For this week’s spotlight market, we look at DAW Books, a science fiction and fantasy book publisher that accepts unagented submissions from new and experienced writers.
DAW Books: Spotlight Market
It’s not every day that a writer has the ability to submit directly to one of the major book publishers, specifically an imprint of Penguin Random House. But writers of science fiction and fantasy can do just that by submitting to DAW Books. DAW’s claim to fame is that they were the first publishing company devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy back in 1971.
A few of their recent releases include Pariah, by W. Michael Gear; Finder, by Suzanne Palmer; Empire of Grass, by Tad Williams; and The Master of Dreams, by Mike Resnick.
What They’re Looking For: From DAW’s Submittable page, “We seek to publish a wide range of voices and stories, because we believe that it is the duty of the science fiction and fantasy genres to be inclusive and representative of as many diverse viewpoints as possible. To this end, DAW is actively seeking new works of science fiction and fantasy written by and/or featuring people of color, Native people, disabled people, neuroatypical people, LGBTQIA+ people, and other underrepresented and marginalized communities.” They do not consider short stories, novellas, collections, or poetry. Also, the average length of novels varies, but they’re almost never fewer than 80,000 words.
How to Submit: Prospective authors can submit their work via DAW’s Submittable page by clicking here.
(Click here to learn how to write a query letter.)
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Sell Your Fantasy and Science Fiction to Agents and Editors!
Science fiction and fantasy is a crowded field, and unless you get to just the right agents and editors with just the right message, you’ll have an epic struggle just breaking in.
There are agents and editors who specialize in science fiction and fantasy. They’re seeing hundreds of queries in any given week, and you can bet that most of them claim to be the next Jim Butcher or George R.R. Martin. How do you sell yourself to someone who’s getting similar pitches—maybe even from more experienced authors—every day? How do you stand out from the crowd without looking like an amateur? We’ll discuss the all-important query letter and bio with concrete do’s and don’ts, handling the synopsis, putting together a successful submission package, and more!
The post DAW Books: Spotlight Market by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.
