Sunday, February 12, 2012

Book publishing companies that publish "dark" genre?

I have written a "dark" fiction novel. Murder, sex, blood and guts, abuse etc. So, I am looking for any publishing companies that only or mostly publish novels like mine. I am NOT looking to self publish. My novel is over 60,000 and I am just finishing it up (probably gonna add 8,000-15,000 words). It doesnt matter where the company is, as long as its on the US. Any suggestions? thanks!Book publishing companies that publish "dark" genre?
The easiest way to begin is to look at novels you have read in your genre and list the publishers on the spine. From there go to their websites and begin your research of their submission process. The other way is to check out the 'Author's Guild' website and Writersbeware website. Both provide easily accessible lists of reputable agents, editors, and publishers. They also list the worst of the worst in case someone tries to reach out to you so always look at that list as well. Also pick up a copy of writer's digest, writer's market, and literary marketplace from the local library and pluck a few names from there. In this day and age you'll find plenty of them have websites that give very specific guidelines as to what they are looking for and when. Also plenty of the authors there give rave reviews and kudos to their agents, editors, and publishers so again look for your favorite authors in your genre and check out their sites.

There are also plenty of conferences to attend where agents hold ten minute sessions for you to pitch your manuscript. Also check out contests, some first and second place prizes are agent reviews or editor judges.

Joining groups also help with networking for names and some often have contests and mixers where you can meet publishing reps and agents face to face or invite the agents to come and speak. In some cases you will find that same information on the internet but it isn't always updated in a timely manner.

Also writing groups / associations in your genre often have newsletters that provide an up-to-date listing of agents, editors, publishing houses and what they are looking for as well as submission guidelines.

While doing this make sure you format properly, as well as check for grammatical errors, typos, and continuity issues. Those are things you can spot check prior to re-sending out the manuscript. Some editors and agents will chuck a good piece of writing because they can't get through the poor editing. Others will struggle through but will miss the essence of the writing and some of the more patient ones will find the beauty of the story intriguing enough to get through the minor pitfalls. But you still want to make it as clean a copy as possible so that you can make a strong first impression.

They usually want a query letter and a synopsis, so check out writing those as well and again make it as clean as possible since this is their first look at you and your work.

And keep in mind that you have urban fiction, dark fantasy, realistic fiction, non-fiction, murder and mystery. Each of these are classified differently and you should pay attention to who the acquistion editor is for each.


No comments:

Post a Comment