26 Best Book Publishers in Chicago (Links to Submissions)

Are you looking for the most notable publishers in Chicago? You’re in the exact right spot. Here are 26 Chicago-area book publishers, from world-famous university presses to small independents, with how to approach each one.

Chicago publishers work in very different ways. University presses and houses such as Chicago Review Press, Haymarket Books, Agate and ACTA review proposals from authors. Tyndale House, Moody and InterVarsity Press work mainly through agents and existing contacts, and a few companies on this list sell publishing services instead. Explore each one, support local publishers, and then head to my list of over 3,000 publishing companies.

Submission policies change without notice, so check the publisher’s own page before you send anything, and never pay a reading fee. Last verified: October 1, 2026.

Here’s a list of the top publishing companies in Chicago:

1. The University of Chicago Press

The University of Chicago Press has been part of the city’s academic life since 1890 and is its leading scholarly publisher. It is known for The Chicago Manual of Style and The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, runs a large journals division, and serves other not-for-profit presses through Chicago Distribution Services.

The press accepts book proposals directly from authors, with no introduction needed. Send a proposal and, if you have one, a sample chapter to the single acquisitions editor closest to your subject, as explained in its book submissions guide.

Working on a book of your own? You can publish it yourself with PublishDrive (affiliate link).

2. University of Illinois Press

Founded in 1918, the University of Illinois Press publishes scholarship across fields from academic history to communication studies, along with regional trade books under its 3 Fields Books imprint. Its backlist includes The Mathematical Theory of Communication.

The press accepts proposals from scholars and regional trade authors. Email a cover letter, your CV, a proposal and a sample chapter to the editor who acquires in your area, and allow at least four weeks before following up. Its proposal guidelines explain what each section should cover.

3. Chicago Review Press

Chicago Review Press, established in 1973, is an independent publisher of nonfiction and books of lasting interest. Its imprints include Lawrence Hill Books, Academy Chicago, Parenting Press, Amberjack, Interlude Press and Council Oak Books, and its titles are distributed by Independent Publishers Group.

The press accepts proposals from authors and agents. Its information for authors and agents asks for a one-sentence summary, a short synopsis and an estimated word count.

4. Haymarket Books

Named for the Haymarket Martyrs of 1886, Haymarket Books is a nonprofit, independent publisher of books for social and economic justice. Its authors include Angela Y. Davis, Arundhati Roy, Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky, and it runs a busy program of live events in Chicago.

Haymarket accepts nonfiction proposals through Submittable, linked from its submissions page. It does not want fiction, poetry, children’s books, dissertations or proposals written with AI, and it cannot consider unagented email or postal submissions.

5. Agate Publishing

Agate Publishing is a privately owned house based in Evanston, a short trip north of downtown Chicago. Its imprints are Bolden for fiction and nonfiction by African American writers, Surrey for food and cooking, B2 for business books, and Midway for nonfiction about the Midwest or by Midwestern authors.

Agate accepts email inquiries only for those four areas, as set out in how to submit a project to Agate. Do not phone, and do not mail anything before an editor has answered your email.

6. Joshua Tree Publishing

Joshua Tree Publishing has worked with authors since the 1980s. It takes a book through editing, page layout, cover design, printing and ebook formats, and it helps with marketing after release.

Its submissions process starts with an emailed query letter. If the team likes it, they ask for the first three chapters, then the full manuscript and a marketing plan, and each contract is negotiated book by book.

7. Third World Press Foundation

Founded in 1967 by Haki R. Madhubuti, the Third World Press Foundation is the oldest independent publisher of Black thought and literature in the United States. It started in a Chicago basement with a used mimeograph machine and grew into a leading publisher of African American literature.

The press welcomes book proposals in the fields it publishes. Its author guidelines ask for a proposal by post with an abstract, a look at competing titles, an annotated table of contents, the estimated length and a completion date.

8. Big Shoulders Books

Big Shoulders Books is a social-justice publishing initiative based at DePaul University. It gives its books away free to readers, publishing work by and about Chicagoans whose voices might otherwise go unheard, and it has distributed well over 100,000 copies since 2011.

The project also trains DePaul students in the craft and business of publishing. You can order a free copy or donate on its website.

9. Kazi Publications

Kazi Publications is a Chicago publisher, distributor and bookstore devoted to Islamic history, Quranic studies, art and science. Its list includes the Great Books of the Islamic World series and works by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Laleh Bakhtiar, whose translation The Sublime Quran drew wide attention.

There is no author submissions page, so if your book fits the list, reach the team through its contact page first.

10. Featherproof Books

Featherproof Books is a small Chicago press for strange and beautiful fiction, experimental nonfiction and books that slip between genres. Recent titles include Tim Kinsella’s novel Danny B. and TJ Fuller’s story collection Some Stupid Glow.

Featherproof opens for manuscripts only in occasional windows. Its Submittable page currently shows no open calls, so follow the press for the next one.

11. Loyola Press

Loyola Press is a Jesuit ministry founded in Chicago in 1912. It publishes Catholic books for children and adults, faith-formation programs such as Christ Our Life and Finding God, and the long-running Voyages in English grammar series.

Loyola Press does not currently publish author guidelines on its website, so check its catalog closely before you approach the team.

12. American Bar Association

The American Bar Association, founded in 1878 and headquartered in Chicago, is one of the largest legal publishers in the country. Each year it produces more than 1,000 books, periodicals and newsletters for attorneys and legal professionals.

ABA Publishing accepts book ideas from legal writers. Use the author proposal form on its publishing page to pitch a topic.

