For this inquiry post, I wanted to explore the world of traditional publishers—how do books get from authors to the shelves in books? Before this inquiry exploration, I had not taken much time to consider the publishing companies. Of course, after looking at the spines on my bookshelf enough, I had become familiar with some names: Penguin, DAW, Vintage Canada, Harper Perennial to name a few.
As I became more interested in books during my undergrad, I noticed certain publishers’ names coming time and time again. From this, I learned that certain publishers focus on certain genres, book lengths, ages, or just general ~vibes~. For example, DAW focuses on fantasy and sci-fi and Greystone focuses on environmental and nature texts (with a separate section, Greystone Kids, for children’s books). Invisible Publishing is a company I actually found through their booth at a book fair—and indie, not-for-profit Canadian publishing company. This was the publisher that made me note who was publishing books, as their name came up time and time again from hearing about interesting new Canadian reads. In particular, they are the publisher for one of my new favourite authors, Sydney Hegele.
For this post, I wanted to explore how to find Canadian publishers, and how to find if they are accepting un-agented submissions (submissions from authors who do not have a literary agent). This question led me to the Canadian Authors Association website, which has a list of Canadian publishing companies.
While this provides a list of Canadian publishers, I wanted to specifically explore those aimed at Children’s Literature—who are publishers that we will see in our school’s libraries and our classroom shelves? Below are some Canadian publishers that are currently accepting submissions.
House of Anansi: houseofanansi.com/
- Groundwood Books is the branch of House of Anansi focused on children’s literature.
- Canada’s leading independent publisher.
- Founded in 1967.
Arsenal Pulp Press: arsenalpulp.com/
- 5-time finalist for the Canadian Booksellers Association’s “Small Press Publisher of the Year” (2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014).
- 2-time winner of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia’s “Jim Douglas Publisher of the Year Award” (2007, 2020).
- Based in Vancouver.
Second Story Press: secondstorypress.ca/
- Focuses on feminist, inclusive, and empowering texts and stories.
- Includes fiction and nonfiction for all ages.
- Founded in 1988.
Annick Press: www.annickpress.com/
- Recognized as an innovative publisher for both children and adults.
- Based in Toronto.
- Founded in 1975.
To end this post, I wanted to share how to use a publishing company’s website to discover whether or not they are accepting submissions. To do this, I wanted to use the Zoom screen share and recording format. Enjoy!
