One of the biggest problems that worry new authors in India is how they can get their manuscripts published. Their dilemma arises from the fact that in India the publishing industry is not as well understood as in the west or other countries. The lines that separate different types of publishing are frequently blurred and new authors are often confused about which path they want for their book. Hence, it becomes difficult to find traditional publishers looking for new authors.
Traditional publishers are the real deal. Authors who wish to make a name for themselves in the literary world should aim to get published traditionally. Why? Because the intricate and tough process of getting selected can teach a new author many things about how the publishing world works, show the improvements they can make in their writing process, and expose their strengths and weakness as an author. The unknown debut authors without an audience or following who are selected for traditional publishing are really special because the very fact that a publisher is willing to spend grueling hours on editing, proof-reading and typesetting means that either the literature is of excellent quality or the book is marketable. Or sometimes both.
The Business model of traditional publishers is simple. Authors send manuscripts and the publisher either accepts or declines them. If accepted the authors receive (or don’t receive) an advance against the royalties they expect to receive from book sales.
In traditional publishing, authors don’t pay to get published but instead receive (or don’t receive) money from the publisher.
A
Alchemy Publishers (defunct)
About
Alchemy publishers is a boutique publishing house started by Mr C.K. Mehra and Mr S.K. Mehra, sons of Late Shri D. Mehra (founder of Rupa & Co.). They publish in a range of genres that includes self-help, philosophy, religion, wildlife, fiction, women’s studies, travel and coffee-table books.
Notable authors
None
Submission guidelines
They accept unsolicited manuscripts. You have to send a book proposal with the following details – Full name, Country, Phone Number, Book Genre, About yourself, Book synopsis, Manuscript (attachment in pdf or doc format) to editorial@alchemypublishers.co.in.
Contact
767/23, Pratap Street, Daryaganj, Ansari Road,
New Delhi, Delhi 110002
Phone: 011 2327-3838
Aleph Book Company
About
They call themselves “publishers of fine writing”, and rightfully so. Aleph book company was founded in 2011 by David Davidar in partnership with R. K. Mehra and Kapish Mehra of Rupa Publications India. It is an independent publishing company and since its inception has produced a slew of national and international books whose authors have received numerous accolades and awards.
Notable authors
Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth, Shashi Tharoor, Sudeep Charavarti, Ira Mukhoty, Jerry Pinto
Submission guidelines
They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts and must be contacted through an agent.
Contact
161, B-4, Ground Floor,
Gulmohar House,
Yusuf Sarai Community Centre,
New Delhi – 110049
Ph.: +91 11 49226666
B
Bee Books
About
Bee Books does not have much information about themselves on their website. It is a new company and mostly publishes translated works from Bengali classics to English.
Notable authors
Rabindranath Tagore, Manik Bandopadhyay, Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay, Prafulla Roy.
Submission guidelines
Check submission guidelines on their website.
Contact
1/1 BRINDABAN MALLICK LANE
KOLKATA – 700009
Ph: 033 2350 1944
Blackbuck Publication (defunct)
About
Blackbuck is a young independent publishing house that provides an opportunity for new talents to showcase their work. They publish fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Very little information is available about them and it is hard to say if they’re still in business or not. Their last title was published in 2017.
Notable authors
None
Submission guidelines
You have to send a proposal that has detailed synopsis, brief plot summary, brief author description and three sample chapters to editorial@blackbuckpublication.com.
Bloomsbury
About
Harry Potter has made Bloomsbury so famous that on their home page they have a separate space for Harry Potter alongside broad genres like fiction, non-fiction and children’s. Bloomsbury was founded by Nigel Newton in 1986 and has since represented award-winning and record-breaking works that have created history. They have offices in London, Oxford, New York, New Delhi and Sydney but represent authors from all over the world. Bloomsbury India was established in 2012.
Notable authors
J. K. Rowling, William Dalrymple, Shiv Khera, Shrabani Basu, Sandip Roy, Khalid Hosseini
Submission guidelines
Although nothing has been mentioned on their website, it is fair to assume that Bloomsbury will hardly entertain unsolicited manuscripts. Those interested can send their query and manuscripts to submissions@bloomsbury.com. However, it is advised to find an agent for representation.
Contact
DDA Complex, LSC, Building No.4,
Second Floor, Pocket C-6&7, Vasant Kunj
New Delhi 110070 India
Ph.: +91 11 40574957/+91 11 40574954
D
Duckbill
About
Duckbill publishing was established in 2012 and is run by Sayoni Basu and Anushka Ravishankar. Anushka is an author and has written over 30 books for children, many of which have won numerous awards. Sayoni has worked at Puffin, Scholastic and ACK Media. Duckbill publishes books exclusively for children and young adults. They have also been shortlisted for the London Book Fair International Excellence Awards in 2015.
