Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Advance Paying YA Publishers Accepting Unagented Submissions

UPDATE, PLEASE CLICK HERE!!!


Here is a list of YA Publishers and their imprints that are accepting unagented author submissions via email (if that’s your thing) and that are offering advances ranging from a token ($100+) to 1,000+ advance. By no means is this list exhaustive. It’s just a few of them out there; most I’ve had experience conversing with. The comments I have on them are my own opinion, which you can take or toss. And as far as I’ve researched, all are reputable places (unless I hear otherwise which I will remove.)


I’d be delighted to hear of any other YA publishers with such guidelines and will add them to the list if anyone else knows of more. The list is in no particular order.

Side note: To prevent any broken links and misdirect someone to the wrong site, I would suggest you Google the press you are interested in and read as much as possible before submitting. I also encourage you to ask the publisher questions if you have additional questions that the publisher hasn’t listed on their site. In my experience most publishers are delighted to hear from any writer asking questions and usually will respond in a timely manner. The ones that don’t respond at all…is a clear indication to move on and keep searching elsewhere.

Poisoned Pencil: Accepts YA Mysteries only with additional sub-genres. I’ve had the joy of working with Ellen Larson on one of my titles and I couldn’t be happier. Very Responsive and a great bunch to work with.

Merit Press: A YA imprint of F+W Media. Jackie Mitchard is the head of the operation and is a splendid editor to deal with. Very responsive and insightful. They want more contemporary novels with strong female protagonists.


Kensington Books: Responsive. I’ve also seen their titles in my library (shows signs of good distribution.) Advances may exclude e-kensington.

Sourcebooks: Fire is their YA imprint. Responsive, though the submission wait may take longer than expected. Definitely a great company. I’ve seen many titles in the Barnes & Noble.

Journalstone: I don’t know much about them, but I’ve read they give good advances. I think they’re more into Sci-Fi. Remember to always check the guidelines first before submitting.

Medallion Press: They have a YA-YA line (young adults writing for young adults.) Advances are 1,000 and above.

Quirk Books: They accept YA but be sure to read the guidelines and perhaps check out their YA books too. They all have a quirky offbeat feel to it. Interesting press. Responsive.

ChiTeen: a YA imprint of ChiZine which will be accepting submissions July 2014. Be on the lookout.

Prometheus Books: YA more sci-fi and fantasy bent.

Spencer Hill Press: A growing YA press. Only accepting submissions in December.

Polis Books: New publisher. I haven’t yet dealt with them, but they pay advances and accept email submissions. Nothing is mentioned on exactly what type of advance that is though.

Belle Books: They’ve been around for a long time now and have lots of great titles out there. I’ll be honest, response times are glacier slow. BUT they always do respond and now have just hired more help in the acquisitions and editorial department.

Entangled: Has made an announcement recently about now paying advances $250+.

Pelican Book Group: Has a YA imprint, Watershed. They are Christian bent, but are willing to accept submissions on the edgier side. Be sure to check the guidelines and titles to see if your baby is a good fit.

Okay, so that’s it! And again, if anyone else wants to add to it, just let me know. Be sure to read all the guidelines, do your homework. Google is your friend. Other good sites to check out for reputability:

Predators and Editors

AbsoluteWrite.com (Bewares, Recommendations and Background Check forum)

Publisher’s Marketplace

Best wishes to your submission journey and good luck to you!!!

RECENTLY ADDED

Harmony Ink:  A YA fiction imprint of Dreamspinner Press.  This imprint is focusing on GLBT characters.  Offering between 500 to 1,000 dollar advances.  Looks promising.

Hot Key Books:  This is a U.K. publisher also accepting U.S. authors.  They focus on MG and YA.  Advances.  Hot Key is a new division of Bonnier Books.  Bonnier also does Piccadilly Press (another place to submit your teen novel.  But I think Piccadilly focuses more on picture books.)  Be sure to read the guidelines and check out the books too to see which one is a better fit.

Intrigue Publishing:  They are focusing on YA Crime, Urban Drama and Sensual Romance.  Advances.  They have a couple of releases coming out in August 2013 that sound interesting.


13 comments:

Jesse Kimmel-Freeman said...

Any idea if any of these publishers take self-published work that is looking for a publisher representation?

Lisa M. Cronkhite said...

Hi, Jesse. Good question. Off the top of my head, I know Belle Books accepts previously published works. Not sure about self-published though. Usually the guidelines or on the publisher's FAQs page will state what they accept or not. Remember if a publisher doesn't state it on their guidelines, it never hurts to slip them an email about it. As I've mentioned, all these pubs listed here are pretty responsive. Good luck to you! Thanks again for visiting.

Sandra Cox said...

Thanks, Lisa. This is helpful.

Lisa M. Cronkhite said...

Thank you for visiting, Sandra. Glad you find the info useful. Good luck on your submission.

Kimberly said...

Great list!

For Jesse, check out Meredith Rich's (Bloomsbury Spark) tweets from July 18th, it sounds like they do.

Lisa M. Cronkhite said...

Thanks, Kimberly. I'll look into it and add it to the list. Much appreciate!

Anonymous said...

I'm in the middle of writing my first novel, and I'm only 14. Do you think that will play a part in wether or not my novel will get accepted or published?

Lisa M. Cronkhite said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lisa M. Cronkhite said...

Hey there. Yes, it will most likely play a part when submitting your novel. You may have to get your parent's or guardian's consent to publish. In some cases, YA publishers are looking for teen writers. For example, Medallion Press looks for YA-YA. Which means, young adults writing young adult novels. If you go to their submission guidelines, it even says YA by young adults ages 12-19. There are also other places like this, some on my list. You'll need to do your research and pay attention to the guidelines of course. But it may play a part in your favor. Good Luck!

Unknown said...

Is it common to have to pay a publishing company to give my book a buzz? I would like to use a publisher as well as self publish for 2nd revenue. How do I go about this?

Lisa M. Cronkhite said...

Unless you're going to self-publish, you shouldn't have to pay for anything from a publisher. It would be considered a big red flag if you have to pay for something and they claim to be a traditional publisher. Those are vanity presses and in most cases are a very bad idea. If you wanted to do some separate promotional work, that's up to you. But again, unless you are self-publishing, never pay the publisher. Money should always flow to the writer, not away from them.

chris said...

Thanks for the recently added, L. You can pick 'em!

Lisa M. Cronkhite said...

Thanks, Chris. Unfortunately, there are quite a few things that have changed. Sourcebooks no longer takes unagented submissions. Kensington doesn't take YA fiction anymore. Spencerhill Press has been getting complaints from their authors. And also Soho Press no longer takes unagented submissions.

Lastly, the Pencil is being absorbed into the Pen because it isn't working as a separate entity. It's definitely time to make a new and updated list.