When I published my first book Boredom Busters, I did extensive research into who in Canada publishes children’s books. I have compiled a List of Canadian Children’s Book Publishers here as a go-to resource for anyone wanted to pitch, query, and/or submit a manuscript to a Canadian publisher…
List of Canadian Children’s Book Publishers
Aside: I pitched for 9 months – to most of these publishers – and received nibbles of interest. I ended up going to my local library…looking through the non-fiction children’s book stacks and pulled out books that were in my manuscript’s genre. From there…I wrote down the publisher’s information – looked up their submission guidelines on their respective websites – and sent my book proposal. That is how I ultimately contacted and secured my book contract with Cico Books.
My first book Boredom Busters was published in 2014. Boredom Busters was named a 2016 Silver Birch Non-Fiction Honour Book. My second book More Boredom Busters followed in 2015. Both books are available at major book stores.
List of Canadian Children’s Book Publishers
http://www.annickpress.com – fiction and nonfiction for young adults.
http://www.clockwisepress.com/submissions.html – Clockwise Press publishes high-quality young adult and children’s books featuring themes of diversity, inclusion, and global awareness
http://www.dundurn.com/ – YA, and children’s fiction and nonfiction in the areas of Canadian history, politics, regional issues, biography / autobiography, and Aboriginal and black studies, plus titles dealing with Canadian cultural institutions, artists, composers, and musicians.
http://www.cormorantbooks.com/ – diversity of the Canadian experience
http://coteaubooks.com/ – Fiction, non-fiction, teen fiction
http://www.dancingcatbooks.com/ – YA fiction and non-fiction, middle grade fiction and non-fiction
http://www.ecwpress.com/ – YA list is aimed at readers from 10-16 or so with strong characters or fresh nonfiction
http://www.theexilewriters.com/ – looking for new and emerging talent that is redefining the literary landscape
http://www.fitzhenry.ca – Fitzhenry & Whiteside Junior fiction and non-fiction
http://groundwoodbooks.com/ – looking for literary works (picture books, fiction or nonfiction) for Canadian children.
http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com – HarperCollins does not accept unsolicited submissions or query letters.
http://www.kidscanpress.com/ – looking for picture books featuring strong characters and engaging stories and innovative non-fiction
http://www.lorimer.ca/ – looking for stories reflecting cultural diversity of today’s schools appealing to reluctant readers
http://www.orcabook.com – Only accepts manuscripts from Canadian writers.
http://www.owlkids.com/ – interested in innovative and character-driven picture books, informational picture books, graphic novels, and engaging early chapter books.
http://www.reddeerpress.com/– writers whose stories are topical and consistently relatable with today’s readers.
http://www.scholastic.ca/aboutscholastic/manuscripts – Unfortunately, due to the volume of material we currently have on hand, Scholastic is unable to accept unsolicited manuscripts at the present time.
http://secondstorypress.ca/– children’s picture books (no alphabet, animal tales, rhyming or poetry books), and juvenile and teen fiction and nonfiction.
http://www.simonandschuster.ca/kids – prospective authors and illustrators submit their materials through a professional literary agent.
http://www.thistledownpress.com – query between Oct 1 and January 1
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.biz/manuscripts/ – does not accept unsolicited manuscripts
Thanks I will have to check a few of these out 🙂
I did so much research while I was pitching my first book – and found it had to fine a go-to list for Canadian Children’s Book Publishers – hopefully this list will make one aspiring kidlit author’s life a little easier.
Wow! thank you for this. It has given me a place to begin.
thank’s for the list and insight:) much obliged.
Thank you for the list. Do you have an outline that for how to pitch to these companies so I can have somewhere to start
Is it save to share the stories with these publishers via email ( as scan documents) ?
is there any kids news papers as well , where kids stories can be published ?
I’m not sure of kids newspapers but there certainly are kids’ magazines (Owl, National Geo Kids, Chirp). And for sending stories…always check a publisher’s submissions guidelines on their site before sending anything to ensure you have the right format.
Hello. I’m told I haven’t picked an easy road: I have written a series of 5 children’s picture books, based on a true animal story and I have written in rhyme. Is there a particular Canadian publisher that you know of that accepts rhyme written stories? Thank you so much. Alison
Alison, you’d have to check each publisher’s submissions guidelines to see if they accept rhyming manuscripts. Pitching takes a lot of research like that.
Hello Caroline, my son is 12 years and he wrote few short stories for school assignment. The feedback was awesome and rewarding that encouraged him to write other stories. His writing is engaging, creative and fun. Is there any publisher that you recommend and is known to support young writers. Thank you. Walid
Thank you for this list. It has provided a starting place.
I just finished writing my first children’s picture book and have so many others floating around in my head!
Now I can try and share them with all the kids out there!
That sounds so exciting. Best of luck with your picture book!
I am an illustration artist. I basically work online at merchant sites. But I am tired of working in this sites that sucks both buyer and the seller. I want to work directly with publishers and writers. Can you please help on this matter.
Submit your portfolio to publishing houses and stay positive.
Caroline, I was fortunate enough to hear you speak on the panel in November at CANSCAIP in Toronto – I’m working on many manuscripts right now and your list of publishers above was very helpful to get me started.
Thanks very much!
Gosh I was so nervous speaking that day. I hope you took away a bit of useful information!
A wonderful to do, this post. Thank you.
*thing to do
This is a wonderful resource. I’m very happy to have stumbled across it. Thank you very much!
Sincerely,
A writer in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Hope it helps with your publishing journey.
You spelled ‘received’ incorrectly in your first sentence on this web page.
Great catch! I appreciate the correction. It has been fixed. A writer’s life is always in progress…even with spelling 🙂
Hey I was going through your list and couldn’t help but notice you missed out Nelson Education. They have a great collection of children’s books
I don’t see Nelson Education having submission guidelines on their website. So they might just be a book distributor and not a publisher.