Urban Fantasy Publishers

Silver-Midnight · Apr 20, 2012

I was kind of curious as what publishers, well, publish Urban Fantasy. I see that some ePublishers, like Evernight and Samahain, publish it but they require strong romantic undertone/overtone, and from what I see, the actual amount of stories they have in that section are quite small I think. It's been a while since I last visited Samahain's, but I think Evernight only had one page worth of books.

So, I started looking at publishers in books that were Urban Fantasy, and from what I saw, most of them took only unsolicited submissions.

I was wondering if there were any Urban Fantasy publishers that took e-mail-in submissions that didn't require an agent or other form of representation, and did fairly well in the genre.

Silver-Midnight · Apr 21, 2012

Thanks to the help of someone from a different part of the forum I was able to find these:

Ace and Roc are part of Penguine. They take Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Here's a link to their submission guidelines:

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/specialinterests/scifi/submission.html

Then there's Baen who publish Sci-Fi and Fantasy only:

http://www.baen.com/submit.asp

Tor/Forge.

http://us.macmillan.com/Content.aspx?publisher=torforge&id=255#ctl00_cphContent_ctl30_lblQuestion

There's also Lyrical Press: http://www.lyricalpress.com/submissions.php

and Entangled Publishing:

http://www.entangledpublishing.com/submission-information/

(And I'm pretty sure I don't have to say this, but obviously there are other publishers that take only non-solicited queries. That would Random House(and I think most if all of its divisions), Harper Collins (and I think most, if all divisions), Penguin Group(and most of its divisions), and Hachette Book Group(and most if not all of its divisions). Also you'll need an agent for the ones that only take non-solicited submissions. As far as finding an agent, I found these two places: http://www.agentquery.com/ (free) and http://www.writersmarket.com/ (paying))

amergina · Apr 21, 2012

DAW (part of Penguin) and Tor (part of Macmillan) both take unsolicited submissions. Both are SF/F publishers (who generally publish UF as well).

If the book has a strong female lead and a romantic subplot, you might also want to look into LUNA, which is an imprint of Harlequin Books.

Silver-Midnight · Apr 21, 2012

I saw DAW earlier, but I wasn't sure if they took UF. I saw more SF and what looked like High Fantasy more than UF. I saw a lot more UF at Ace and Roc.

I think I mentioned Tor.

Harlequin LUNA looks like it has a lot of UF.

Thanks for the additions.

amergina · Apr 21, 2012

Silver-Midnight said:
I saw DAW earlier, but I wasn't sure if they took UF. I saw more SF and what looked like High Fantasy more than UF. I saw a lot more UF at Ace and Roc.

I think I mentioned Tor.

Harlequin LUNA looks like it has a lot of UF.

Thanks for the additions.

Basically, all the major SF/F publishing imprints/publishers publish UF, since it falls well inside the umbrella of fantasy and its a subgenre people are reading.

They're not going to overlook an area in which they can make money.

DAW publishes Seanan McGuire's October Daye series, which is UF. That's just one series (and a fairly notable one... ) off the top of my head. I'm sure there are other UF series they publish.

Pyr Books, an independent SF/F publisher (in the old, original definition--i.e., they are a trade publisher that isn't an imprint of a larger publisher) accepts unagented submissions, too.

Silver-Midnight · May 2, 2012

In case I didn't mention it before, Carina Press also publishes Urban Fantasy.

Jess Haines · May 3, 2012

I believe my publisher also takes unsolicited subs (Kensington). I'm not positive, though, as all of my work has been subbed via my agent.

Silver-Midnight · May 3, 2012

I was looking at their submission guidelines( http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/finditem.cfm?itemid=14298), and saw this :

For fiction, send cover letter, first three chapters, and synopsis (no more than five pages). Note that we do not publish science fiction or fantasy.

Jess Haines · May 4, 2012

By that, I believe they mean high fantasy.

They're still taking subs of PNR/UF.

Silver-Midnight · May 4, 2012

Oh, okay. I understand now.

Silver-Midnight · May 13, 2012

This is going to sound like a very bad question, but I am going to word it as best I can:

Is Urban Fantasy a popular genre with ePublishers? I know that some take it obviously. But I don't how popular it really is. I don't want to say it seems it's more popular with Big Six publishers because I think that can be said with every genre, not just Urban Fantasy.

