Big Publishers Accepting Unagented YA Submissions

If the agent route isn’t working for you, and you’re a young adult writer looking for a place to submit then the list below is definitely worth checking out. All these publishers pay advances, unless stated otherwise. Even though this list is geared towards YA fiction writers, some of these places also take adult fiction as well as non-fiction, so again, it’s worth looking into. And all accept U.S. author submissions too.

Hachette Australia: Accepts email submissions on a regular basis. Will respond within three weeks if they are interested. I think that’s an excellent turn around.

Harper Collins Australia: Accepts submissions every Wednesday. Be sure to check their guidelines. Remember the time difference. So say for example, there’s a 15 hour time difference (if I did my math right) for U.S. authors, so if you submit at 9:30am (thinking it would be okay) it would be 12:30pm in Australia and you wouldn’t be able to submit. If you don’t see the “Wednesday Post” button to click on, that’s a clear indication you won’t be able to submit.

Allen and Unwin: Accepts submission every Friday during “The Friday Pitch.” Please make sure to read their guidelines. There’s a special form you need to fill out and copy paste it into your email submission.

Ben Bella: Accepting submissions on a regular basis. Openly states the advances are between 5K and 10K and may be higher if they really want the ms.

Beyond Words: They are in partnership with Atria an imprint of Simon & Schuster . They are into mind, body and spirit and will accept fiction also.

Witness Impulse: This is another imprint of Harper Collins, that even though I’m not sure if they take YA submissions, they are looking for mystery/suspense/thrillers. Even though they don’t pay advances, their royalty rates are high and they pay it monthly which is a perk.

So there it is. More places to submit to without having to have an agent for. BUT, if you do get an offer from one of these places, it would be wise to get a professional to look at your contract. Often times, you can submit to an agent, with your offer and they’d be willing to help, whether they want in on the deal or kindly help without getting involved. And yes, it does happen.

Good luck everyone! And whatever you do, never give up! I truly believe if you strive hard enough to do your research and continue to look (because new ones pop up all the time) you will find a home for your baby.