Did you know that you can actually get into a relationship with one of the big publishers, Penguin, without an agent?

It’s true. I swear.

Know how? DAW. That’s how.

What’s DAW? They’re a book publisher. Started back in the 70s by Donald A. Wollheim (get it? D.A.W.? DAW?) and his wife Elsie, they were devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy. And they’ve published some serious science fiction talent. Names like Tad Williams, C. J. Cherryh, and Mercedes Lackey.

They’re still a private company. They’re headquartered at Penguin, and have a distribution partnership with Penguin, but still private. I’m not sure how that all works, but I don’t have to. And neither do you!

DAW has been accepting unagented submissions for years. I first stumbled on this over a decade ago. At the time, I didn’t have anything to submit to them. But I tucked away the knowledge that they didn’t require an agent for when I did have something ready.

So if you have somthing ready to go and you’re banging your head against the wall looking for an agent, why not go right to the source?