Stacia Kane · May 14, 2012

Silver-Midnight, who publishes the UF you read?

Silver-Midnight · May 14, 2012

Stacia Kane said:
Silver-Midnight, who publishes the UF you read?

Truthfully, Big Six and their divisions, mostly HarperCollins (Avon Romnace), Random House(Del Rey and etc.), and Penguin (mostly Ace/Roc I think). But that's more like a list of the publishers I read than ones I buy. I mostly get books from my local library, and rarely buy them nowadays, more so due to funds or lack thereof.

However, someone advised me to not necessarily jump on with a Big Six (or rather, to more technical, try to jump on with on an agent then a try for a Big Six) because they stated it wasn't as, I don't know, safe or as guaranteed as a ePublisher. That it isn't always guaranteed an author can finish out a series because they can only continue based upon how much their books sell supposedly.

That was why I asked about ePublishers, like Samahain or etc. Because I know that they publish it obviously, I just didn't know how well it did.

amergina · May 14, 2012

The best way to find out how well a publisher publishes something is to read what they publish.

I wouldn't submit to a publisher whose books I haven't read. It's like getting someone to cater your big event without ever sampling the food...

Silver-Midnight · May 14, 2012

amergina said:
The best way to find out how well a publisher publishes something is to read what they publish.

I wouldn't submit to a publisher whose books I haven't read. It's like getting someone to cater your big event without ever sampling the food...

Although I agree that I should probably read more in that genre that are published by ePublishers, I was trying to really ask how well are the sales for Urban Fantasy published by ePublishers. But that probably varies from ePublisher to ePublisher. However, I was trying to find at least a standard or idea of what sales figures might be, if I could. Does that make sense? Sorry for the confusion.

Cathy C · May 14, 2012

Silver-Midnight, I think you might confused on terminology from reading your posts:

Unsolicited and non-solicited aren't the same as agented and non-agented.

Solicited means an editor has previously requested the ms. from the writer/agent. That can happen in a variety of ways--from sending a query and getting a request for a full, to meeting an editor at a convention.

With an unsoliciated manuscript, you just mail it in and it is put in the "slush pile."

When you're agented, you step outside the solicited and unsolicited group and simply become "agented."

So if you don't have an agent, you either want to look at the publishers who DO accept unsolicited manuscripts, or you need to meet an editor at a convention and pitch to them and have them request it. Does that make sense?

However, someone advised me to not necessarily jump on with a Big Six (or rather, to more technical, try to jump on with on an agent then a try for a Big Six) because they stated it wasn't as, I don't know, safe or as guaranteed as a ePublisher.

This is false. If the manuscript is good, an agent will want to sell it. A publisher will want to buy it. And they have the distribution to get it into the marketplace for the best money. They pay advances, which many epubs don't.

:Shrug:

It's your choice, of course, but right now, UF is a hot genre so it's frankly easier to get bought by one of the Big Six than any other time. The reason: Debut authors are simply CHEAPER to buy than established authors, and publishers are tightening their belts.

amergina · May 14, 2012

Silver-Midnight said:
Although I agree that I should probably read more in that genre that are published by ePublishers, I was trying to really ask how well are the sales for Urban Fantasy published by ePublishers. But that probably varies from ePublisher to ePublisher. However, I was trying to find at least a standard or idea of what sales figures might be, if I could. Does that make sense? Sorry for the confusion.

Sales figures are going to vary author to author and book to book, publisher to publisher.

It seems that what all your questions focus on is "Can I sell and make money writing Urban Fantasy?" And the answer to that is actually the same answer to "Can I sell and make money writing [Any_Genre]?"

If you write a fantastic book that folks want to read, it'll sell. You'll make some amount of money if it sells. It probably won't be a million bucks.

The trick is to write a fantastic book that people want to read. That's what I'd concentrate on first... worry about where to publish it later. Cart *after* horse, and all that.

I don't think Urban Fantasy is going to vanish as a subgenre.

Silver-Midnight · May 14, 2012

Cathy C said:
Silver-Midnight, I think you might confused on terminology from reading your posts:

Unsolicited and non-solicited aren't the same as agented and non-agented.

Solicited means an editor has previously requested the ms. from the writer/agent. That can happen in a variety of ways--from sending a query and getting a request for a full, to meeting an editor at a convention.

With an unsoliciated manuscript, you just mail it in and it is put in the "slush pile."

