Welcome to Bandit Books.
Bandit Books is a new independent boutique publisher championing voices that rarely make it past the gatekeepers. We publish bold, unvarnished stories from people shaped by the justice system, the margins, and the overlooked edges of society. Our list is built on books that cut through noise, challenge assumptions, and refuse to play by the cultural script. If it’s honest, original, and impossible to ignore, it belongs here.
All You Need To KNow About Bandit Books.
Bandit Books publishes stories with bite. We back the outsiders, the jailhouse philosophers, the disregarded storytellers, and anyone else who’s been told to wait their turn. Our books don’t whisper. They bark, grin, and kick the door in.
We don’t do trends. We don’t do moral lectures. We publish work that’s honest, strange, funny, and alive. Books that jolt readers awake and leave a mark. If it’s got heart, grit, and a spark of mythic mischief, it belongs at Bandit Books.
No committees, no gatekeeping, no trend-chasing. Just good stories told well.
What We Publish
Bandit Books focuses on:
• Memoir and lived-experience writing
• Fiction with bite, humour, or mythic strangeness
• Books & authors shaped by the justice system or life on the margins
• Work that blends heart, intellect, and a bit of rebellion
If it’s honest, original, and has something real to say, it belongs here.
We DO NOT handle Children's Literatre, LGBT, Poetry or Fantasy.
Who is ‘Bandit’?
Bandit is named for a loyal border collie who waited outside a country jail for months, refusing to give up on his human. His story is a reminder of what matters: loyalty, grit, and the courage to keep going even when the world looks the other way. That’s the spirit behind every book we publish.
Where We Are
Bandit Books is based in regional Australia, shaped by the coast, the paddocks, and the kind of yarns that grow legs and wander off on their own. Our roots are local, but our books travel far. Our logo carries that spirit: sharp, loyal, a little wild, and absolutely unafraid.
Some of our upcoming titles.
The Emus of Campion Valley
When tragedy halts their ancient migration, Emu Bob and his mob cross a burning Western Australia outback to outrun drought, predators, and a looming human cull. The Emus of Campion Valley is a fierce, funny, mythic survival tale told through the eyes of the emus themselves.
Lightning Road
When two young orphans flee their group home to go on an adventure north to opal country, their lives are thrust into chaos with the only safety they find, is with each other.
Scent - Of a Loyal Dog
Thrown into a river as a newborn, Bandit survives against all odds to become the beloved fur child of a couple who never thought they’d have a family. But when Cameron is sent to prison, Bandit escapes and waits at the gates for months, becoming a local legend. Scent is a powerful tale of loyalty, resilience, and the unbreakable bond that leads us home.
Small Flower in a Big Land
After surviving a remote plane crash, ten‑year‑old Xi Jing must cross the outback alone until he’s found by Billiga, an elderly tribal man on his final journey home. Together — unable to share a language but bound by necessity — they trek across the Kimberley in a moving story of survival, culture, and quiet, hard‑won connection.
The Secession of Shearwater Island
Ollie, a reluctant royal and sheep farmer turned revolutionary, leads his eccentric island community in a bid to secede from mainland Australia. What begins as a protest against bureaucratic overreach spirals into a full-blown movement involving crop dusters, pink paint, rogue airmen, and a media circus. Beneath the chaos lies a deeply personal story — of fathers and sons, identity and belonging, and the cost of becoming a symbol when all you want is to be understood.
The Seals of Solomon
When a mysterious man appears on her doorstep, adventure writer Abbey Barnes discovers her father’s bedtime tales of Japanese war loot and lost temples were real. Armed with his long‑missing wartime journal, Abbey is thrust into a deadly chase through jungles and governments, rebel factions and hit squads — all while confronting a shared romantic past she can’t remember. Seals of Solomon is a fast, high‑stakes adventure/thriller where history, danger, and buried truth collide.
Contact us
Submissions
To make a submission to Bandit Books, please follow the instructions below:
Ensure your project is at a completed and polished level. We will not accept rough ideas, unpolished or incomplete drafts.
We DO NOT publish Poetry, Children's, Fantasy or LGBT content. Anything else, we may consider it if it's well written and engages us.
Please email us at Submissions@Banditbooks.com.au with only 4 chapters of your manuscript. (They do not have to be in order and can be from anywhere in your book) Do not send the whole manuscript. If we think it's for us, we'll request it.
Also include a one-page synopsis, and a brief background of yourself and your writing history.
A.I. - We are okay if you have used AI to improve or edit aspects your work. However, we will NOT consider anything solely generated by AI.
We will endeavor to get back to you as soon as possible, but due to us being a small indie press, it may take a while. If you haven't heard back from us within 6 weeks, sadly, we have passed on it. It does not mean your work is not good, it means we have a full plate.