Where to query this week (09.25.24)
Where to query this week (09.25.24)
Query help hotline, 5 indie presses & 5 literary agents
Welcome to Sub Club’s Where to query this week! This weekly report features:
5 indie presses looking for collections or novels (free)
5 featured literary agents looking for books across genres (paid)
Paid subscribers will also get access to a spreadsheet download of all opportunities with the information beautifully and easily laid out!
Each indie press featured is open for submissions at the time we share them. Info includes all details on fees, payment, and submission guidelines.
Our five featured agents will include:
Where they work and what they’re looking for
Recently represented authors
Details on how to query
Favorite books/authors where we could find them
Please Note: We do our best to ensure that our data and details are correct; however, both presses and agents can often not update their portals or update them at random. For this reason, please make sure to double and triple-check on your own end prior to making any submissions. Also, please check for eligibility requirements before submitting.
This week from our Query Hotline:
While I've been editing my poetry manuscript, I've been saving up a little fund for submitting. I thought it would be nice to have an award on the cover, so I made a short list of contests held by big publishers with attractive payouts.
I finally submitted this week, and spent $181 total. But then I did a little more research and found an article saying that these contests are often a last resort for writers who can't get their books published via standard submissions and queries and that the entire readership is usually just the contest losers.
The article said it's a better idea to spend submission money on contests for individual poems (something I haven't been doing because I've been saving for the manuscript contests) because the readership for those winners is everyone who subscribes to whatever journal or magazine put it on, so they're not all reading your poems thinking, "why did this poet win and not me?"
So now I'm freaking out a bit. Did I just waste a bunch of money? I only submitted to contests put on by well established publishers (Black Lawrence Press, Alice James Books, Milkweed Editions, to name a few), so I assumed the readership would be broader than just the contest losers.
To try and chill out a bit, I started searching for presses that take free queries and/or submissions and putting together a list. If the contests are actually a worthwhile way to publish, should I wait to hear back from the contests before I send my manuscript to the publishers on this list? Or can I start sending right away?
So my questions are--Did I waste a bunch of money on these contests? And should I send out my manuscript to general submissions pools now, or should I wait to hear back from the contests?
» Poetry contest winners are definitely not just ready by the “contest losers”. The prizes you have listed here are with respectable indie presses that have a wide readership (well, as wide as you can have within the indie poetry scene, anyway), so it’s not really money wasted in that sense. Having said that, contests in general are a bit of a gamble so it’s good you’re thinking about this stuff and trying to budget. The best thing you can do to try and up your odds is read the previous winners and get an editor who can really help you hone in and develop your own work. And yes, there are still some places that have fee-free reading periods, keep a look out for those and go ahead and submit simultaneously. You’ll likely hear back about the contests before you do from the open queries. You can also think about querying agents that are looking for poetry (believe it or not, there are more of them now)!
Thank you so much for offering this Q&A -- I can't tell you how helpful it is!
I know that every query letter needs to pitch ONE single manuscript, but what are your thoughts on mentioning if I have another one or two? (These are not rough drafts, they've been through beta reading and/or developmental editing.)
I've heard from some that it's a good thing to mention as it shows commitment to the craft, but from others that it's a huge turnoff because agents only want to focus on project thing at time. I'd love to mention my other works if it would benefit me, but I don't know if the risk of putting people off is just too much for that. Thank you!
» : I would spend the majority of your query letter really selling your main project. Query letters don't offer enough space as it is! But I think you can mention that you have another project or complete manuscript or other novel in your bio paragraph. Something like, " I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my second novel."
I will also note that during my agent call, the agent I ended up going with asked me if I had a second novel plan and was pleased that I did. So if you end up not being able to fit it in your query, know that you will have an opportunity to talk about it with an agent that could offer you rep. But they gotta love your main project first!
I have a very lengthy poetry book (368 pages) that is an epic of sorts. The first half is individuals poems that are all thematically connected. The second half is a single stream of consciousness poem that is thematically linked to the first part of the book. Are there any publishers these days that are accepting poetry books of such a length?
» Unfortunately, none that I know of. You’re best bet would be to cut the book into two and try and get the stronger of the two published first.
» » If want to ask a question in our Query Hotline, fill out the form here with any questions you might have about querying, whether that’s around agents, indie presses, book contests, formatting, genres, or if you just need someone to tell you you’re doing just fine. (Submit your question here) « «
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5 Indie Presses Closing This Week
University of Pittsburgh Press (Deadline: September 30)
The University of Pittsburgh Press is a publisher with distinguished lists in a wide range of scholarly and cultural fields. We publish books for general readers, scholars, and students. University presses were not yet a common sight on the American academic scene, and Pittsburgh’s was one of the first to be established since the late nineteenth century. In 1938 it was one of a handful of publishers that joined together to create the Association of University Presses, which has since grown to a membership of nearly 150 presses around the world.
