21 action & adventure publishers accepting unsolicited manuscripts in May 2025
Congratulations on finishing your action & adventure novel! Now that you are happy with your novel, it’s time to find it a home with a traditional publisher. All of the publishers listed here are currently accepting action & adventure manuscripts without a literary agent.
Don’t forget to check out my developmental editing services or pre-querying package if you want to make sure your novel is in top shape before you send it to a publisher for consideration. I offer a variety of services to suit all budgets, from writers looking for the standard developmental editing experience to those seeking high-level feedback with a quick turnaround time.
Pan Macmillan Australia
Pan Macmillan Australia is committed to investing in Australian authors and publishes a variety of bestselling books.
Genre: Middle grade, young adult, commercial and literary fiction. For nonfiction, they're interested in narrative nonfiction, contemporary issues, memoir, history, true crime, lifestyle, health, and mind, body & spirit.
Word count: Not stated.Brother Mockingbird
Brother Mockingbird is a small, independent publisher committed to the discovery of talented writers.
Genre: Literary and genre fiction, including action, commercial, contemporary, crime, cozy mystery, historical, horror, humor, mystery, romance, science fiction, multicultural, suspense, thriller, upmarket, western, women's fiction and young adult.
Word count: Not stated.Amble Press
Amble Press publishes fiction from writers who identify as a person of color or those writing across the broader queer spectrum.
Genre: Genre fiction, including general, crime, mystery, thriller, historical, action/adventure, speculative, young adult, new adult and romance. For nonfiction, they accept narrative, memoir and biography.
Word count: 45,000 to 100,000 words.CamCat Books
CamCat Publishing opened in 2019 and takes pride in facilitating and engaging communication between their readers and writers. They will not publish erotica or books with strong religious or political slants.
Genre: Genre fiction, including mystery, thriller, suspense, science fiction, fantasy, romance, historical, paranormal, horror, adventure, western and young adult.
Word count: 60,000 to 100,000 words.Black Rose Writing
Black Rose Writing is a Texas-based publisher who strongly believes in developing a personal relationship with their authors. Please note that Writer Beware wrote an article about Black Rose Writing. Please do your research before submitting.
Genre: Fiction, including action, fantasy, historical, horror, humor, inspirational, LGBT, literary, mystery, suspense, paranormal, romance, science fiction, thriller, women's fiction. They accept children's books, middle grade and young adult books as well. For nonfiction, they accept biography, memoir, business, history, humor, inspirational, spiritual, military, self-help, sports and true crime.
Word count: Not stated.Bywater Books
Bywater Books primarily publishes lesbian and feminist fiction.
Genre: Lesbian and feminist fiction and nonfiction. This includes general fiction, historical, action, adventure, speculative, young adult, new adult and romance. For nonfiction, they're looking for narrative nonfiction, memoirs and biography.
Word count: At least 60,000 words.Severn House
Severn Press prides themselves in being the home of the very best genre fiction. Please note Severen House does not publish debut authors.
Genre: Genre fiction, including crime, mystery, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, romance, saga, suspense, spiritual, noir, police procedural, cozy mystery and adventure.
Word count: Not stated.Canelo
Canelo was founded in 2015 to bring the best commercial storytelling to a wide audience.
Genre: Genre fiction including saga, action, adventure, romance, commercial women's fiction, crime, and psychological thrillers.
Word count: Over 80,000 words.Wolfpack Publishing
Wolfpack Publishing started as a small Western publishing company and has grown to accept other genres.
Genre: Genre fiction, including men's adventure, crime, historical, action, adventure and western.
Word count: Not stated.Changeling Press
Changeling Press is a digital publisher of contemporary, science fiction, and paranormal romance. Their target audience is adult women.
Genre: Romance, in the subgenres of contemporary, paranormal, women's fiction and science fiction. They also state they accept romance subgenres focusing on action, suspense, motorcycle, medical, rock star, comedy, dark comedy, dark fantasy, urban fantasy, magic, sorcery and witchcraft, cyberpunk, reverse harem, LGBTA+, mpreg (male pregnancy, a trope in fiction where a male character becomes pregnant), steampunk, werewolves, shifters and vampire.
Word count: 20,000 to 40,000 words.Dahlia (Tell-tale Publishing)
Tell-tale Publishing's Dahlia Imprint focuses on romance with fast-paced storylines packed with action and excitement.
Genre: Romance, including romantic suspense, gothic suspense, regency and contemporary.
Word count: 50,000 words and over.Albert Whitman & Company
Albert Whitman & Company was founded over a century ago with the goal of making good books that kids want to read.
Genre: Children's picture books (fiction and nonfiction), middle grade fiction and young adult fiction.
Word count: Up to 70,000 words.Penguin Random House New Zealand
Penguin Random House New Zealand celebrates writers, stories and ideas that entertain and inspire.
Genre: Adult fiction and nonfiction. Children's submissions are closed until 2025.
Word count: Around 80,000 words (guideline).Bella Books
Bella Books believes stories about women-loving-women are essential to our lives.
Genre: Fiction that reflects and celebrates the diversity of the lesbian, sapphic, queer, bisexual, and gender non-conforming community. They commonly publish romance, action, adventure, mystery, suspense, intrigue, historical, fantasy, speculative, erotica and general fiction. They also accept poetry and nonfiction.
Word count: At least 60,000 words.Affirm Press
Affirm Press is an independent Melbourne-based publisher dedicated to publishing Australian stories and ideas. Please note they only accept submissions from Australian authors or authors based in Australia.
Genre: Literary and genre fiction as well as nonfiction that is engaging and entertaining.
Word count: Novel-length work.Future House Publishing
Future House Publishing focuses on publishing novels that embrace their core values of community, liberty and family. They strictly focus on "clean" and "family friendly" content.
Genre: Adult science fiction and fantasy, and middle grade adventure novels.
Word count: 70,000 to 90,000 words for adult novels and 40,000 to 60,000 words for middle grade.Ink Smith
Ink Smith is a small independent publishing house who streamline their genres to best serve their authors and readers.
Genre: Adult and young adult adventure, fantasy (contemporary, dark, fairy tale, heroic, historic, magic, paranormal, shapeshifting, sword and sorcery , urban, medieval), horror, science fiction (near future, apocalyptic, superhero, steampunk, time travel) and thriller (conspiracy, psychological, techno-thriller)
Word count: Not stated.Shadow Alley Press
Shadow Alley Press strives to entertain readers with the best books in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Action-Adventure.
Genre: Gamelit (adventure or slice of life), LitRPG, Cultivation, Magical Academy, Dungeon Core, Harem, High/Epic Fantasy, Military science fiction and Space Opera.
Word count: 75,000 words to 150,000 words.TCU Press
TCU Press publishes the history, culture and literature of Texas and the American West. They are the university press of Texas Christian University.
Genre: Children's books, genre fiction, literary fiction and nonfiction. They publish a wide variety of genres from history, nature, art, biography, photography, humor, young adult, cooking, religion, science, education, law and more. I suggest you look at their website to see the full list as I can't possibly list them all here!
Word count: Not stated.Vulpine Press
Vulpine Press established in 2017 with the aim of publishing commercial, innovative and stylish fiction.
Genre: Commercial fiction. This includes genres such as horror, biography, children's books, young adult, crime, thriller, culture, drama, adventure, literary, humor, romance, science fiction and fantasy.
Word count: Not stated.Wise Wolf Books
Wise Wolf Books is based in Nevada and is a modern publisher of young adult fiction.
Genre: Young adult genre fiction, including contemporary, mystery, thriller, suspense and action.
Word count: Not stated.