I have been reading fantasy books for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I really liked the science fantasy publishers. I read books like The Giver and A Wrinkle in Time voraciously. I just could not get enough. It was so thrilling to read about galactic struggles between good and evil, post-apocalyptic societies living in a world of enforced conformity, and all that other stuff. It was the perfect food for a young and developing mind like mine.

As time has gone on, however, I have started to think about fantasy publishers in a different way. I have recently completed my first fantasy novel, and started looking for a fantasy publisher of my own. It has been no easy task. Nowadays, fantasy publishers – like the rest of the publishing industry – are really market-driven. A lot of them are not so much looking for a good novel as one that they think will sell. They study recent sales trends instead of classics, trying to find the next big thing.

Still, you can use that to your advantage if you know how. You see, fantasy is sort of a niche market, and the various fantasy publishers occupy their own niches within that market. One fantasy publisher might focus for the most part on Gothic fantasy, while another might go in for sword and sorcery. Still another might cater to a Steampunk audience with that quirky aesthetic. If you know where to look and who to talk to, you can save a lot of headache shopping your book around.

There are also the small fantasy publishers. Nowadays, it is cheaper than ever to print out a book. If all that you want is to see your fantasy novel in print, there are ways to do it. You may not make a lot of money at it, but at least you will be able to show it to the folks you care about. For a lot of people, this is the most important thing about getting published anyway. If that describes you, consider vanity publishing or even self-publishing. Sometimes, after all, it is the first step on the road to the big time fantasy publishers. Still, if you think you can make it straight to the top, go for it. After all, the most important thing for a writer to do is to learn to trust herself. If you can do that, you can do anything.