Update: Duckbill is now part of Penguin Random House
Notable authors
Andaleeb Wajid, Anushka Ravishankar, Dr Tanu Shree Singh, Jerry Pinto, Sharanya Deepak
Submission guidelines
The submission guidelines are crisp and simple – just a few chapters along with a synopsis. They don’t even require a cv or a marketing plan. The samples can be mailed at feedtheplatypus@duckbill.in. They accept unsolicited manuscripts and one of their biggest criteria is that the story has to be for children in the age group 8 – 17 with a focus on a particular age. They do not publish picture books, activity books and poetry.
Contact
F2 Oyster Opera, 35/36 Gangai Street Kalakshetra Colony,
Besant Nagar, Chennai 600090
E
Embassy Books
About
Embassy Books started out as a book distributing company in the 1917’s, probably one of the earliest in the country. The family book business run by Sohin Lakhani publishes “Life changing books” with the sole focus on personal growth, management, self-help, inspiration, health and mind body spirit. If you’re looking for a traditional publisher that focuses on self-help or personal growth, then Embassy Books is a good choice.
Notable authors
Priya Kumar, Andrew Matthews and Joseph Murphy
Submission guidelines
They accept unsolicited manuscripts provided it falls under the category of books published by them. Book proposals must contain a synopsis of your book, a table of contents, the first three chapters of your book, your vision and purpose for the book, the target group for your book and author Bio. The book proposal can be mailed to editorial@embassybooks.in. Physical copies can also be sent to their address.
Contact
120, Great Western Building,
Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce Lane, Fort,
Mumbai – 400 023, India
Ph. : +91-22-22819546
F
Fingerprint Publishing
About
Fingerprint Publishing is an imprint of Prakash Books India Pvt. Ltd., a book house and distribution company that has been in business for the last 60 years, possibly making it the largest in India. It has partnerships with some of the biggest names in the publishing industry that includes Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Hachette, Pan Mcmillan etc. Fingerprint Publishing was founded in 2012 and publishes a variety of genres including commercial fiction, narrative and general non-fiction, autobiographies, self-help etc. along with reprints of famous works by authors like George Orwell, Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Napoleon Hill etc.
Notable authors
Mostly the classic authors like Leo Tolstoy, Rudyard Kipling, Emily Bronte, Mark Twain, Anne Frank, Aristotle
Submission guidelines
They don’t have a website so the submission guidelines are not known. It is possible that they only accept solicited manuscripts.
Contact
Phone: 011 2326 5358
G
Gloryburg Publishing LLP
About
Gloryburg began its journey in 2018 and has published only one title so far. But they are planning on expanding operations and accepting new authors from India, the UK and the US.
Notable authors
Sarang Mahajan
Submission guidelines
They publish books that fall under fantasy/science fiction, thriller, mystery or adventure. You have to send the first three chapters, the complete storyline in two to three pages and your personal profile to submissions@gloryburg.com.
Contact
Use contact form.
Grapevine India
About
Grapevine was found in 2011 as a publisher of romance-fiction books but has now ventured into different types of fiction as well as books on politics and economics. Spearheaded by Sachin Garg, it has launched many famous Indian authors that includes the likes of Durjoy Dutta, Nikita Singh and Sachin himself.
Notable authors
Sachin Garg, Nikita Singh and Durjoy Dutta
Submission guidelines
Grapevine accepts unsolicited manuscripts and the proposal must include a synopsis and three sample chapters. It must be sent to grapevineindiapublishers@gmail.com.
Contact
Plot No. 4, Near Mother Dairy, Pandav Nagar, Naraina,
New Delhi, Delhi 110008
Grey Oak
About
Grey Oak is a trade-publisher whose primary focus is publishing mass-market paperbacks. It was founded in 2010 by Ali Mohammed Faiyaz along with Jaya Nair and also includes authors Ahmed Faiyaz and Deepak Dalal as founders. They have three imprints – Silverfish, Chiron and Plan D. Silverfish is targeted at young adults, Chiron is for books on travel, self-help, inspirational stories and biographies, and Plan D focuses on co-publishing assignments with authors. Since 2011, Grey Oak has also focused on independent film making and has produced close to 14 films in different categories.
Notable authors
Ahmed Faiyaz, Ira Trivedi and Chinmayi Bali
Submission guidelines
Their submission guidelines are a bit strict. Although it is mentioned on their website that they only accept submissions from Writer’s Side and Siyahi, the site does not seem to have been uploaded in a long time. For direct submissions, they have a list of criteria that must be fulfilled. More information can be found on http://www.greyoak.in/publish_
with_us.htm.
