An A-Z of (UK) Independent Publishers – M

I’m focusing on UK based publishers of adult fiction, short stories and poetry. I’ll update my master list as I go along (or I’ll try too) but this fortnightly list will give a more personalised shout out.

Each entry features a sample book cover which clicks through to the website. The accompanying ‘about’ information is taken from each publishers website at the time I put this post together.

If you know of publishers I’ve missed or want to help update my master list then please add details in the comments.

Due to the pandemic, we’re all aware that times have been tough for indie bookshops and publishers, so obviously, if you can buy direct from them that benefits them more. Though bookshops are now open, some of you might still not feel comfortable venturing out so you might want to consider using Bookshop.org or Hive Books.co.uk – both of which offer a percentage of the sale to a bricks-and-mortar bookshop.

So here we go with M

McFori Ink

MCFori Ink is an independent book publisher based in Manchester publishing the work of Caimh McDonnell.

We set up in 2016 to bring Caimh’s darkly comic crime thrillers to readers around the globe. His books have gone on to become bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic, selling over 100,000 copies in 2018 alone.

Makina Books

Makina Books (Ma KEY na) is an independent publisher based in London. Our publications, audio and audio-described project seeks to promote and celebrate independent and emerging voices—with a particular focus on poetry, nonfiction, fiction, photography and prose.

We currently make collectable books in the ongoing series’ New Words and Makina Archive. In 2019 we launched the Makina Books Podcast which focuses on narratives in publishing. In 2021, Strangers by Rebecca Tamás was longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize.

Our titles are collected and held in several collections, including; Whitney Museum of American Art Library (New York) National Library of Scotland, Stills Centre for Photography and the National Poetry Library (London).

Marotte Books

We Go On Forever: The Heartbreaking Dystopian Must-read of 2021

INDIE PUBLISHER SPECIALISING IN HIGH-QUALITY COMMERCIAL AND COMEDIC FICTION

Marotte was set up in 2019, with the aim of publishing novels that were genuinely funny. We have recently expanded to include high-quality commercial fiction from other genres. When you see the jester’s hat you are guaranteed a fun, page-turning read!

Maytree Press

Independent poetry publisher based in the Pennine hills. Publishing beautiful poetry pamphlets and collections by new and emerging writers.

Maytree is the folk name for the Hawthorn Tree. Named after the month in which the tree blooms, the leaves are often the first to appear in spring signifying new life. When naming our press we felt it was the perfect name to encompass both our environmental and publishing ambitions.

Moist

MOIST exists both to put a dampener on the mainstream ‘literary’ gatekeepers and to juice up the tentative fumblings that occur on the fringes. Art school, state school, and resolutely European (in a style that includes the British but not the Bloomsbury) MOIST is always aroused and arousing and not always polite…

We’re a small team based in Nottingham, founded in 2019, and inspired by North American DIY publishing traditions that grew out of art, music, and LGBTQI+ scenes. Being a contemporary European publisher however, we want to work with contemporary European authors (as well as reissuing the occasional counter-culture classic). We publish three works of literary and/or creative non-fiction each year, consciously selecting titles that acknowledge a diverse range of lived experiences, educational backgrounds, and cultural reference points, all of which are designed – in every sense of the word – to form a conversation with each other.

Monsoon Books

Monsoon Books Ltd is a UK-registered award-winning independent publisher of English-language books and ebooks on Asia, established in Singapore in 2002 and incorporated in the UK in 2016. Monsoon Books publishes fiction (literary and commercial) and nonfiction (biography and autobiography, true crime, food and drink, history, travelogues and current affairs) with Asian themes under the ‘monsoon’ and ‘Dollarbird’ imprints. It publishes quality books from outstanding writers the world over and has several regional bestsellers to its name.

Monsoon’s titles have been translated into various languages and have been adapted for TV.

Monsoon Books offers an exciting, innovative and distinctive alternative to commercial publishing; its mission is to be unique—to find new talent and put publishing in Asia at the heart of the literary world.

Monsoon Books is a member of the Independent Publishers Guild.

Monstrous Regiment Publishing

Monstrous Regiment Publishing Ltd is an independent publishing press based in Leith, Edinburgh. It was founded by Ellen Desmond and Lauren Nickodemus in 2017.

Their passion for publishing working class writers, as well as topics of intersectional feminism and sexuality led them on a mission to curate bold and fresh content; the stories and lives they felt were often missing from bookshelves.

Moot Press

Independent publishers of poetry, photography + experimental texts, based in Bristol + London // co-curators of ANATHEMA reading series

Morrmaid Press

Press is based in Macclesfield and run by poet Ailsa Holland.

We are a small press with a difference, in that our ‘publication’ of poetry and stories is not purely about words on a page. We have an interest in all sorts of projects which combine poetry and stories with other art forms and sensory experiences: visual art, music, being outdoors.

Muddy Pearl Books

Muddy Pearl is an independent Scottish publisher of beautiful general market and thoughtful Christian market books. We publish on family, work, technology, love, loss, belief and faith. We produce our books to the highest standard, drawing wherever we can on the traditional skills and resources available in Scotland.

We publish new writers and old and their writing on faith and life and love, spiritual memoir, real life stories and made-up ones, prayer and poetry, humour and difficult issues.

Muswell Press

Muswell Press is a proudly independent publisher of great books, publishing an eclectic mix of excellent writing, with the emphasis on contemporary fiction, crime, biography and travel. The Queer Classics list republishes forgotten gay classics.

Sarah and Kate Beal bought Muswell Press in 2017 and published their first list in 2018. With over 50 years experience between them at some of the UK’s largest publishing companies, they combine big company perspective and ambition with small company versatility, focus and flexibility.

Myriad Editions

Myriad Editions is an independent publisher based in Brighton. Since 2005 we have developed a distinctive style of publishing original fiction, graphic novels and feminist nonfiction.

Our original mission was to seek out home-grown talent and publish debut authors from Brighton and beyond. We have launched the careers of more than 100 authors whose books have been well-reviewed and lauded. Among them are winners of the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and the Arnold Bennett Prize, and runners up for other prestigious awards, including the Jhalak Prize, CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, Polari First Book Awards, British Book Design and Production Award, Wales Book of the Year Award, Prix des Lecteurs and the Premio Letterario.