Helfa, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of recommended publishers. THE BEST publisher is the one most excited about your work, and willing to work to sell it, while having the infrastructure and experience (and track record) to do so. Is there a particular reason you'd prefer to approach publishers without an agent? It's fine if you do, I'm just curious. If I were you, I'd start at the top, checking the five major publishers and their imprints - figure out which imprint handles your kind of work, and look for their submissions guidelines. I'd work down from there, maybe using a combination of google-fu and publishers marketplace. The only advice I would give, if you find you're working your way down a list and getting near the bottom, ask yourself very carefully what a publisher can do for you. There are lots of useless tiny presses out there that do little more than tie up an author's rights. Don't let an 'offer' blind you. That's all. I wish you good luck in your journey though. Keep us posted!
Different publishers, and even their various imprints, focus on different types of books--nonfiction, memoirs, genre fiction, etc. What publishers publish the types of novels/books you've written? Check out what's on the shelf at the local bookstore or online. That would give you a good place to start. Then, you'd have to research further, if they take unsolicited submissions or require agented submissions, and more--much more before moving forward.
see above... this is something you [and every other author] must do on your own... no one is going to do all that work for you... at least not for free!
Great advice. I will have to list a lot of publishers and agents for when the time comes. Before I finish my book.