Contact
2nd Floor, Prestige Omega
No. 104 EPIP Zone Whitefield
Bangalore – 560066
Ph.: +91 80 40600963
H
Hachette India
About
Hachette needs no introduction. It is one of the big five of the publishing industry along with Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Mcmillan publishers and Simon and Schuster. Hachette India is part of Hachette UK which is coagulation of famous companies like Hodder & Stoughton, Little, Brown Book group, Orion, Orbit and many more. Hachette UK again is part of Hachette Livre France owned by the Lagardere group. Hachette has represented literary stalwarts like Enid Blyton, Stephen King, John Grisham and Robert Ludlum along with names like Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh and Gregory David Roberts.
Notable authors
Roopa Pai, Saikat Majumdar, Samit Basu, Anuradha Roy, Moti Nandy
Submission guidelines
Hachette India does not accept unsolicited manuscript for any category and accept manuscripts through a list of agents which is listed in their submission guidelines page. They have separate guidelines for adult and business books and children’s books. For the latter agents must send their manuscripts to crsubmissions@hachetteinida.com one page proposal that contains book outline or plot, characters and target readership, three sample chapters, three artwork (if any) and an author bio in 200 words.
Contact
4th/5th Floors, Corporate Centre; Plot no 94, Sector 44
Gurgaon-122003 INDIA
Ph: (Board) +91-124-4195000
Half Baked Beans Publishing
About
Half Baked Beans is one of the newer traditional publishers in India. They provide a platform for new authors who want to express themselves in the form of the written word. They also provide a variety of services including co-authoring, marketing, editing and others. It was founded by Chetan Soni in 2014.
Notable authors
Durriya Kapasi, Prasupta Roy, Chetan Soni
Submission guidelines
Their submission guidelines are simple. Submit an author’s bio, synopsis and three sample chapters to publish@halfbakedbeans.in in .doc format. Since they accept every genre, including poetry, there’s little that new writers should be worried about. Also, they reply in less than a week, so that’s another bonus for new writers.
Contact
Use contact form.
HarperCollins Publishers India
About
Harper Collins is a publishing house that has been around for almost 2 centuries making it one of the oldest in the world. In India, it has ruled the Indian book markets for 25 years and continues to do so with the award-winning and literary giants they represent every single year. Some of the biggest names in the world like Paulo Coelho, Agatha Christie, Issac Asimov, JRR Tolkien and Jeffery Archer are or have been part of the Harper family. In almost every book list for major awards in the world, there will be at least one or two books from Harper.
Notable authors
Paulo Coelho, A.P.J Kalam, Kunal Basu, Kiran Nagarkar, Jhumpa Lahiri, Anita Nair, Amitabh Bagchi, Anuja Chauhan, Arvind Adiga
Submission guidelines
Harper accepts unsolicited work in a wide range of genres across both fiction and non-fiction. The detailed proposal should include a synopsis and three sample chapters and can either be e-mailed to submissions@harpercollins.co.in or mailed to their address as a hard copy.
Contact
A-75, Sector 57 NOIDA,
UP 201 301 India
Ph.: +91 120 4044800
Hay House India
About
Hay House was founded in 1984 by the New York Times best-selling author Louise Hay to self-publish her book You can heal your life which went on to sell 50 million copies worldwide. After her death, Reid Tracy took over the role of CEO. The Indian operation is headed by Ashok Chopra who has held important positions in Vikas Publishing House, Macmillan India, USB Publishers, India Today Book Club and HarperCollins. Hay House is the leading publisher in the mind-body-spirit genre in the world and continues to grow every year with their wide range of books and products.
Notable authors
Louise Hay, Shoba De, Deepak Chopra, Robin Sharma, Anupam Kher, Kiran Bedi, Fali S. Nariman
Submission guidelines
Hay House accepts unsolicited manuscripts and book proposals can either be e-mailed to submissions@hayhouse.co.in or mailed to the submissions department on their physical address as a hard copy. The book must fall within the genre of uplifting the mind, body and spirit to be considered for publication.
(P.S. I have been published by Hay House India and through the unsolicited path. I will talk about my journey as a traditionally published author in a separate book)
Contact
Muskaan Complex, Plot No. 3, B-2, Vasant Kunj,
New Delhi – 110070
Ph: 011 41761620
I
Indus Source Books
About
Indus Source Books is an independent and niche publisher of books on spirituality, health, history/politics, business, self-help, and general non-fiction. They have co-published titles with publishers like HarperCollins and Manjul Publishing. Their Marathi publishing platform was launched in 2013 and has published authors like Veena Gavankar and Arundhati Khandkar.
Notable authors
M.V. Kamath, Balraj Krishna, Devdutt Pattanaik, R.D. Pradhan, V. Balachandran, and Sidharth Bhatia.
Submission guidelines
They have a list of guidelines which can be found on https://www.indussource.com/
guidelines/. The proposal must be mailed to editor.indussource@gmail.com.
