19 Book Publishers in Maine (11 Open to Writers)

Maine keeps more book publishers than a state its size has any right to, and a good number of them will read a manuscript from someone they have never met.

If you have written something and you want it made in Maine, this is the working list. For every publisher below you will find what it publishes, whether it is reading submissions right now, and the page where you send your work. A few of these houses pay advances and royalties, a few run a contest once a year, and two ask you to share the cost of the print run, so read each entry to the end before you act on it. When you are done here, my full directory of publishing companies covers the rest of the country, and the guide to publishing companies in New Hampshire picks up next door.

Submission policies change without notice, so check the publisher’s own page before you send anything. Last verified: August 27, 2026.

Maine publishers accepting submissions

1. Islandport Press

Islandport Press in Camden is a traditional publisher of New England stories, ten to twenty titles a year, paying advances of $1,000 to $5,000 plus royalties. It accepts submissions of adult fiction and nonfiction year-round through short Google forms, and its guidelines warn plainly that a real publisher never charges you to read your work. Its children’s list is a separate matter: closed to new manuscripts until at least the end of 2026 after a flood of picture-book submissions.

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2. Littoral Books

Littoral Books is a small Portland press for Maine writers and artists, publishing literary fiction, poetry, essays and memoir. It does not take young adult, children’s, fantasy, crime or science fiction. Littoral Books accepts queries by email and asks for a short letter of inquiry before you send a full manuscript.

3. Moon Pie Press

Moon Pie Press has published poetry from Maine and beyond since 2003, roughly four collections a year, and its list runs about a year ahead. Moon Pie Press accepts queries from poets who email the editor a handful of sample poems first, never a full unsolicited manuscript. It asks for collections of forty to seventy-five pages with several poems already published in journals, and no religious, children’s or purely political work.

4. Tilbury House

Tilbury House Publishers, long a Maine children’s imprint and now part of Cherry Lake Publishing Group, puts out board books, picture books, beginning readers and middle grade in both fiction and nonfiction. Tilbury House accepts manuscripts by email, sent as a Word attachment to its editorial address at Sleeping Bear Press, and it will consider a picture-book text on its own without illustrations.

5. Child’s Play

Child’s Play is a British children’s publisher founded in 1972, and its United States division has worked out of Auburn, Maine since the year after. It publishes for children up to about age seven: board books, picture books, nonfiction and poetry built around play and life skills. Child’s Play accepts manuscripts by email to its office and states that it will not consider AI-generated stories or anything sent by post.

6. Tower Publishing

Tower Publishing of Standish is New England’s legal and business publisher, and it has produced the Maine Register directory since 1820. It also publishes novels and memoirs under the same roof. Tower Publishing accepts proposals from authors of casebooks and treatises, asking for sample chapters, an outline and a marketing plan, with a review that runs about sixty days.

Open through a contest or a seasonal window

7. Alice James Books

Alice James Books in New Gloucester is a poetry cooperative run by its own authors. It accepts submissions once a year through the Alice James Award, a blind-read contest with a $30 entry fee, open to United States residents only. The 2027 award reads through October 16, 2026, the winner takes $2,000 and publication, and there is no other route in: the press considers no unsolicited manuscripts outside the award, and its translation series is currently closed.

8. Goose River Press

Goose River Press in Waldoboro is a full-service publisher that also runs the annual Goose River Anthology. Goose River Press accepts submissions of poetry, essays and short fiction of 3,000 words or less for the anthology, sent as typed hard copy by mail, with a deadline that has fallen at the end of April. One caution: the press’s own website is currently returning a security-certificate error, so you may need to reach it through its Facebook page or the Lincoln County News notices.

9. Toad Hall Editions

Toad Hall Editions is a three-person poetry press on the midcoast that publishes one chapbook a year. Toad Hall Editions accepts submissions through the Poets Corner Chapbook Contest, which it runs with The Poets Corner and the Camden Festival of Poetry, judged by a guest poet with an entry fee and a deadline that has fallen in late February. Its literary magazine, kerning, is on hiatus, so the contest is the way in.

