21 Western & cowboy publishers accepting unsolicited manuscripts in May 2025
Congratulations on writing your Western novel! Now you’ve got a completed draft you are happy with, it’s time to pitch it to a publisher. All of the publishers listed here are currently accepting manuscripts without a literary agent. I’ve done my best to weed out any dodgy and vanity publishers from this list.
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.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.Bayeux Arts
Bayeux Arts entered the publishing world in 1994. They are committed to producing books of beauty that build bridges across cultures.
Genre: Children's books, middle grade and young adult fiction. For adult fiction, they accept literary, upmarket, western and mystery. For nonfiction, they accept biography, history, art, architecture, theatre, social science, nature, environment, inspirational, health and management.
Word count: Not stated.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.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.Dreamspinner Publications
Dreamspinner Press focuses on gay male romance stories. Please note that Writer Beware wrote an article about Dreamspinner Publications. Please do your research before submitting.
Genre: Romance in a variety of subgenres such contemporary, BDSM, coming of age, erotica, holiday, polyamory, paranormal, western, mystery, fantasy and science fiction. The main characters must end in a gay or all-male polyamorous relationship.
Word count: 18,000 words and over.Echoes
Echoes is the historical romance imprint of the Totally Entwined Group.
Genre: Historical romance in a variety of subgenres.
Word count: 50,000 to 100,000 words. Their preference is for series submissions.Evernight Publishing
Evernight is an indie publisher that prefers to publish popular tropes.
Genre: Romance in a variety of subgenres, including science fiction, BDSM, LGBTQ+, holiday, medical, new adult, dark, motorcycle, menage, paranormal, shifters, vampires, urban, erotica, humor, contemporary, military, steampunk, western, fantasy, reverse harem, suspense and young adult.
Word count: 16,000 to 100,000 words.Entice
Entice is the contemporary romance imprint of the Totally Entwined Group.
Genre: Contemporary romance in a variety of subgenres.
Word count: 50,000 to 100,000 words. Their preference is for series submissions.Forever Yours
Forever Yours is a division of Hachette Book Group and an imprint of Grand Central Publishing.
Genre: Adult romance, especially contemporary, diverse reads, romantic suspense, cowboys, historical and paranormal.
Word count: 25,000 to 100,000 words.Harlequin Romantic Suspense
Harlequin Romantic Suspense (as the name implies) is an imprint of Harlequin that publishes romantic suspense.
Genre: Romantic suspense.
Word count: 70,000 words.Inkspell Publishing
Inkspell Publishing is an ebook romance publisher.
Genre: Adult and young adult romance, including science fiction, fantasy and other subgenres.
Word count: 30,000 to 75,000 words.Kensington Publishing Corp.
Kensington Publishing Corp. is an independent publisher based in New York City, releasing over 300 titles per year in a range of popular genres.
Genre: Literary and genre fiction (romance, mystery, suspense, thriller, upmarket, historical, speculative, mystery and romantasy) and nonfiction (biography, memoir, history, true crime, pop culture, film, TV, music, military history, narrative law enforcement and pop science). Each editor has their preferences across various genres of fiction and nonfiction.
Word count: Not stated.Literary Wanderlust
Literary Wanderlust strives to help new and experienced authors achieve their dreams of publishing.
Genre: Genre fiction, including romance, women's fiction, historical and western fiction, paranormal, urban fantasy, crime, mystery, thriller, LGBTQ, science fiction and fantasy.
Word count: 60,000 to 100,000 words.Montana Born
Montana Born is an imprint of Tule Publishing and as the name suggests they publish romance stories about Montana. They are looking for strong alpha heroes, cowboys, sexy or sweet romance, small town romance and/or Western romance.
Genre: Montana-based romance.
Word count: 50,000 to 90,000 words.Evidence
Evidence is the thriller and suspense romance imprint of the Totally Entwined Group.
Genre: Thriller and suspense romance in a variety of subgenres.
Word count: 50,000 to 100,000 words. Their preference is for series submissions.Sunbury Press
Sunbury Press is a rapidly growing publisher with six imprints.
Genre: Literary and genre fiction, including history, mystery, detective, police procedural, crime, thriller, horror and young adult. For nonfiction, they accept history, current events, science, reference, art history, local/regional history, humour, spiritual, metaphysical, self help, professional and memoirs.
Word count: Not stated.Texas Born
Texas Born is an imprint of Tule Publishing and as the name suggests they publish romance stories about Texas. They are looking for strong alpha heroes, cowboys, sexy or sweet romance, small town romance and/or Western romance.
Genre: Texas-based romance.
Word count: 50,000 to 90,000 words.Torrey House Press
Torrey House Press publishes books focusing on environmental advocacy.
Genre: Literary fiction and genre fiction, including mystery, thriller, horror, climate fiction, Indigenous futurism, afrofuturism, magical realism, fantasy, historical, romance and nontraditional western. They also accept investigative nonfiction, creative nonfiction and narrative nonfiction.
Word count: Not stated.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.
Best of luck with your manuscript submissions! If you want to ensure your manuscript is in the best position to be accepted, check out my developmental editing services, pre-querying package or my free writing advice. Otherwise, check out my fantasy publishers list or my Australian romance publishers list.