DAW Books is Accepting Unsolicited Manuscripts

[Myshkin]

According to Penguin one of their publishing houses DAW BOOKS is currently accepting manuscripts in the fantasy/science fiction genre.Submissions Guidelines - Penguin Group (USA)

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

Many SF/F imprints have remained open to unagented submissions. It's one advantage of the genre; it was never wholely consumed by the "must have an agent" mindset that dominates much of publishing today.

 

[srcroft]

I would say if you do your research and homework, you can find a great agent and pay 0$. They are investing in you. Getting an agent is a great step and honestly, not getting one can hurt you. It won't necessarily, but it can. If you submit, without an agent flagged on your book, you have a higher chance of being tossed up front as soon as one thing is wrong or even not. Any + to your chance % is a good thing. Also less cost for you to send out manuscripts and boxes and cover letters and trying to get it just right. Also once published, getting up front funding pay for the next edition is a way to get rid of that day job.

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

You're never paying $0 for an agent. You're always paying 15% of your income. That's a VERY hefty tax, if it's not absolutely essential. If it is essential, then it's just a cost of doing business. But if it's not? Then it's a waste of money.

 

[Steerpike]

In most of the cases I've been involved in, even tangentially, the agent has, in my view, paid for her own commission by the value brought to the deal (higher dollar figures, expertise, and so on). I'm sure that's not always the case, however. But if you have a really good agent I think you're likely to see a net gain.

 

[srcroft]

Its essential to exposure that is top 10 or world renown. A percentage is worth it and the agent deserves it for taking a risk on your work and doing tons of work before hand to sell it and get it attention. Agents also do not take 15% income--usually a percent off the initial deal, but the maybe 2% royalty. Deals come when you get offers for publishing. Legitimate agents do not charge reading or other upfront fees (e.g. retainers), or bill authors for most operating expenses.

Once you get a situation where movies might be involved or merchandise you'll be severely taken advantage of or ignored for consideration, without an agent.

Also, if you don't get accepted by an agent, or even an offer by one--chances are you will have less luck with a publishing house. They can give fantastic business advice. If you make more they make more, your success is theirs. That's the opposite of those you will be fighting for contracts with alone without one.

It all depends on your goal. But if you want legitimacy by a notable publisher you will not even be consider without and agent. Worse if you get published and do poorly, you'll get blacklisted by agents for sidestepping.

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

I'm not even gonna try on this one, guys. Just suggest you go read Dean Wesley Smith's assorted essays on agents. Or check out the Passive Voice blog. Or Kris Rusch's comments on the subject. Things have changed over the last ten years. What once was true (all that you're saying) is not as universal or reliable anymore.

 

[srcroft]

I'm not necessarily saying you are wrong. It's more commentary, that it "can" have an effect, and definitely have its benefits. Be leery of authorial blogs, and Dean is a teacher so I can respect that more but it's the voice of a perspective on the industry and it is not the machine itself.

If you're a self publisher, e.g. kindle, nook etc, then obviously an agent is worthless. At the same time it is much more rare to make a living self published because you bypass a key learning example aka lots of rejection from publishers (which many times give great feedback on why).

Again, there are always exceptions, and new ways of doing things. Heck, people make millions on a crazy youtube video--so media is powerful.

 

[Mindfire]

In most of the cases I've been involved in, even tangentially, the agent has, in my view, paid for her own commission by the value brought to the deal (higher dollar figures, expertise, and so on). I'm sure that's not always the case, however. But if you have a really good agent I think you're likely to see a net gain.

And what's more, if you're not writing primarily for financial gain, then you have nothing at all to lose by getting an agent. They increase your chance of success, and all they ask for in return is a percentage of the money you don't care much about anyway.

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

I'm not necessarily saying you are wrong. It's more commentary, that it "can" have an effect, and definitely have its benefits. Be leery of authorial blogs, and Dean is a teacher so I can respect that more but it's the voice of a perspective on the industry and it is not the machine itself.

I will completely agree here. I have heard from many writers exceptionally happy with their agents. I think it's pretty clear that a good agent can be a huge asset. My primary concern with agents is that they are unlicensed, unregulated, and generally unrestricted in their business practices. So you MIGHT get a really good one. You might get one whose last client sued him for embezzling money. Or anything in between those two extremes. But with zero regulation, it's often very hard to tell which is which.

Put another way, bad agents don't get put out of business when they get caught. They just go looking for new clients.

If you're a self publisher, e.g. kindle, nook etc, then obviously an agent is worthless. At the same time it is much more rare to make a living self published because you bypass a key learning example aka lots of rejection from publishers (which many times give great feedback on why).

Not always. Amanda Hocking is still actively self publishing multiple books per year, but has an agent to handle her trad pub contracts and movie rights. I think I remember Michael Sullivan saying he brought in an agent to help when major publishers expressed interest in his self published series. Some indie writers use agents to help with overseas sales, too. So there are times when they can help.

I do disagree that it's more rare to make a living self published. I've done significant market/industry analysis, and been part of some even larger data collection exercises. I could throw a whole bunch of numbers at you, but the bottom line is that by last spring, over a third of fiction sold in the US was in ebook form, and at least 40% of those books were self published. Of the top 6000 books on Amazon (roughly speaking, those are the ones selling over a thousand copies a month), over 2000 are self published. Average price for a high selling indie book is about $3.25, which is about $2 income per sale. Even the worst of those 2000 top indie books is making quite good money.

Don't get me wrong: no given person is LIKELY to make a living indie publishing. The odds are against it. The odds are against any person making a living writing, regardless how they try to get published! But I think that right now, there are more people making a living writing fiction than any other time in history. And it's because of the many hundreds of indie writers making a solid income from that work.