Contact
PO Box no 6194
Malabar Hill PO
Mumbai 400 006 India
J
Jaico Publishing House
About
Jaico Publishing House was founded by the late Jaman Shah in 1946 and is one of the oldest pre-independence traditional publishing houses in the country. Jaico was first established as a book distribution company and later turned its interests towards publishing. It has published famous authors who have gone on to sell millions of copies in India. Jaico mainly publishes in the genres of self-help, religion, spirituality and mind-body-spirit with a renewed focus on popular fiction. They also translate English content into nine regional languages.
Notable authors
Robin Sharma, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, The Dalai Lama, Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, Osho
Submission guidelines
Jaico accepts unsolicited manuscripts. You need to send your manuscript along with a form which can be found on http://www.jaicobooks.com/j/BookSubmission.htm to jaicopub@jaicobooks.com. It has not been mentioned whether you need to send sample chapters or the entire manuscript but in all likelihood, they will only read a few chapters. So, it’s better to send samples.
Contact
JAICO PUBLISHING HOUSE
127,M.G. Road, Mumbai – 400 023 India
Juggernaut
About
Lately, Juggernaut has been turning heads in the publishing world, and for all the right reasons. Founded by Chiki Sarkar, Juggernaut is a digital book publishing house that encourages short reads by new authors. While most of their publishing is done on their mobile app or website, they do publish physical books which are distributed by Hachette. They also have a writing platform similar to Wattpad where anyone can publish their writings for others to read. It helps discoverability of new authors by editors of publishing houses looking for new content.
Notable authors
Deepanjana Pal, Rujuta Diwekar, Amitabha Bagchi and Benyamin.
Submission guidelines
You have to send two sample chapters and a synopsis to the emails listed on https://www.
juggernaut.in/published depending upon the genre.
Contact
Use contact form.
K
Karadi Tales
About
Karadi Tales was established in 1996 with the aim of publishing quality picture books and audiobooks for children. It is an independent publishing house based in Chennai and some of its books have crossed the 1,00,000 mark while most selling over 20,000 copies. Founded by Shobha Viswanath, Narayan Parasuram and C.P. Viswanath, Karadi Tales focuses on creating a special space for Indian culture in children’s literature.
Notable authors
Anushka Ravishankar, Annie Besant, Manasi Subramaniam and Samit Basu.
Submission guidelines
Karadi Tales accepts unsolicited manuscripts and more information can be found on https://www.karaditales.com/company/photo-gallery/submissions/manuscript/. Illustrators and storytellers have different submission guidelines.
Contact
3A Dev Regency,11, First Main Road,
Gandhinagar, Adyar, Chennai – 600 020 India
Phone: +91 44 2442 1775/+91 44 4205 4243
Katha
About
In 1988, Katha began as a magazine for children from the unpriviledged communities. Katha brings quality literature and education to children living in poverty, and for the last 30 years, they have lent a helping hand to help them come out of poverty. Some of their initiatives in the country include Katha Lab School, Katha’s Slum Resurgence Initiative (SRI), Katha English Academy (KENGA), Katha School of Entrepreneurship (KSE), etc. They have published over 400 titles in 21 Indian and 12 foreign languages.
Notable authors
No known author as such.
Submission guidelines
You have to query at either kathakaar@katha.org or editors@katha.org for more information.
Contact
Katha. A3 – Sarvodaya Enclave,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi – 110017 India
Ph.: +91 11 4141 6600
L
Leadstart Publishing
About
Leadstart Publishing is a leading publishing house that publishes over 200 titles every year. Their authors have won almost every major literary award in the country including Padma Bhushan, Sahitya Akademi Award, Vodafone Crossword Awards, and the Jnanpith Award. They have the largest distribution network in the country with retail distribution spread over 100 cities. They have 9 imprints and have been termed as ‘the fastest-growing book publishing company in India today’ by The Week magazine. Leadstart also runs a literary agency that fosters fresh talent in the country.
Notable authors
Anand Neelakantan, Kiran Manral, Jaya Padmanabhan, and Anuja Chandramouli.
Submission guidelines
You have to submit a number of things, the details of which can be found on https://
www.leadstartcorp.com/get-published/.
Contact
Unit – 25-26, Building A/1,
Near Wadala R.T.O.,
Wadala(E), Mumbai – 400 037 India
Ph.: +91 9699933000
M
Manjul Publishing House
About
Manjul publishing house was established in 1999 in Bhopal and is an independent publishing house. They are the best publishing house that has created Indian language translations of popular books that include the Harry Potter series (Hindi and Marathi), Stephen R. Covey’s The seven habits of highly effective people (Hindi and Marathi) and Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad (several languages). They also publish in other Indian languages like Kannada, Bengali, Tamil, Assamese, Gujarati etc. Amaryllis is their English imprint and along with Manjul has over 700 titles on its backlist.