Fee: $25 | Pay: Standard Royalties
The Pitt Poetry Series annually publishes at least four books by poets who previously have published full-length collections of poetry; we define “full-length” as a book of 48 or more pages. Poets who have not published a book before, or who have published chapbooks or limited editions of less than 500 copies, should refer to the rules for our first-book competition, the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize.
Manuscripts from previously published poets should be sent during August and September only. Manuscripts can be sent in any readable format. Final decisions are usually made late spring or before.
University of Iowa Press (Deadline: September 30)
Established in 1969, the University of Iowa Press is a well-regarded academic publisher serving scholars, students, and readers throughout the world with works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. For general readers, we publish the winners of the Iowa Short Fiction Award and other awards.
Fee: Free | Pay: Standard Royalties
The manuscript must be a collection of short stories in English of at least 150 word-processed, double-spaced pages. The manuscript may include a cover page, contents page, etc., but these are not required; however, please ensure the writer's name can be found somewhere within the manuscript or in the file name. The author's name can be on every page but this is not required.
55 Fathoms (Deadline: September 30)
Although we are a new book publisher, our staff has many years of experience in publishing. We understand what it takes to bring a book to fruition, from editing and cover design, to marketing and distribution. We are committed to working with our writers to achieve a successful book launch and publication run.
Fee: Free | Pay: Standard Royalties
We are looking for submissions of book length works (40,000 to 120,000 words). Unpublished novels and nonfiction works only. Story collections will now be considered. No children’s, young adult, or poetry. We are only interested in those books written in the literary style; mainstream or genre works are not a good match for us.
We are particularly interested in books that are high-concept literary, as well as those that exist on the boundary between literary and speculative—books of profound imagination and exquisite writing. In your submission please include, in a single document: a query letter and the first 10 pages of your book.
Concrete Wolf (Deadline: September 30)
Concrete Wolf has been publishing poetry chapbooks since 2001 and Louis Award full-length collection. We have no preference as to formal or free verse. We probably slightly favor lyric and narrative poetry to language and concrete, but excellent examples of any style get our attention.
Fee: $10-$15 | Pay: 100 Copies/Unknown Royalties | Judge: Editors / Emily Ransdell
MoonPath Press (an imprint of Concrete Wolf)
publishes collections of poetry
by poets residing in Alaska, Oregon or Washington state.
We are open to reading both chapbook and book manuscripts.
A chapbook manuscript should consist of 30 to 38 pages of poems.
A full-length manuscript should consist of 48 to 70 pages of poems.Concrete Wolf Louis Award for a full-length poetry collection by a poet age 50 or older, regardless of publication history.
Dzanc Books (Deadline: September 30)
Dzanc Books was created in 2006 to advance great writing and champion those writers who don't fit neatly into the marketing niches of for-profit presses and to advance literary readership and advocacy across the country.
Fee: $25 | Pay: $1000 - $5000
The Dzanc Books Poetry Prize, run for the first time in over a decade, recognizes daring, original, and innovative poetry collections (generally over 60 pages, but there is no hard minimum). A $1,000 advance and publication by Dzanc Books will be awarded to the winner. Finalists will be compiled in-house and passed along for evaluation to this year’s judges: Keith Taylor (All the Time You Want: New and Selected Poems) and Jonathan Fink (Barbarossa, The Crossing).
The Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize celebrates imaginative and inventive writing in book-length collections (generally over 40,000 words, but there is no hard minimum). Past winners include Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh (Zan), Nino Cipri, (Homesick), Anne Valente (By Light We Knew Our Names), Chaya Bhuvaneswar (White Dancing Elephants), Jen Grow (My Life as a Mermaid), Julie Stewart (Water and Blood), and Ethel Rohan (In the Event of Contact). The winning submission will be awarded a $2,500 advance and publication by Dzanc Books.
The Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction recognizes daring, original, and innovative novels (generally over 40,000 words, but there is no hard minimum). A $5,000 advance and publication by Dzanc Books will be awarded to the winner. Finalists will be compiled in-house and passed along for evaluation to this year’s judges: Farah Ali (The River, The Town), Chika Unigwe (The Middle Daughter), and Sarah Yahm, author of The Moveables, which was chosen as the winner of last year’s Prize for Fiction.
5 Literary Agents Open to Queries
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