The Big Five. That’s what we call the five largest publishing companies in the US: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, Macmillan Publishers, and Penguin Random House.

All five of them have a New York, New York address. All five of them have ample shelf space in bookstores, ads in literary magazines, and funds to market. And, truth be told, big publishers regularly produce flawlessly edited, award-winning fiction. Top tier books deserve to be read, no question, but there are more choices beyond what gets put on the most prominent retail shelves.

Publishers that aren’t attached to one of The Big Five are labeled “small press.” And compared to the giants they are rather slight, with just a handful of staff, but these little guys are often the real ground-breakers. Big publishers are risk averse; they won’t take a chance on something that might not sell—in other words, something that doesn’t fit current trends. Small presses are the ones who take leaps on brand new authors and innovative ideas. Small presses are the ones more likely to employ a staff of all women or publish books specifically written by members of the LGTBQ community.

Small presses are the start-ups of the book world. They’re less about “what’s going to sell 100,000 copies,” and more about, “what’s going to surprise the reader who thinks they’ve seen it all?”

The trouble here is that The Big Five have locked down major retailers like Barnes & Noble, and small bookstores kind of have to follow suit if they’re going to pay the rent. This makes it hard for small presses to get noticed unless a reader specifically seeks them out. So, we’ve compiled a list of some of the finest independent publishers of various speculative fiction fields in order to bring new options to our readers.

What you won’t find on this list are presses such as Angry Robot, Baen, or Tor. While these publishers print awesome books, they are imprints of The Big Five and don’t qualify as small presses. Graphic designer and author, Ali Almossawi, put together a chart that lists The Big Five and all their branches. There are so many imprints within these conglomerates that it’s no surprise they rule the landscape.

Think of small presses as the underdogs. They’re the mom and pop shop down the street that survives on loyalty. And, best of all, they are undoubtedly harboring the gem that will become your next obsession.

If you want more indie publishers focusing on our genre, we’ve added a Part Two to this list, with 12 new names.