper Voyager
Fantasy and science fiction.
George R. R. Martin, Raymond E. Feist, David Eddings and Robin Hobb, Joe Abercrombie, Guy Gavriel Kay, Peter V Brett, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K Dick, Ray Bradbury; Mark Lawrence, Emmi Itäranta, Josh Malerman.

Harper360
All formats, available for sale in the UK. Read More

HarperCollins Children’s Books
New talent and best-selling authors.

HarperCollins in Ireland
Irish by birth or living and working in Ireland.

HarperFiction
Commercial, bestselling crime author Stuart MacBride, to leaders in women’s fiction Cecelia Ahern, Lindsey Kelk and Barbara Taylor Bradford. Historical fiction of Bernard Cornwell, Kimberley Chambers, A.J. Finn and Gail Honeyman, and thriller Jeffery Deaver and Karin Slaughter. Read More

HarperNonFiction
Cutting-edge of commercial non-fiction, brand names and new talent.

HQ
Fiction and non-fiction, across all formats. Not restricted by genre.

HQ Digital
Digital-first imprint, commercial fiction globally. Crime and thrillers and emotional women’s fiction, romance and historical novels.

Mills & Boon
Romantic fiction. Each month, 120 new titles. 200 authors in the UK and 1,300 worldwide. The popular novels have a UK readership of over 1.3 million a month. Read More

Mudlark
High-quality non-fiction aimed at a general readership. Memoir, polemic and narrative non-fiction.

One More Chapter
Award-winning digital first publishing. Commercial fiction. Read More

The Borough Press
Brilliant fiction with a broad reach.

William Collins
Asking the questions that matter.

2. Hachette Book Group USA —

leading US trade publisher and a division of the third largest trade and educational book publisher in the world, Hachette Livre.

1,400+ adult books (including 50-100 digital-only titles)
300 books for young readers
700 audiobook titles (including print and download-only titles)

Books on the New York Times bestseller list.

Submissions

Manuscript Submissions and Unsolicited Queries

No unsolicited manuscript submissions nor unsolicited queries.

Yen Press will review unsolicited graphic novel submissions. YenPress.com

Imprints

Grand Central Publishing, formerly Warner Books, came into existence in 1970 when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. Hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market imprints that cater to every kind of reader.

Little, Brown and Company publishes fiction and nonfiction by American writers.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers publishes 135 books a year. Divided into three imprints: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers features our core list of picture books and hardcover and paperback fiction and nonfiction for middle grade and young adult readers; LB Kids produces novelty and brand/licensed tie-ins; and Poppy publishes paperback original series for teen girls.

Hachette Nashville is three imprints—Faithwords in the inspirational market; Center Street nonfiction books in such categories as Conservative Political and Military; and Worthy, an inspirational adult and children’s book publisher specializing in Christian authors and bestselling nonfiction and fiction books.

Hachette Audio matches HBG material with talented actors, composers, and producers to find its fullest expression.

Orbit is Hachette Book Group’s Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint. Action-packed urban fantasy to widescreen space opera; from sweeping epic adventures to near-future thrillers. 40 titles each year from established and debut authors.

Perseus Books is a Hachette Books Group company, comprised of the imprints Avalon Travel, Basic Books, Black Dog & Leventhal, Da Capo Press, Da Capo Lifelong, PublicAffairs, Running Press, and Seal Press. Perseus also has a publishing partnership with Bold Type Books.

GRAND CENTRAL PUBLISHING

HACHETTE AUDIO

HACHETTE NASHVILLE

LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY

LITTLE, BROWN BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

ORBIT

PERSEUS

3. Macmillan —

About Macmillan

Macmillan Publishers is a global trade publishing company operating in over 70 countries, with imprints in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, and India. Macmillan is a division of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a large family-owned media company headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.

Macmillan operates eight divisions in the US: Celadon Books; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Flatiron Books; Henry Holt and Company; Macmillan Audio; Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group; St. Martin’s Press and Tor/Forge. In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, Macmillan publishes under the Pan Macmillan name. The German company, Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage, includes among its imprints S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Rowohlt, and Droemer Knaur.

Submissions

No unsolicited submissions, resumes/portfolios, nor vendor inquiries.

OUR PUBLISHERS

Macmillan publishes in all formats via prestigious independent publishers.

ADULT TRADE

Farrar, Straus & Giroux

North Point Press, Hill and Wang, Faber and Faber Inc., Books for Young Readers

First Second

Henry Holt

Metropolitan Books, Times Books, Holt Paperbacks, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

Macmillan Audio

Picador

St Martin’s Press

Griffin, Minotaur, All Points Books, Castle Point Books, St. Martin’s Press Paperbacks, Let’s Go, Thomas Dunne Books, Truman Talley Books

Tor/Forge

Starscape, Tor Teen Book

Flatiron Books

Macmillan Collector’s Library

Celadon Books

CHILDREN’S

Farrar, Straus & Giroux for Young Readers

Feiwel & Friends

Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

Imprint

Kingfisher

Odd Dot

Priddy Books

Roaring Brook Press

Square Fish

Tor Children’s

4. & 5. Penguin Random House —

The Penguin Publishing Group is a leading trade book publishers in the United States. Penguin Books was originally founded in the UK in 1935 with a vision for books to be “bought as easily and casually as a packet of cigarettes.” Today, Penguin Publishing Group is the largest division of Penguin Random House, Inc.

The Penguin Publishing Group and Penguin Young Readers Group are Penguin Random House companies.

No unsolicited submissions, proposals, manuscripts, illustrations, artwork, or submission queries.

Submissions

DAW accepts unsolicited submissions of science fiction and fantasy novels. No short stories, short story collections, novellas, or poetry. Length of the novels is over 80,000 words. For additional requirements for DAW, please view here.

Schwartz & Wade accepts submissions. 15 to 20 books published per year, mostly picture books, middle grade and young adult fiction, non-traditional nonfiction, and graphic novels. Send to: Schwartz & Wade Books, Submissions Editor, 1745 Broadway, 10-4, New York, New York 10019.

Digital imprints, include Alibi, Flirt, Hydra, and Loveswept. To find out more about these imprints, review the ‘Digital Imprints’ section here.

Alibi, an e-originals imprint specializing in mystery and thrillers. here to read submission process and guidelines.

Loveswept, an e-originals, focusing on passionate, heartfelt romances spanning genres from historical to contemporary romance. here to read submission process and guidelines.

PENGUIN PUBLISHING GROUP

PENGUIN YOUNG READERS GROUP

Penguin Young Readers Group publishes books ranging from birth to young adults in a variety of formats. Fiction or nonfiction, classic authors and illustrators. Award winning backlist.

Random House, Inc—

Penguin Random House is the international home to 250 independent publishing imprints. 70 Nobel Prize laureates.

Penguin Random House is the international home to nearly 275 independent publishing imprints. 70,000 digital and 15,000 print titles annually, with more than 100,000 eBooks available worldwide.

6. Simon and Schuster —

Simon & Schuster was founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Since 2006, Simon & Schuster has been part of CBS Corporation.

No unsolicited materials or artwork.

Archway Publishing is the self publishing branch

Jan Wilder Bill

Love the Word

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