When you're agented, you step outside the solicited and unsolicited group and simply become "agented."

So if you don't have an agent, you either want to look at the publishers who DO accept unsolicited manuscripts, or you need to meet an editor at a convention and pitch to them and have them request it. Does that make sense?

I definitely had those confused. I thought they were the same exact thing. Glad I know the difference now.

This is false. If the manuscript is good, an agent will want to sell it. A publisher will want to buy it. And they have the distribution to get it into the marketplace for the best money. They pay advances, which many epubs don't.

It's your choice, of course, but right now, UF is a hot genre so it's frankly easier to get bought by one of the Big Six than any other time. The reason: Debut authors are simply CHEAPER to buy than established authors, and publishers are tightening their belts.

I'll definitely keep all of that in mind.

amergina said:
Sales figures are going to vary author to author and book to book, publisher to publisher.

It seems that what all your questions focus on is "Can I sell and make money writing Urban Fantasy?" And the answer to that is actually the same answer to "Can I sell and make money writing [Any_Genre]?"

If you write a fantastic book that folks want to read, it'll sell. You'll make some amount of money if it sells. It probably won't be a million bucks.

The trick is to write a fantastic book that people want to read. That's what I'd concentrate on first... worry about where to publish it later. Cart *after* horse, and all that.

I don't think Urban Fantasy is going to vanish as a subgenre.

Thanks.

I just wanted to have a few places in mind I guess.

merchantIV · Jun 16, 2012

So on the whole UF front, I was reading Kristin Nelson's Pub Rants blog the other day, and she said she'd just come back from BEA, and that all of the SF/F editors she talked to basically said they weren't buying UF.

She said those writing UF 'may be out of luck.'

How bad/serious do we really think this is? As someone who's spent over a year writing a book in this genre, I hate to think that absolutely no one wants it anymore. Yikes!

Yāoguài · Jun 16, 2012

merchantIV said:
How bad/serious do we really think this is? As someone who's spent over a year writing a book in this genre, I hate to think that absolutely no one wants it anymore. Yikes!

It's fairly serious, but it really just means you need to rebrand your work.

Think of it in terms of economics, of quantity and demand. There are people out there who want to read urban fantasy. Suppose the demand exists to support three new urban fantasy series every month. When the quantity was equal to or less than that, everything was fine. But now it looks like the quantity exceeds the demand.

In a query letter, you only have a certain number of words to catch an agent's attention. Choose the right words. "Urban fantasy" doesn't need to be part of your description. Figure out how else to describe your work. Is it a horror fantasy? A vampire romance? A fantasy novel where werewolves howl over Cincinnati?

Jess Haines · Jun 16, 2012

merchantIV said:
So on the whole UF front, I was reading Kristin Nelson's Pub Rants blog the other day, and she said she'd just come back from BEA, and that all of the SF/F editors she talked to basically said they weren't buying UF.

She said those writing UF 'may be out of luck.'

How bad/serious do we really think this is? As someone who's spent over a year writing a book in this genre, I hate to think that absolutely no one wants it anymore. Yikes!

Adding the link to the post in question.

I don't know that you're entirely SOL. It just means editors and agents are going to be more picky about the projects they pick up. It's serious, but no more serious than hearing horror or epic fantasy or (insert genre here) is dead. The infusion of a few good books or public interest could turn that around at any moment.

Like I've said a few times before, I think it's just a matter of what you bring to the table. I write UF, and the royalty check I just cashed yesterday says this genre isn't dead. :tongue

Sara Walker · Jun 19, 2012

Orbit and Harper Collins also publish urban fantasy, but you'd need an agent to submit.

Sara

Urban Fantasy Publishers

Silver-Midnight

Silver-Midnight

amergina

Pittsburgh Strong

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amergina

Pittsburgh Strong

Silver-Midnight

Jess Haines

Boldly going nowhere in particular.

Silver-Midnight

Jess Haines

Boldly going nowhere in particular.

Silver-Midnight

Silver-Midnight

Stacia Kane

Girl Detective

Silver-Midnight

amergina

Pittsburgh Strong

Silver-Midnight

Cathy C

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

amergina

Pittsburgh Strong

Silver-Midnight

merchantIV

Yāoguài

Strange Monster

Jess Haines

Boldly going nowhere in particular.

Sara Walker