I'm trying to get a non-fiction book published. I searched online for some book publishers, but every one I can find is self-publishing firms. They all charge money for me to use their services, which seems counter-productive, considering I'm supposed to get royalties for the book sales. That's kind of like a potential employer charging you to receive your job application. I'm impoverished. I'm on food stamps even as-is. I can't afford to pay for any packages for self-publishing. The best I can do is submit the book to a "traditional" publisher and hope that they like the book enough to publish it for me. And by "for me," I mean ... entirely at their own expense. But I can't find anyone who even purports to do that with a google search! Any recommendations?
Check out Writer's Market. I'm relatively positive they have extensive lists for non-fiction publishers as well as fiction.
Nonfiction books almost always need a book proposal. That is going to be 50 to 100 pages on what your book in about. A lot of the time nonfiction is sold on a proposal alone. Depending on what sort of nonfiction it is, you might want to try to get an agent. I think that's the best way get larger presses to look at your work, meaning your book proposal and then hopefully your book. A lot needs to go into that proposal. There are many niche and university presses that could possibly be options for you. What sort of nonfiction are we talking about here? Do you already have a proposal?
You can also look inside books similar to yours, see who the publishers are for them. Then you can research the specific presses to check their legitimacy, and their guidelines.
Ok, for god's sakes, did you not read the OP? I specifically said that I can't afford to pay for these things!
Man, first of all, chill out. You don't have to pay for an Agent to offer representation. They represent you and take a percentage of your earnings. Honestly, it sounds like you need to do some more research into publishing. Especially if you're going to sling attitude at people who actually offer to help you. Use different keywords in Google. I suggested you check out Writer's Market. Then you asked me to get the link for you. All you have to do is type "Writer's Market" into Google, and bam. ETA: His post was packed full of useful information. He spent his time typing that for you and you jumped down his throat based on YOUR OWN misconception about agents. Do some research. And please, when someone take their time to give you advice, save your attitude.
I agree with @Spencer1990 that you need to chill. Assuming you've done that... Self-publishing doesn't have to cost any money. Of course, it's not likely to earn you much money either, but if you do some research you'll find that a lot of people do everything themselves - editing, covers, formatting, etc. I wouldn't want to do it, but there are some who do. Alternatively, you can try to find a reputable publisher. I don't know as much about non-fiction as fiction, but I think agents are the standard way to go for non-fiction, too. So you could do some research on agents for non-fiction (again, find books similar to yours, figure out who the authors' agents are; or consult one of the agent-finding websites like querytracker). Again, though, you're going to need to chill - this is a long process, and not an easy one.
If a google search doesn't yield the results you want, try changing the terms of your search. Since the others have already told you how reactionary your comment about not being able to pay for an agent was, I'll go ahead and skip that part and advise you to google "how to write nonfiction queries" and then start querying some agents. If someone wants to pick up your work, they will find a publishing house for you. They'll do most of the legwork - they're motivated to sell your book to a publishing house, because they get a cut when you sell. They're also way more knowledgable about the business than you are and will be better at convincing a publisher to pick you up than you will be. To get you started, here's a list of agents who specialize in non-fiction. http://www.pw.org/literary_agents?perpage=*
Step One: Educate yourself. Lashing out at someone trying to educate you because you're completely ignorant of the publishing process is the opposite of educating yourself. You obviously have internet access. Do a Google search for how to publish non-fiction books. You'll see links that explain the process, and I even found a link for agents who take non-fiction. As noted above, you don't pay for an agent. You don't necessarily need one, but they can help. As also noted above, with non-fiction you often start with a proposal and if the publisher is interested, they'll tell you.
No apology to @deadrats and no thank you to anybody else who's taken the time to help you? Why should we bother answering your questions? You have Google: work it out.
All reputable agents take 15% and nothing else. If they ask for something else, you walk. You might want to take a look at the chart at for a quick overview of publishing options.
No, I do not think I should have to. After all, you should have been able to tell from my OP that I'm a complete novice at this. Here's an extra hint: I don't even read as a hobby; I'm only trying to publish this nonfiction book because I have an agenda. So, I have literally no idea how any of this stuff works. In all my years, I've been used to having to hire a "professional" assistant, either by paying them in advance (like a lawyer, plumber, or mechanic) or having them bill my insurance (like a doctor). I don't have "book publishing insurance" (I don't even think that stuff even exists), so how was I supposed to know that book publishing agents don't cost money upfront? Here's another reason you shouldn't have expected me to know that: Some actors have agents, and some don't because they can't afford them. Actors have to pay their agents a salary. Acting has a lot in common with literature, in that they are both storytelling mediums, so I reasonably expected the agent relationships to be similar. EVERY agent relationship I've ever heard of expects payment upfront for their work! - Corporations buying land so they can build a new store? The agents get paid either a salary or an hourly wage. - A financial agent who you give your money to so he can apply his expertise and experience while investing your money in the stock market? He demands a monthly fee for his work! So no, I do not believe it was my fault for expecting a book publishing agent to be a diamond in the rough and NOT demand payment upfront. You haven't helped me yet. The closest you've come to helping me is advising me that I should have a "proposal," without giving me any details whatsoever as to what, exactly, that proposal entails. Is it like a persuasive essay that we write in college, where the thesis is "please publish this book?" If so, do I cite my sources in MLA or APA format? You're just telling me basic stuff and expecting me to read your mind in order to fill in the blanks. I'm a novice here for crying out loud![/quote][/QUOTE]
Wow man. Hint: No one is going to help you with your poor attitude. (You're lucky these people have chimed in at all.) Hint: Do some damn research yourself. It's not our job to bring you from novice to published author. Hint: Read some books. Hint: Stop being an asshole. No one asked you to read their minds. They asked you to check your tone and do some research for yourself. That's not asking too much from someone (you) who's asking quite a lot of other people.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=non-fiction+publishers Oh look! Lots of traditional publishing links on the very first page. I call troll.
Wow ... an animation of you creating some fake google search, instead of an actual google search! Yeah, that proves me wrong, all right! https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjE04PnmaLOAhWG6iYKHclPCL8QPAgD#hl=en&q=Book+publishing+companies
Yes. You're a complete novice. So when an answer comes that suggests that the knowledgeable person misunderstood you, you should consider the possibility that you, the complete novice, were the one to misunderstand. And rudeness is not OK, even if you aren't the one to misunderstand. You ask people to give you advice as a favor, and you're rude to them? You see nothing wrong with that?
And the others are right; until you can dredge up basic courtesy, you don't deserve any responses. Bye.
You might want to find a new way of furthering that agenda. Given you've so far failed at both Google and basic human interaction, I don't think you're quite ready for this.
It's quite clear that the OP doesn't read since he missed the clearly marked ads in his google search. Not reading is not going to help you. In fact there is a whole section in a book proposal about similar books. And if you think there aren't any, you're wrong and just haven't read enough. Anyway, I hate to say it, but unless you change your approach in general, the book publishing thing might not happen for you. There are a lot of aspiring writers with better attitudes and google skills.
