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Submissions

Thank you for your interest in publishing with Heritage House!

Although we accept unsolicited submissions, we strongly encourage you to peruse our current catalogue and the guidelines below before deciding if our company is the right place for your project.

Please note that we no longer accept paper/hard-copy submissions or queries. Please review the section below for guidelines on how to send us your project electronically.

We receive hundreds of submissions every year, and we have a small in-house staff to process them all. It can take up to six months to review each project. If we are interested in pursuing your project, we will get in touch with you. If six months have passed and you have not heard from us, and you wish to inquire about the status of your submission, we kindly ask that you please do not call the office or drop in unannounced. Instead, send a follow-up query to books@heritagehouse.ca.

Submit to Heritage House

Heritage House publishes 20 to 30 new books per year. We mainly publish Canadian authors who write about topics that are relevant to the history, arts and culture, socio-political life, or natural environment of Western Canada (BC, AB, SK, MB, YT).

We are currently accepting submissions for books in the following categories:

  • History
  • Biography, autobiography, and memoir
  • Humour
  • Indigenous studies (with strong preference given to Indigenous authors)
  • Art and photography
  • Nature guides
  • Children’s picture books and board books
  • Fiction for early- and middle-grade readers

We do not publish poetry, genre fiction for adults, cookbooks, self-help books, or how-to books.

In your cover email, introduce yourself and give a brief description of your project and how it fits our publishing program. Make sure to include your contact information so that we can reach you.

For manuscript proposals: attach your submission as a single PDF document. Please do not attach multiple documents in your email or send multiple emails. Your proposal should include the following:

  • A one-page (250-word) synopsis of the book
  • A biography of yourself, including your previous publishing history, any awards you have won or been nominated for, and your academic or professional credentials as they pertain to your book project
  • A preliminary marketing plan for your project, including a description of your book’s intended audience, a list of other books on the market that are similar to yours, your social media presence and current public platform, any media contacts you may have who could review or help promote the book, and any other promotional ideas you may have
  • An outline of the book’s contents (or a table of contents)
  • One to two sample chapters
  • A sampling of images (if applicable)

For illustration proposals: attach your submission as a single PDF document. Please do not attach multiple documents in your email or send multiple emails. Your proposal should include the following:

  • A one-page (250-word) synopsis of the idea or description of your artwork style
  • A biography of yourself, including your previous publishing history, any awards you have won or been nominated for, and your academic or professional credentials as they pertain to your work
  • A sampling of images
  • An outline of the book’s contents (if applicable)
  • A preliminary marketing plan for your project (if applicable), including a description of your book’s intended audience, a list of other books on the market that are similar to yours, your social media presence and current public platform, any media contacts you may have who could review or help promote the book, and any other promotional ideas you may have

Email your submission package to books@heritagehouse.ca. You will receive an email acknowledgment in reply.

There is no need to send us your complete manuscript right away. We will contact you if we wish to see more than the sample chapters in your submission package. We strongly recommend that you have your manuscript professionally edited and proofread before sending it to us. If your manuscript has gone through an expert review or legal review, or you feel that it should, please indicate this in your submission package.

Again, please note that it can take up to six months for us to review each proposal. If you have not heard from us after six months and you wish to inquire about the status of your submission, please send a follow-up query to the email above. (No phone calls or drop-ins, please!) We do not provide feedback on proposals we do not accept.