Robert J. Sawyer Books The Science…

                 Robert J. Sawyer Books
            The Science Fiction Imprint of RED DEER PRESS

                          Submission Guidelines

Robert J. Sawyer Books is the science-fiction imprint of Red Deer Press. Established
in 1975 and now a division of Fitzhenry & Whiteside Publishing of Toronto, Red Deer
Press is one of Canada's leading publishing houses.

The books in this line of literate, cutting-edge, philosophically rich science-fiction titles
are personally selected by the man the Ottawa Citizen calls "the dean of Canadian
Science Fiction" and the Rocky Mountain News calls "just about the best science-fiction
writer out there," Hugo and Nebula Award-winning bestselling author Rob Sawyer.
Writers whose submissions are selected work directly with Rob on their manuscripts,
and Rob writes an introduction for each book.

Robert J. Sawyer Books is strictly a science-fiction imprint: it does not publish
fantasy, horror, magic realism, or anything else. It is a line of adult books: we are not
interested in children's or young-adult fiction. Because some of our funding comes from
Canadian federal and provincial government agencies, we must publish mostly,
although not exclusively, Canadian authors.

We do just two or three books a year (mostly novels, but we are open to single-author
short-story collections by established novelists). Most of our books are published as
trade (large-format) paperbacks, although we also do some hardcovers. We are looking
for commercially viable titles, and we distribute our books across North America via
Fitzhenry & Whiteside. Our maximum length is 100,000 words--no exceptions.

Science-fiction publishing in the U.S. has been in a slump for over a decade, and lots of
good books that might have found homes with the major New York SF imprints (Ace,
Aspect, DAW, Del Rey, Eos, Roc, Spectra, and Tor) in more prosperous days have been
going unpublished. If your book might have made it in New York in greener times, give
us a try.

Note that we only publish original self-contained, stand-alone books: don't send us the
first volume of your prospective trilogy, because we'll never have enough slots to
publish the subsequent books, and no other publisher is going to pick up a series
started by somebody else. Also note that we're not currently interested in reprints.

Some authors we like: James Alan Gardner, Nancy Kress, Jack McDevitt, Mike Resnick,
Connie Willis, Robert Charles Wilson, and, of course, Robert J. Sawyer. If your work is
like theirs, with the same deft mixture of science and fiction, we're interested in seeing
a query from you. (If you don't know the work of these authors, or if the list of SF
imprints given above didn't mean anything to you, then we're probably not going to be
a good match for each other; try your luck somewhere else.)
                          Robert J. Sawyer Books · Page 2

If your book is built on a foundation of accurate, cleverly extrapolated science and
believable, subtle, sophisticated characterization, it might be for us. We want real
people in our stories, not cardboard heroes and villains. We firmly believe that SF is the
literature of ideas--and we love the sense of wonder that good science fiction invokes.

Most of all, your book must be about something. If your first impulse in describing your
novel is to make a thematic statement, we're interested; if, on the other hand, your
first impulse is to give a plot synopsis, we're probably not the right place for you.

We are open to stylistic experimentation and adult content, so long as they help, rather
than hinder, the story. Plain, straightforward prose is fine with us; so is beautiful, lyrical
writing. Humor and satire are welcome.

Our advances are decent by the standards of small presses, but we can't compete up
front with the big New York houses (although our royalty rates match theirs, of course).
We cannot commission novels; you must have a completed manuscript, ready to go into
editing. We welcome agented submissions, and are happy to deal with agents during
contract negotiations.

To give you a taste of what we're looking for, these were our first two books:

       Marcos Donnelly's Letters from the Flesh intertwines the startling
       observations of an extraterrestrial witnessing the rise of Christianity in
       First-Century Judea with the modern plight of a teacher attacked for
       championing evolution in his classroom.

       Getting Near the End by Andrew Weiner is an apocalyptic tale of a rock
       singer whose melancholy songs seem to accurately foretell the impending
       downfall of humanity. The novel draws heavily on Weiner's experience as a
       rock journalist, and is told in the same sardonic voice found in his many
       stories for Asimov's Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy &
       Science Fiction.

No unsolicited manuscripts: you must query us first by paper mail (not e-mail or fax).
Send query letters and brief synopses (no more than a couple of pages are necessary,
although if you've already written a longer synopsis, that's fine) to:

                           Robert J. Sawyer, Editor
                           Robert J. Sawyer Books
                           Fitzhenry & Whiteside
                           195 Allstate Parkway
                           Markham, ON
                           Canada L3R 4T8

Enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope (with Canadian postage) for our reply;
those submitting queries from outside Canada, use an International Reply Coupon,
available at large post offices. If we like what you've got to say in your query, we'll
solicit your full manuscript.


                        robertjsawyerbooks.com