Notable authors
Ashok K. Banker, Deepti Naval, Sharath Komarraju, Sudheendra Kulkarni
Submission guidelines
Manjul accepts manuscripts in the genres of inspirational, self-help, management, health and wellbeing. You have to send the synopsis of your book containing three sample chapters to manjul@manjulindia.com or a hardcopy to their physical address.
Contact
2nd Floor, Usha Preet Complex,
42 Malviya Nagar, Bhopal-462 003 INDIA
Ph: +91 755 424 0340
N
Niyogi Books
About
Niyogi Books is the leader when it comes to illustrated books in India. Since their inception in 2005, they have published many award-winning authors, journalists and photographers who create high-quality fiction, non-fiction and translations. They also publish on a wide range of subjects including philosophy, heritage, culture, textiles and maps. They publish fiction, translations and non-illustrated non-fiction through Olive Turtle, Thornbird and Paper Missile respectively. They publish illustrated Hindi books through their imprint Bahuvachan.
Notable authors
B.N. Goswamy, Geeta Chandran, Hugh and Colleen Gantzer, Lata Mangeshkar, Mushirul Hasan, Jaya Jaitly, Sethu and Raghu Rai.
Submission guidelines
You have the check the specific type of books they accept and the submission guidelines on http://niyogibooksindia.com/submissions.
Contact
D-77, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1,
New Delhi-110020 India
Ph.: +91 11-26816301/26818960
O
Om Books International
About
Om Books International (OBI) has been a book retailer and distributor for more than 50 years in India. They are one of the largest trade publishers of books in English. Apart from best-selling titles in literary fiction, OBI publishes monographs in art, architecture, fashion, narrative non-fiction, mind-body-spirit and many others. They have also published many cinema-related books from celebrities like A R Rahman, Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan etc. They publish children’s books under their imprint OmKidz and the varied list includes Early Learning, Baby Record Books, Reference Books, Picture Storybooks, Indian Epics, Illustrated Classics, Comics, Graphic Novels, and many more.
Notable authors
Khalid Mohamed, Kamala Das and Bi Feiyu
Submission guidelines
You have to send your submissions to editorial@ombooks.com and must include a CV of author/photographer, a synopsis, sample visual material (if illustrations are present) and some sample chapters. The evaluation will take 8 – 12 weeks.
Contact
A 12, Sector 64,
Noida 201 301, Uttar Pradesh, India
Ph.: +91 120 477 4100
P
Pan Macmillan India
About
Pan Macmillan is one of the big five and a part of Macmillan publishers who have been in the publishing business for over 150 years and started publishing and selling books under their Picador, India imprint. Their other imprints include Pan, Macmillan, Tor, Campbell Books and many more. They publish children’s book under a special children’s imprint called Macmillan Children’s books.
Notable authors
Arvind Adiga, Ramchandra Guha, V. S. Naipaul, Kunal Basu and Rupa Bajwa.
Submission guidelines
Pan Macmillan gives more priority to manuscripts submitted through literary agents, but they accept unsolicited manuscripts too. You have to send your submissions containing a synopsis, brief chapter outlines, first three chapters, author bio, and notes about the target audience, age group etc., to paneditorial@macmillan.co.in. Please note that accept only electronic submissions and have specific requirements for the same which can be found on their submission guidelines page.
Contact
707, 7th Floor, Kailash Building,
26, K.G. Marg,
New Delhi -110001
Ph: 011 – 23320837/38
Penguin Random House
About
Penguin Random House needs no introduction. With an estimated price tag of £2.4 billion, Bertelsmann’s Random House and Pearson’s Penguin in 2013 is possibly the biggest and richest merger in the history of publishing! Penguin Books was started by Sir Allen Lane and his brothers in 1935 as a means of publishing inexpensive paperbacks with quality content. When Penguin started its operations in India in 1985, only six titles were published by 1987. Today they create more than 250 new titles with quality content every year. Imprints Puffin and Ladybird are two of the most iconic publishing houses in the world today for children’s literature.
Notable authors
Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ruskin Bond, Haruki Murakami, Orhan Pamuk, Amartya Sen, S. Hussain Zaidi, Benyamin, Shashi Tharoor and Taslima Nasreen
Submission guidelines
Penguin accepts unsolicited manuscripts and you must send your book proposal containing detailed synopsis, chapter outline and two sample chapters for novels or five stories/poems for short stories/poetry to submission@penguinrandomhouse.in. Or you can alternatively send hard copy submission to their physical address.
Contact
7th Floor, C, Infinity Tower,
DLF Cyber City, DLF Phase 1, Sector 24, Gurugram,
Haryana 122002
Ph: 0124 478 5600
Pirates
About
Pirates is a creative house set up by a couple of IITians that is invested in both books and films. Under the banner Pirates Enhanced Editions, they have published a series of classics. Their imprint Paradox publishes books on spirituality and related non-fiction work.
