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Birlinn

Birlinn Ltd is an independent publishing house based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company is built on traditions of the written and spoken word and is constantly looking to the future.

Established by Hugh Andrew (2022 recipient of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society Shackleton Medal for leadership and citizenship in publishing) Birlinn publishes books under a number of imprints: Birlinn; Polygon; Arena Sport; BC Books; Origin and John Donald.

The long-standing aim of Birlinn Ltd is to create an inclusive staff team and nurture writers and illustrators who together reflect the diversity and stories of our nation and the audience who will read them. Whilst we sit at the heart of cultural life in Scotland, our authors are known far beyond, and we are proud of what we have achieved together globally since we started out in 1992.

 

Authors

Bestselling authors include Alexander McCall Smith, Rosemary Goring, Alan Taylor, Denzil Meyrick, Stuart Cosgrove, Jan Philip-Sendker, Muriel Spark, Liz Lochhead, Roseanne Watt, Norman MacCaig, Denise Mina, Jenni Fagan, Sorley Maclean and Edwin Morgan.

 

Books

Books which have had most success in terms of international rights to date have been:

FICTION: The Girl From the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat; Rizzio by Denise Mina; Hex by Jenni Fagan; It Takes One to Know One by Isla Dewar

CRIME: The Rebecca Connolly Mysteries by Douglas Skelton; The Goldenacre by Philip Miller; The Devil’s Blaze by Robert J Harris; Bone Deep by Sandra Ireland; Six Wounds by Morgan Cry

HISTORY / ENVIRONMENT: Vienna by Angus Robertson; The Salt Roads by John Goodlad; Northern Lights by Edward J Cowan; The Two Headed Whale by Sandy Winterbottom; Native by Patrick Laurie; A Scurry of Squirrels by Polly Pullar

POP CULTURE: And In The End by Ken McNab; Cassius X by Stuart Cosgrove

DRINK: Whiskypedia by Charles Maclean; Pocket Guide to Whisky by Blair Bowman and Nikki Graeme

CHILDREN’S: Bear’s Adventure and Little House by the Sea by Benedict Blathwayt

 

Established: 1992

Types of books published: We cover genre and subject from fiction and poetry to local, national and international history, biography, literary non-fiction, nature and environment, academic, children’s, sport, music and much, much more.

Submission details: birlinn.co.uk/submissions

Whittles Publishing

Whittles Publishing continues to expand its established lists in geomatics including remote sensing, civil/structural engineering, geotechnics, fuel and energy science and offshore engineering. In addition a number of titles are being generated in materials and manufacturing technology and nanotechnology.

Our quality general list has grown appreciably over recent years with very successful titles in ornithology, military history, maritime, diving, wildlife and outdoors. The forward programme is building on these strengths with a number of ornithological books and development of existing themes.

The story of shipbuilding in Leith continues with vol. 3 of the highly-praised series, Leith-Built Ships by R O Neish and our lists in exploration continue to expand with The Magnetism of Antarctica.

Established: 1986

Publications (yearly average): 30

Types of books published: civil and structural engineering; geomatics; geotechnics; fuel and energy science; offshore engineering; nature and exploration; maritime; pharology; military history; ornithology; wildlife and diving

Submission details: Please contact Dr Keith Whittles with a brief synopsis and sample writing

The White Horse Press

The White Horse Press is a small independent publisher specialising in scholarly books and journals on environment and society. We aspire to standards of academic quality as high as those of the best international scholarly publishers, and to a friendliness and personal touch that far exceeds them. Both in journal and book publishing, we offer intelligent, flexible and individual treatment from editors with academic backgrounds and writing experience. Our small size gives us agility to navigate the changing publishing landscape, and freedom to define our own publication agenda. We have thirty years’ experience of managing and adapting to the systems and standards required in scholarly publishing. We are an independent family business, founded in 1991 and run by Sarah Johnson, her parents Andrew and Alison, and her cousin James Rice.

We publish four respected subscription journals, Environmental Values (IF 2019, 2.158), Environment and History (IF 2019, 0.698), Global Environment and Nomadic Peoples. From 2022 we will publish two Open Access journals, Climates and Cultures in History and The Journal of Population and Sustainability. We have an expanding booklist of monographs and edited collections that mesh with the themes of our journals, and those tangential to them: cultural history with an environmental flavour, conservation history, the history of environmental ideas… We are currently developing an Open Access booklist. Over the years, our books and journals have been recognised with prizes and field-leading Impact Factors.

