Canada Calling: Canadian Publishers

Ever considered publishing in Canada? Given below is a list of the major mystery publishers in Canada and their current status about if they are accepting submissions.

Most of the publishers listed below have on-line submission guidelines. Most also DO NOT accept e-mail queries or submissions. This means you must send your query by snail mail, and include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) which brings up those pesky International Reply Coupons.

Unless you live in one of the 10 Canadian provinces or 3 Territories, Canada is another country. A Canadian publisher can not mail an SASE back to you using the stamps of any other country, so they require that International Reply Coupons be included in any query.

If you’ve ever tried to buy International Reply Coupons (IRCs) you will know that they are expensive and hard to find. If getting IRCs is a problem, contact the publisher personally to see if they would accept you sending them Canadian stamps, which can be purchased over the Internet at face value, or if you live near the Canadian border, you can pop across the border and buy them in person.

There are three kinds of Canadian postage. One is intended for use only inside of Canada and will not work to go to another country. You can tell these stamps because they have the letter “C” on them instead of a dollar amount.

The second kind is for letters mailed inside of Canada to go to the U. S. Buy stamps to use on letters going from Canada to the U.S.

The third kind is for letters mailed inside of Canada to go to any other country expect the U.S. Buy stamps to use on letters going from Canada to any country except the U.S.

Keep in mind that Canadian postal rates will increase on 2012 January 1. Current rate calculator for mailing a letter/package inside Canada to other countries. 2012 January 1 increases for mailing a letter/package inside Canada to other countries.

Now that we have those pesky details out of the way, here is a list of publishers. Some are not currently accepting submissions, but their web sites say check back from time to time, as this may change. Publishers have been arranged alphabetically.

ChiZine Publications
Location: Toronto, Ontario

Seeking 60K-100K manuscripts. See on-line submission guidelines. They are a dark fiction genre publisher. This includes science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, industrial thrillers, etc. Interested in pushing the boundaries with the unusual, the outré, and the transgressive.

Dundurn
Location: Toronto, Ontario

Publishes both adult and young adult mysteries. See on-line submission requirements.

ECW Press
Location, Toronto, Ontario

Publishes only Canadian authors. See on-line submission guidelines. Send query and sample by snail mail.

EDGE Publishing and Tesseract Books
Location: Calgary, Alberta

Seeking novel-length science fiction and fantasy submissions of all types. See on-line submission guidelines. Send query letter and synopsis by snail mail.

Insomniac Press
Location: Toronto, Ontario

Special interests: gay and lesbian books, noir mysteries. See on-line submission requirements. Send snail mail or e-mail query first.

McArthur & Company Publishing Ltd.
Location: Toronto, Ontario

Currently not accepting unsolicited mystery manuscripts. If you have an agent, go through him/her.

OnSpec Magazine
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

See on-line submission guides. Seeking original, unpublished speculative fiction (SF) and poetry -- fantasy, horror, ghost stories, fairy stories, magic realism, etc. Send your short stories (max. 6000 words), short short stories (under 1000 words) or poetry (max. 100 lines) by snail mail.

RendezVous Crime
Location: Toronto, Ontario

Unfortunately, they are not accepting submissions at this time, but keep an eye on this site. Lots of Canadian mystery writers publish here.

Ravenstone Books
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba

Publishes only Canadian citizens or landed immigrants, but will accept submissions from Canadians living outside of Canada. See on-line submission guidelines. Wants query first by snail mail. Interested in hard-boiled, police procedural, private eye, suspense, and thriller. At this time not considering cozies or "special knowledge" manuscripts.

NeWest Publishing
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

Not accepting mystery submissions at this time, but writers are encouraged to check back for updates.