13. American Library Association

The American Library Association, based in Chicago since its founding in 1876, is the largest membership association in the library world and celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2026. Its book program, ALA Editions | ALA Neal-Schuman, publishes for librarians, archivists, educators and library advocates.

ALA Editions accepts book proposals on library practice, archives, copyright, censorship and related subjects. Look for the Write with Us guidelines on the ALA Editions website.

14. Tyndale House

Tyndale House Publishers was founded in 1962 by Ken Taylor to publish his paraphrase Living Letters. Based in Carol Stream, west of Chicago, it is one of the largest independently owned Christian publishers, known for Bibles in English and Spanish and for Christian fiction and nonfiction.

Tyndale does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. According to its FAQ, it reviews only work from literary agents, Tyndale authors, authors it knows from other publishers, and publishing professionals.

15. Albert Whitman & Company

Albert Whitman & Company is an independent children’s book publisher founded in 1919. It publishes picture books, middle-grade and young adult titles that entertain and support young readers.

The company accepts submissions from unrepresented authors under its guidelines for unrepresented authors, so read them before you send anything.

16. Moody Publishers

Moody Publishers is the nonprofit Christian publishing house of Moody Bible Institute, started in 1894 by D. L. Moody. It publishes Christian nonfiction and fiction, from Bible teaching to books on relationships and personal growth, and its proceeds support the Institute.

Moody does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. Its submissions page explains the routes it does take.

17. Acta Publications

ACTA Publications, founded in 1957 and based in Niles just outside Chicago, began with religious education and spirituality. Its list now also covers grief, caregiving, social justice, sports, fiction and children’s books for general readers.

ACTA accepts unsolicited proposals by email: a cover letter naming your audience, a table of contents, and an introduction plus one chapter. Its manuscript submissions page also asks you to disclose simultaneous submissions, and first-time authors receive no advance.

18. The Art Institute of Chicago Publications

The Art Institute of Chicago’s publishing department has produced books for nearly a century. It publishes exhibition catalogues, collection highlights and scholarly digital titles, with 2026 books on Mary Cassatt and Willem de Kooning.

Its books grow out of the museum’s own exhibitions and collection, so it is a reference point for art writers rather than a place to send a manuscript.

19. Arktoi Books

Arktoi Books is an imprint of Red Hen Press for literary fiction and poetry by lesbian writers. Eloise Klein Healy founded it in 2006, and its name comes from the young girls who served Artemis at her sanctuary at Brauron.

The newest title on the imprint’s page dates from 2015. If your work fits, read the Red Hen Press submission guidelines before you send it.

20. Sourcebooks Fire

Sourcebooks Fire is the young adult imprint of Sourcebooks, an independent, women-led publisher in Naperville, west of Chicago. Sourcebooks publishes fiction and nonfiction for every age, from picture books to romance.

Sourcebooks does not post current author guidelines on its main site, so watch it and its scam warnings closely before you send anything.

21. Kidsbooks Publishing

Kidsbooks Publishing creates educational and entertaining children’s books that encourage early learning, imagination and parent-child reading. Its books reach retailers, libraries, schools and specialty stores rather than individual buyers.

Kidsbooks develops its titles in-house and lists no author submission route.

22. Networlding Publishing

Networlding is the book-creation business of Melissa G. Wilson, co-author of the bestseller Networlding. It sells done-for-you book creation and one-to-one coaching to leaders writing nonfiction, memoir and how-to books.

Because it is a paid service, compare its packages with other author-services companies before you sign.

23. Phoenix Tree Publishing

Phoenix Tree Publishing was founded in Chicago in 2011 by Beijing Language and Culture University Press. It publishes Chinese language learning and cultural materials used in more than 1,200 primary and secondary schools and 300 universities across the United States.

Its list is built around classroom programs, so it is a fit only for writers working in Chinese language education.

24. InterVarsity Press

InterVarsity Press, the publishing arm of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, has published Christian books since 1947 from its home in Downers Grove, west of Chicago. Its IVP Academic line serves professors and students.

IVP does not accept unsolicited proposals or manuscripts. Its submissions page asks you to send a proposal only after direct contact with one of its editors.

25. Fort Raphael Publishing

Fort Raphael Publishing is a Chicago audiobook production house. It offers professional narration and audiobook publishing, self-publishing support and workshops for authors.

Its services are paid, so it suits authors who already have a book and want an audio edition.

26. CityFiles Press

CityFiles Press is a small Chicago publisher of photography, architecture and history books, plus exhibits built around them. Its titles include Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows and Richard Nickel’s Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City.

The press produces its own projects and posts no submission guidelines.

Names you may be looking for

Curbside Splendor

Curbside Splendor was a Chicago literary press. It went on a publishing hiatus in 2019, and its website no longer lists new books.

Gibson House Press

Gibson House Press published literary fiction, often by musicians. Its website currently does not load, so there is no working submissions route.

Cozy Cat Press

Cozy Cat Press published cozy mysteries. Its old web address now shows unrelated content, so there is no current way to submit.

Amika Press

Amika Press was a small independent publisher north of Chicago. Its web address is now a parking page.

Conclusion

Chicago’s publishing scene runs from century-old scholarly presses to small independents and free community books. If you want a traditional deal, start with the houses that take proposals from authors now: the University of Chicago Press, the University of Illinois Press, Chicago Review Press, Haymarket Books, Agate, Third World Press Foundation, Albert Whitman and ACTA. Match your book to each list and send only what the guidelines ask for. Next up, you may want to explore a guide on top publishers in Illinois.