Who is your publisher?

Allen & Unwin. They're great.

I still think you should go to the book shop/library/online stores and look at the books in your category to get an idea of who's publishing what.

I've had a lot of publishers, and some I was happy with and some I found wanting. But the books involved were so diverse that I'm not sure this information is going to be of any help to you: so much depends on the genre you're writing in.

The Suspense Author said:

If you find it at the book shop or library there is a pretty solid chance that company is not taking unsolicited queries from authors. My manuscript is already in the hands of three publishers and I have hopes that one of them will take it. That's besides the point of this post though lol

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Publishers which don't take unsolicited manuscripts can almost always be reached by a literary agent, which is why you should consider submitting to agents, not publishers, if it's a trade deal you're after.

If you're submitting to publishers whose books don't appear in bookshops, then recognise the impact that might well have on your books' sales.

My primary publisher is Tor Books (a subsidiary of Tom Doherty Publishing, part of the Macmillan Group--one of the Big 5). I like them very much. I've been with them for twelve years now on 21 books.)

I'm also published with in U.S. Markets, in print (the good ones, all of which I like and have been great to work with and in no particular order) :

SmartPop Books
Moonstone Press
Western Reflections Publishing
Wild Child Publishing
Edge Publishing
Running Press

There are also the foreign market publishers and audio publishers, but those are generally secondary printings where I didn't work directly with an editor.

I won't mention the bad ones. They're out of business anyway, so why beat dead horses?

So far, I'm with Simon & Schuster at their Gallery Books imprint. I love them. The team I've worked with has been fantastic.

So far, I'm published by Buzz Books USA (now defunct), St. Martin's/Griffin (as a contributor to an anthology), my poetry debut is about to happen with a tiny international Kasva Press (April, 2016), and my nonfiction again with a British university press, 2017 (part of an anthology again). I publish my shorts with magazines.

On Small Presses and Bookshops:
My initial (tiny, POD) publisher really treated me well and the book became a Kindle top seller, but print sales were limited to small, indie bookshops brought about by queries and my personal appearances. Having worked with Hastings Books for a while, I can say that just having distribution through Ingram's, etc., is not enough. A lot of small publishers are listed with them. The book has to be returnable or most shops will never carry it in quantity. Period. They also need a relationship with the buyers. People like to say all that is changing, but revamping their primary business model will only happen EXTREMELY slowly.

Small press experience was awesome, a great way to start building a fan base, but I kept my expectations in line. I knew there was a risk—and now the books are out of print. (I'm not interested in self-publishing and will consider a next step when I place the next book.) but I learned SO MUCH and feel immeasurably more prepared to take on the broader marketplace. I can't speak to St. Martin's and Kasva as in both cases I'm just a contributor but so far they have both been responsive and polite.

The Suspense Author said:

Yeah, I am going with a small publisher to build a base. I am a no name author and my novel is about a man becoming a serial killer, which apparently isn't a hot topic (or so agents have reminded me time and time again) so I decided to give querying to agents a rest. Maybe if I wrote a YA novel whose target audience was 16 year old girls, then, maybe an agent would care to take it on. My novel is a bit dark, i sent it to about 15-20 beta readers and not a single one disliked it, but agents don't want to take it on. That is where a small publisher will come in.

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I don't know how many agents you've queried, but if you've got a narrow genre, then yes, it'll likely take you some time and some digging to find the right representative. Agents will rep what they can sell, and for a narrow genre you'll need someone with the right contacts. Where are you getting your agent list?

As for publishers - who publishes your comps? That's probably the best place to start.

The Suspense Author said:

Tons of places. I went to AAR and queried every agents that represented horror or thrillers. I went through lists on other sites as well.

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Any nibbles? If not, maybe your query letter needs a bit of a polish. Have you put it up on Query Letter Hell?

I'm with Struik Lifestyle, an imprint of Penguin Random House SA. I don't know if it's different with non-fiction, not having an agent, but my experience with Struik and Penguin has been fantastic. From the first email to Struik containing my proposal, (which received a reply in a couple of hours) to now, with the marketing department at Penguin, people in this organization have been friendly, patient and helpful with all my noob questions. And there have been a lot of questions.

I've been working with Harmony Ink Press on my first book. So far, they have been really fabulous. But I won't have the full picture until the book is released and we start getting sales.