Book Submission FAQ

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Submission FAQ

Book Submission FAQ

You've read the Book Department Writer's Guidelines (and if you haven't, you should), but you still have questions about the whole book submission process. Well, the good folks in the Wizards of the Coast Book Publishing Department have already answered the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) in this FAQ.

I really want to write for Wizards of the Coast but I don't know how to get started. What should I do first?

This is a very common, yet very important question. The best way to start is to get a copy of our writer's guidelines. These guidelines have almost every piece of information a prospective writer needs to know, right down to page length of the submission. The Wizards of the Coast writer's guidelines are available for download here on our website. You can also get a copy through the US mail if you send a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to Wizards of the Coast, Attn: Book Publishing, 1801 SW Lind Avenue, Renton, Washington, 98055.

Many prospective authors think that calling the company and pitching their ideas over the phone is the best way to get started. This is a myth. Chances are that the editor, or more likely, the assistant that you speak to will forget your idea and your name five minutes after you call because they have no concrete way to judge the quality of your work.

What kind of things do reviewers look for in a submission?

What we look for in unsolicited submissions is what most readers look for in a good novel, but the following items are the most common:

The first, and most important piece of advice is: "Show, don't tell." The best way to achieve this is to write cinematically. Your writing sample should play like a movie inside the reader's head. In movies we can see what a character is thinking by what he or she does, and by how the character interacts with others.

The next item that a reviewer looks at is how the author handles action. Is it fluid and exciting?
A reviewer also looks at how the author handles dialogue. Do the characters speak normally or do they sound wooden and stilted? If the main character is a farm boy, he should not sound as if he were raised in a royal court. If a character has an accent or dialect it should be consistent throughout. (For this reason we often caution new authors against using dialects or accents.)

Finally, the reviewer considers the condition of the sample. Is it clean and professionally presented? Has the submission been carefully checked for mistakes such as typos and spelling errors?

Do you ever publish unsolicited submissions?

Not usually. Our current novel lines are all fiction series and contain complicated story arcs, especially in the cases of the Dragonlance series and Forgotten Realms series. To maintain continuity throughout the lines, these story arcs are planned up to two years in advance. Though your story about the Qualinesti elves might be very good, chances are slim that it will fit into what we have planned for the Dragonlance world. A companion question to this is often: Do you accept proposals for new fiction settings? Yes and no. No, Wizards of the Coast is not actively seeking new settings, but yes, we always have our eyes open for the next "big thing" that may come our way.

What about previously unpublished authors? Does it help to have an agent?

We do publish previously unpublished authors. In fact, we're publishing novels by two first-time authors this year. Of course, many of our first-time authors began by writing short stories in anthologies. This helps them hone their skills and develop relationships with the editors before taking on a full-length novel. Agents are important to established authors, but less so to beginning authors. We read and consider both agented and unagented submissions.

How important is good grammar in an unsolicited submission?

Very important. Send us the absolute best example of your writing. For some reason there is a misconception that "If my story is brilliant enough, grammar doesn't matter." The truth is that the last thing an editor wants to see in a potential author is someone who doesn't know how to proofread and revise his or her own work.

What kind of information should I include in the cover letter?

A good cover letter is one that is professional, typed, and tells us just a bit about your writing experience. The submission cover letter should never be more than one page long. Two or three paragraphs are plenty. Don't try to be cute or funny. While the joke may sound good to you, it is often seen as detracting from the submission by the reviewers.

How long does it take to respond to submissions?

The Wizards Book Publishing Department has a policy of reading each submission. That is why even though we say in the guidelines that it takes 18 weeks, it can actually take closer to 20 weeks to receive a response.

Go to the book publishing main news page for more articles and news about Wizards of the Coast books.