Notable authors
None as such.
Submission guidelines
You have to mail the synopsis and the first five chapters of your novel/non-fiction narrative to lab@pirates.ind.in. You can include other things in your book proposal.
Contact
Use contact form.
Popular Prakashan
About
Popular Prakashan is India’s oldest independent publishing house and is almost 90 years old. They have a publishing list of over 4,000 titles and are credited with publishing some of the finest authors in the country. Of them, Shyam Manohar and Vinda Karandika have won the Sahitya Akademi Award. Their managing director, Ramdas G Bhatkal, has been the recipient of the Bhagwat Memorial Award for Excellence in Publishing in 2009.
Notable authors
Mrs Archana P Bhandarkar, Kapil Pathare. V V Shirwadkar, Vinda Karandikar and Vijay Tendulkar.
Submission guidelines
You have to send your book proposal containing summary, table of contents, sample chapters and about the author to their address. You can send hard copies and for soft copies, you have to inquire using the form on http://www.popularprakashan.com/
ContactUs.aspx.
Contact
301, Mahalaxmi Chambers,
22, Bhulabhai Desai Road,
Mumbai – 400026 India
Ph.: +91 22-23530303
Pustak Mahal
About
Pustak Mahal is best remembered as the creator of the “world famous” series of books that became extremely popular in the 90s. Founded in 1974, Pustak Mahal is family-owned business headquartered in New Delhi. They publish books in a range of genres that include English learning courses, cookery, astrology, self-help, children’s education and general knowledge. They are also famous for their “Rapidex English Speaking Course” book which was endorsed by Indian cricketer Kapil Dev. They have two imprints – Cedar Books that publishes fiction and Hindoology Books that publishes books on Hindu Mythology. They are also one of the first publishers to digitize their works.
Notable authors
No known author as such
Submission guidelines
There is no information regarding submission guidelines on their website.
Contact
Office No. J-3/16, Ansari Rd, Dariya Ganj,
New Delhi, Delhi 110002
Ph: 011 2327 2783
R
Readomania
About
Readomania is a traditional publishing house that also provides an online publishing platform for budding authors. Authors can upload their manuscripts after logging into the website and get their work noticed by editors. Those that require polishing and rework is handled accordingly.
Notable authors
Sutapa Basu, Supriya Newar, Manjari Prabhu, Harshali Singh and Sourabh Mukherjee.
Submission guidelines
The details about publishing with them can be found on https://www.readomania.com/
readomania-publishing.
Contact
466, DDA SFS Apartments, Pocket 1,
Sector 22, Dwarka, New Delhi
Redgrab Books
About
There is no information about them available on their website but it is mentioned that they operate as a traditional house.
Notable authors
None as such
Submission guidelines
More information is available on http://redgrabbooks.com/articles/submission/.
Contact
942, Arya kanya chauraha, Mutthiganj,
Prayagraj, UP, India
Ph.: 8887621755
Roli books
About
Roli books is a mid-sized publishing house that has been in the country for 40 years. Their books are all about quality, design and innovation. They are probably one of the rarest publishers to transition into high-quality gift and stationery products that are sold through their stores. They do publish fiction but the list is small compared to other non-fiction genres. They have a range of title son art, photography and culture.
Notable authors
S. Hussain Zaidi, M. J. Akbar, Kapil Sibal, Namita Gokhale and Mamata Banerjee
Submission guidelines
There is no information regarding submission guidelines on their website. You have to contact info@rolibooks.com for more information.
Contact
M – 75, Greater Kailash 2 Market,
New Delhi, Delhi – 110048
Ph: 011 – 40682000
Rumour Books India
About
Rumour Books India (RBI) is one of the youngest publishing houses in the country. It was established by Reekrit Serai and Radhika Panicker in 2013. But in that short time, RBI has produced award-winning authors and titles. Their list of crime fiction is quite good.
Notable authors
Vish Dhamija, Kulpreet Yadav, Saad Bin Jung, Harsh Snehanshu and Ketan Bhagat
Submission guidelines
The book proposal you send must contain brief synopsis, chapter outline, three sample chapters, a sample of cover design, target market, marketing plan and CV. The e-mail containing the name of work and author name in the subject line must be sent either to editorial@rumourbooks.com or rumourbooks@gmail.com.
Contact
Plot No. 40, Sector 4,
Panchkula (Chandigarh)
Haryana – 134 112 India
Rupa Publications (Rupa & Co.)
About
Rupa Publishers has come a long way since they were first founded 80 years back. What started out as a small distributor and importer of books has now become synonymous with best-selling titles thereby Their first logo was designed by Satyajit Ray who asked for books as compensation. Kapish Mehra, the current MD of the company has helped launch Aleph Book Company in 2012.
