There are several great cozy mystery publishers with open submissions.
In fact, you can submit to a few of the biggest cozy mystery publishers without an agent!
Now, there are a lot of great reasons to have an agent. I’m certainly grateful for mine. And many cozy authors do very well with the self-publishing route! But because everyone’s path is different, and because an author will occasionally part ways with their agent for one reason or another, I thought this list might be helpful for some writers.
Hold up: what’s a cozy mystery?
Even if you’re not familiar with the term, I bet you know the genre. Cozy mysteries, often featuring an amateur sleuth, are short on gore and long on charm. There’s little or no cursing, and things never get truly gritty or scary. Adorable towns and businesses are common, as are quirky characters. Subcategories include culinary cozy mystery, craft and hobby mystery, and animal mystery.
PUBLISHERS WHO ACCEPT UNAGENTED SUBMISSIONS
For all of these cozy mystery publishers, please read the guidelines carefully, including the preferred word count and what materials they wish to see, before submitting!
01
Kensington Publishing
Kensington is one of the biggest cozy mystery publishers, and I think they do a great job of cover designs and of series marketing. Kensington Publishing cozy mysteries include those by Joanne Fluke and Maddie Day. You can submit here to one of the editors on their list who is looking for cozy mystery.
02
Crooked Lane Publishing
These guys are another one of the premier cozy mystery publishers! Like Kensington, I think they do terrific book cover designs, and I have a good opinion of the publisher, Matt Martz. To read about their submission guidelines and submit, go here.
03
Bookouture
Bookouture is a class act. I’ve heard great things about them from an author perspective. Like the two above, I’m actually a little surprised that they are among the cozy mystery publishers with open submissions. To read about what they’re looking for and submit, check them out here.
04
Storm Publishing
Storm is a newer publisher headed up by Oliver Rhodes, the former CEO of Bookouture. He seems really passionate about the business, and obviously, he knows what he’s doing. The books look and sound great. You can learn more about them as a publisher here, learn what they’re looking for here, and submit here!
05
Joffe Books
Joffe Books is an award-winning, high-quality independent UK publisher specializing in crime and mystery fiction, although they do publish some other genres, too. You can read more about them, including how to submit, right here!
06
Lyrical Press
Lyrical is a digital-first publishing imprint that Kensington bought about a decade ago, and as far as I can tell, they apply the same high quality here. Check out the submission information!
07
Tule Publishing
Tule is an excellent digital-first publisher started by Jane Porter ten years ago. I think they do a lot more romance than cozy mystery, but they do publish a lot of great cozies. They’re opening again to submissions in February 2024, and you can learn more about them here.
If you’re writing a novel, be sure to check out my book Master Lists for Writers.
It’s a great reference for authors that can make the writing go faster!
Do you know of any other cozy mystery publishers who take unagented submissions?
Let me know in the comments! And in the following weeks, I’m going to do similar posts for romance writers and fantasy writers, so let me know if you have suggestions, too.
Thanks so much for reading, and happy writing!
This is such a great resource! Thanks for posting the information with all the links.
Thank you for posting I have contacted them.