Established: 1991

Publications (yearly average): 3 books, 4-6 journals

Types of books published: Scholarly monographs and multi-author volumes on environment and society.

Submission details: see our website (https://whpress.co.uk)

Swan & Horn

Swan & Horn is a small, independent publishing house with a focus on health-related non-fiction for the public and professionals. We are expanding into fiction and non-fiction for children, also with health and wellbeing messages. Our books address the challenges of modern living, to make complex subjects accessible to non-academics, and to provide important insight, foster curiosity, expand thinking, and stimulate collaboration between disciplines. We also provide expert editorial and publishing services to self-publishing authors.

We differ from most publishers in as much as our authors deal with a single person through the entire publishing process, namely the Managing Editor, Maria Carter. This gives authors a rich and rewarding working relationship, whereby they benefit from an unparalleled level of continuity and engagement. Collaboration is encouraged every step of the way.

Established: 2011

Publications: (planned): 1–5 per year

Types of books published: Healthcare and health-related, including public health, clinical practice, medical science, ethical and social issues, mental health, psychology, parenting, and worldviews that have an impact on human well-being.

Submission details: We actively solicit material in the above areas, and from authors who approach us for editorial support (whose work lies within our publishing remit). Happy to hear from authors by email (maria.carter@gmx.com), with a synopsis of the book, an outline of their ambitions, and a sample of text (of at least 1000 words).

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is an independent publisher of research in Scottish history and archaeology. Our publishing activity dates back more than 200 years to the Enlightenment: the first volume of the Society’s transactions, Archaeologia Scotica, was published in 1792. We follow in the tradition today by producing research papers, reports and books written by leading experts on Scotland’s past.

Our list includes many large-format, highly illustrated non-fiction books, such as Painting the Town: Scottish Urban History in Art, as well as academic monographs, including Portmahomack on Tarbat Ness: Changing Ideologies in North-east Scotland, Sixth to Sixteenth Century AD.

We are a charity advocating for the heritage sector and we work towards sharing the knowledge of Scotland’s past as widely as possible. Open Access is a key part of the Society’s publishing programme and we offer a range of Open Access options for all our publications.

Established: 1780

Types of publications: Scholarly and non-fiction books on Scottish history and archaeology; excavation reports from sites across Scotland; and papers covering new research, ideas, interpretations and discoveries. All publications are fully peer-reviewed.

Submission details: Please contact the Managing Editor with a summary of your project in the first instance. See our website for further information on making a new submission.

Luna Press Publishing

Luna Press Publishing is an independent press founded in 2015. We deal with Science Fiction, Fantasy and Dark Fantasy, in both fiction and academia.

We work with agents, published authors and new writers, with PhD students and researchers. We take pride in our family – the Luna family – and we work hard to promote and support it.

We are very keen to create writing opportunities and to give back to the community. Some of our books are affiliated to charities, so when you buy a book in our store you are also giving to charity. The donations are taken from Luna’s own share of the profit.

We are very excited to be a home for visual and written creativity and look forward to journeying with you.

Established: 2015
Publications (yearly average): 15 originals
Types of books published: Fiction, Non-fiction, Academia, Illustrated Novelettes, Graphic Novels, Comics, Colouring books.
Submission details: We only accept email submissions. All instructions are on the Submission Page of the website. Must check what projects are open before submitting.

Edinburgh University Press

Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting-edge scholarship with high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance.  The Press is a global ambassador for the University of Edinburgh, distributing our books and journals worldwide each year. Our publications carry the imprimatur of one of Britain’s oldest and most distinguished centres of learning and enjoy the highest academic standards through the scholarly appraisal of the Press Committee.

Scotland has a long tradition of furthering learning and intellectual debate and promoting awareness of new ideas. Edinburgh University Press is part of that heritage. As well as being a leading UK academic publisher we aim to be the pre-eminent publisher of serious books about Scotland.

We are committed to furthering knowledge and making innovative and rigorous scholarship available to the widest possible readership through our range of research publications. These include scholarly monographs and reference works, and journals available in print and online. The Press also plays a prominent educational role by providing stimulating, well-designed textbooks for students and lecturers.

Established: 1949

Publications (yearly average): 250 books, 50 journals

Types of books published: Our main subject areas across our books and journals programmes are: classics and ancient history, critical editions, film and media studies, historical studies, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, language and linguistics, law, literary studies, philosophy, politics, reference, religion, Scottish studies

Submission details: see the Edinburgh University Press website