Notable authors
Chetan Bhagat, Anita Nair, Saba Naqvi, Shashi Deshpande and Anuja Chauhan
Submission guidelines
You have to send your submission containing synopsis and three sample chapters to editorial@rupapublications.com. You can also send the hard copy for the same to their physical address.
Contact
161, B-4, Ground Floor,
Gulmohar House,
Yusuf Sarai Community Centre,
New Delhi – 110 049
S
Scholastic India
About
When it comes to children’s books there is no publishing bigger than Scholastic. They have operations all over the world and have represented authors like J. K. Rowling, Philip Pullman and Suzanne Collins in the past. Scholastic India was established in 1997 and is the largest publisher of children’s books focussing mainly on children and educational materials.
Notable authors
Paro Anand, Ruskin Bond, Sampurna Chattarji and Anushka Ravishankar
Submission guidelines
Scholastic India accepts unsolicited manuscripts as long as it’s a children’s book that falls under the genres they publish. You have to submit a short synopsis, three sample chapters or complete manuscript and a brief cover letter to contact@scholastic.co.in.
Contact
A-27, Ground Floor
Bharti Sigma Centre
Infocity-1, Sector 34
Gurgaon – 122001
Simon and Schuster India
About
Simon and Schuster is the last big five publishing house on this list but in no ways behind in terms of excellence and quality. The company started in 1924 as a publisher for crossword publishers when Simon’s aunt complained that there wasn’t any book available on the New York World crossword puzzles which were extremely popular at that time. In the 90s S&S was the largest book publisher in the United States with sales touching close to $1.2 billion every year. They publish fiction, non-fiction and children’s books under a variety of imprints which include Atheneum, Free Press, Howard, Little Simon, Scribner and many more.
Notable authors
Prayag Akbar, Jayram Ramesh, Ashok Banker, Narayani Basu and Priya Sahgal
Submission guidelines
They do not entertain unsolicited manuscripts. However, they have a self-publishing division called Archway Publishing and more information can be found on www.archwaypublishing.com.
Contact
163, 6th Floor, Tower A
The Corenthum
A-41, Sector-62
Noida – 201301 India
Ph: (91) 120 4089 38
Speaking Tiger
About
Founded in 2014 and based in New Delhi, Speaking Tiger is a young independent house that puts a lot of emphasis on new voices. They publish fiction, non-fiction and academic titles from South Asia.
Notable authors
Shinie Anthony, Ruskin Bond, Andaleeb Wajid, Meghnad Desai and Paro Anand
Submission guidelines
You have to send a query letter containing brief synopsis and three sample chapters to editorial@speakingtiger.com in case of fiction. For non-fiction, you have to send the soft copy of a detailed proposal.
Contact
4381/4, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj,
New Delhi-110002, India
Srishti Publishers
About
For the last 18 years, Srishti Publishers has remained unmatched in being a launchpad for first-time young authors in India. It has been the starting point of many contemporary fiction authors who have gone on to establish themselves as individuals with a dedicated fan following in India and still continue to do so. They started with publishing books containing quotes from Mahabharata and Ramayana and later moved to other genres. They have also been leaders in translating works.
(P.S.: Srishti has a self-publishing division that publishes under the same name. However, there is no information about it on their website and hence they have been put under traditional publishers)
Notable authors
Durjoy Dutta, Preeti Shenoy, Ajay K. Pandey, Sudeep Nagarkar and Ravinder Singh.
Submission guidelines
While they do publish both fiction and non-fiction, you’ll stand a good chance if you’re a new young author and if it falls under the contemporary romance genre. You have to send a soft copy of your proposal containing chapter-wise synopsis, three sample chapters, author details, marketing plan and target audience to editorial@srishtipublishers.com.
Contact
212-A, Peacock Lane,
New Delhi – 110049
Ph: 011-41751981
Stree-Samya (Bhatkal and Sen)
About
Bhatkal and Sen is a publishing partnership between Mandira Sen and the Bhatkals of Popular Prakashan. The books are now published under either of their two imprints Stree and Samya. Stree was founded in 1990 and publishes books in Hindi, English and Bengali that focuses mainly on gender studies, especially the status of women in society. Samya was founded in 1996 and focuses on culture and dissent.
Notable authors
Kancha Ilaiah, Om Prakash Valmiki, Uma Chakravarti, Gail Omvedt, Manikuntala Sen, Ashok Mitra, V. Geetha, and Bani Basu.
Submission guidelines
There is no information available on their website regarding submission guidelines.
Contact
16 Southern Avenue,
Kolkata – 700026 India
Ph.: (033) 2466 0812/6519 5737
T
Tara Books
About
Tara Books was started by Gita Wolf more than 20 years ago. She is a writer with almost 20 award-winning books under her name that have opened up the area of experimental children’s literature.