Publishers that ask the author to share the cost

10. Maine Authors Publishing & Cooperative

Maine Authors Publishing in Thomaston works on a cooperative model: you keep the rights and the royalties, and you pay for editing, design and a print run, all held to the company’s standards. Maine Authors Publishing accepts submissions through an online form, and its guidelines state that manuscripts substantially generated by AI are not a fit. Treat it as a paid service with an editorial gate, not a house that pays you.

11. Seapoint Books

Seapoint Books and Media in Brooklin, formerly Smith/Kerr Associates, is an author-centric publisher and book packager. It designs and markets each project one at a time for the authors, companies and organizations who commission the work, with the author closely involved throughout. Seapoint Books accepts pitches by email for book ideas; note that its own contact page currently returns a 404, so use the address on the site instead.

Not accepting submissions right now

12. Encircle Publications

Encircle Publications works out of Farmington, with ties to the University of Maine at Farmington, and publishes trade fiction in popular genres alongside poetry. Its author-queries page says the slate is full, so Encircle Publications is closed to submissions for now. The wording reads as a pause, so it is worth trying again later.

13. McSea Books

McSea Books is a children’s publisher focused on Maine life, founded by Stephanie Mulligan, and it also runs the Grato Press imprint. McSea Books does not accept unsolicited manuscripts at the moment, though its submissions page says it will still look at an illustrator’s portfolio sent by email.

14. Sandorf Passage

Sandorf Passage is a Portland-area nonprofit publishing four to six books a year of international and translated literature, distributed by Independent Publishers Group. Sandorf Passage does not accept unsolicited submissions; it builds its list from a network of contacts and translators, which is common for a press of its kind.

15. Sellers Publishing

Sellers Publishing in South Portland has moved most of its business to greeting cards, calendars, planners and gift books under the High Note brand. Sellers Publishing does not accept submissions for books, its FAQ says so directly, though it does review card art, calendar concepts and greeting-card verse year-round.

On the list, but not a way in for a manuscript

16. Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance

The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance in Portland has supported the state’s writers, editors and publishers since 1975, and it runs the Maine Literary Awards and the Maine Lit Fest. The alliance does not accept manuscripts. The page often linked as its submissions form is for sending literary events and member news to its newsletter, The Peavey, which is where you would announce a book, not place one.

17. The Telling Room

The Telling Room is a youth writing center on Commercial Street in Portland, working with students aged 6 to 18. It publishes anthologies, but those collect its own students’ work: The Telling Room does not accept manuscripts from outside writers. It belongs here because roundups keep listing it as a publisher, and for an adult author it is not one.

18. Brynmorgen

Brynmorgen Press works from Harpswell, founded by the metalsmith and teacher Tim McCreight in 1985. It publishes technical books for jewelers, metalsmiths and art students, in print and digital formats, and it is a respected name in craft publishing. There are no submission guidelines on its site; the catalog and ordering pages are all it presents to visitors.

19. Cider Mill Press

Cider Mill Press began in Kennebunkport and is now an imprint of HarperCollins Focus, run from Nashville, Tennessee. It publishes cookbooks, wine and spirits books, humor, gift books and classic children’s titles, several a season. The Maine tie is mostly history at this point, and there is no submissions route posted anywhere on the site.

Maine magazines and newspapers

If your work is shorter, the state’s periodicals are the other door. Places to look include The Maine Review, Portland Monthly, the Portland Press Herald, The Lincoln County News, and Turner Publishing, which runs a group of Franklin County community papers. Each sets its own terms, so check the masthead page before you pitch.

Conclusion

Maine’s publishing scene is small and personal, which cuts both ways: a query is more likely to reach a real editor, and a full list fills up fast. Start with the houses that match what you write, read their current guidelines and not an old roundup, and keep a note of which contests open when. If you want to widen the search, the guide to book publishers in Vermont is the next state over, and the main publishing companies directory covers everywhere else.