By Sian Toop
So, great news, you’ve finished your manuscript. But, what now? Well, now you need to get it published of course! We have put together a list of publishers who are always interested in commercial fiction and who are always open to submissions, including links to their sites and submission guidelines. Let’s check them out below.
Bookouture
Digital publisher Bookouture are a division of Hachette UK, printing commercial fiction. Their submission guidelines state that they are looking for full-length, commercial fiction and the genres they publish include crime thriller, psychological thriller, historical fiction, women’s fiction, romance, and fantasy. Bookouture aren’t currently interested in children’s books, or short stories. They have a handy submission form to guarantee no details are forgotten and ask that your manuscript is submitted as complete in a clear font with double spacing. They read everything submitted to them and aim to get back to authors within a month.
Joffe Books
Founded in 2014, Joffe Books is a leading independent publisher of commercial fiction, especially crime and mystery fiction yet their website states that they are also looking for psychological thrillers, cosy crime, police procedurals, chillers, suspense, and domestic noir. They also love women’s fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, and romance novels, including WWII romances and sagas, but please don’t send them YA or children’s fiction. There is no submission form this time, however their submission guidelines are clear and in terms of your manuscript, they ask for a full-length book (minimum 60,000 word count) preferably attached as a Word document or alternatively, as a PDF. Unfortunately, Joffe books don’t want you to be disheartened if you don’t hear back from them, but if you’ve had no contact within three months of submission, you’ve unfortunately been unsuccessful.
Storm Publishing
Described by themselves as a brand-new digital-first publisher, the team at Storm Publishing have over 100 years of publishing experience between them! Their submission guidelines state that the genres they are also looking for include crime, thriller and mystery fiction, historical fiction, multi-cultural fiction, and romantic fiction. They are also open to science fiction and fantasy but please don’t send them non-fiction or children’s fiction. The Storm Publishing website also includes a submission form yet beyond what’s requested on that form, there aren’t many other guidelines for their submissions, but they do promise to get back to you within two weeks which is super speedy!
Orion Dash
Orion Dash is the new digital-first, commercial fiction imprint at the Orion Publishing Group. They are looking for authors to submit manuscripts that are commercial fiction including the genres of: women’s fiction, romance, saga, historical, crime and thriller. Orion Dash are keen to see more diverse voices in commercial fiction and want to hear from authors that are writing characters who are BAME, LGBTQ+ and/or have disabilities. They aren’t currently looking for novellas, children’s or YA fiction, or short stories. Their submission guidelines are very simple — just sent a synopsis and full manuscript to dashdigital@orionbooks.co.uk and unfortunately, they can’t respond to all submissions.
So, if you have finished your manuscript, there is no time to waste. Good luck submitting!