Notable authors
Gita Wolf
Submission
No information is available on their website.
Contact
No. 9, CGE Colony
Thiruvanmiyur
Chennai – 600 041 India
Email: hello@tarabooks.com
Ph.: +91 (0) 4424426696
TreeShade Books
About
There is no information available on their website.
Notable authors
Vineet Bajpai and S. Venkatesh.
Submission guidelines
You have to mail a 300-word synopsis of your work and a 50-word author profile to publish@treeshadeBooks.com.
Contacts
Use contact form.
Tulika Books
About
Tulika Books was established in 1996 in Chennai with a specific focus on children’s picture books. They publish in English and in other languages as well that includes Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali. They also publish fiction, non-fiction and graphic novels as long as they are for children.
Notable authors
Nandana Dev Sen, Kavita Singh Kale, Devdutt Pattanaik and Annie Besant
Submission guidelines
You have to send the story and pictures in case of picture books and synopsis, chapter outline and two sample chapters in case of fiction and non-fiction to submissions@
tulikabooks.com.
Contact
305, Manickam Avenue, TTK Road,
Alwarpet
Chennai – 600018 Tamil Nadu, India
Ph.: +91 (044) 2499 1639/ 1407/ 1428
V
Vij Books
About
Vij Books was established in 2005 but began operations in 2008. Since then, they have represented more than 1000 titles under three imprints – Vij Books, Quills Ink and Alpha Editions. They have also published books for national institutes like United Service Institution of India (USI), Centre for Security Analysis (CSA), Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA) and National Maritime Foundation (NMF).
Notable authors
None as such.
Submission guidelines
You have to mail your query and a book proposal containing a synopsis, a table of contents, one or two sample chapters, author bio and target audience to pradip@
vijpublishing.com.
Contact
2/19, 2nd Floor, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj
New Delhi – 110002 India
Ph.: +91-11- 43596460/47340674
Vishwakarma Publications
About
Vishwakarma is another publishing house that provides a platform for new authors. They are a sister company to the Vishwakarma institutes and the official Title sponsor of the Pune International Literary Festival where they choose selected authors and publish their stories. They publish in three languages – Marathi, Hindi and English.
Notable authors
Anand Neelakantan, Kavita Kane and Pratibha Deshpande
Submission guidelines
You have to submit a book form given on their submissions page along with author’s profile, synopsis, three sample chapters (min 5000 words) to editor@
vishwakarmapublications.com.
Contact
34A/1, Suyog Center, 7th Floor,
Gultekadi Marketyard Road,
Giridhar Bhawan Chowk,
Pune – 411037
Ph: +91-20-24525541
W
Westland
About
Westland publishers shifted from distribution to publishing in 2007 and has since become one of the top publishers in India. Most of their famous authors have consistently been on the top 10 and top 50 charts according to the Nielsen Book Scan. In 2016, Amazon India acquired Westland Ltd. for more global outreach. Their imprints include Tranquebar Press, Hindi Yugm, Yatra, Mysticswrite and East West.
Notable authors
Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi, Preeti Shenoy, Savi Sharma, Christopher C. Doyle, Rujuta Diwekar, Ravi Subramaniam and Rashmi Bansal.
Submission guidelines
Currently, they don’t have a dedicated website so it’s hard to say what their submission guidelines are.
Contact
No. 61, silverline building,
maduravayil, Alappakkam Main Rd,
Chennai – 600095 Tamil Nadu
Y
Yoda Press
About
Yoda Press started in 2004 with the aim of publishing books that deal with subjects not usually dealt with by other publishers. Most of their titles are themed around LGBTQ and sexuality. In 2015, they teamed up with Sage Publications to publish academic titles under the name SAGE-YODA PRESS. In 2016, they won Publishing Next Publisher of the Year Award 2016.
Notable authors
Boria Majumdar and Harsh Mander.
Submission guidelines
They don’t have submission guidelines on their website and you have to inquire at info@
yodapress.co.in.
Contact
141A Second Floor,
Shahpur Jat
New Delhi 110 049 India
Z
Zubaan
About
Zubaan Books is an imprint of the publishing house Kali for Women, which was founded in 1984 as India’s first feminist publishing house. Zubaan was formed in 2004 by Urvashi Butalia when she and Ritu Menon, co-founder of Kali for Women decided to form their own independent houses. Since then, Zubaan has published on a wide number of topics related to the status of women.
Notable authors
Natasha Sharma, Priya Sarukkai Chabria and Suniti Namjoshi.
Submission guidelines
Use the form on https://zubaanbooks.com/authors-corner/submitting-manuscripts-to-zubaan/ to make submissions.
Contact
128 B, First Floor
Shahpur Jat, New Delhi
Delhi 110 049 India
Ph.: +91-11-26494613/+91-11-26494618