Researching Literary Agents and Publishers for Zombie Books

Now that the first draft is sitting with my editor, and I’m in the “waiting period” to get it back, I’ve turned my attention to really digging into doing research on Agents and Publishers who focus on zombie books.   Let me tell you….it’s going to be a journey.

After a few days of sifting through blogs, publisher listings and Twitter to identify those who are interested in Horror specifically, there seem to be a whole bunch out there.   From what I can tell so far, I’ve been able to identify twenty or so publishers that appear to be focused on publishing books in the form of the Zombies, the Apocalypse or general Horror.

One thing that I have realized is that many of these publishers are “closed for submissions.”  There are a few out there however, who appear to be currently accepting submissions without an agent, or who say they will be opening up in the Fall.

This is somewhat re-assuring to me, however I must say that the search for an Agent is going to be far more convoluted.  Literary Agents seem to be almost hidden on the web.  They have profiles on agency websites, Twitter accounts and such – however all too often they do not specifically say that they are looking for what can only be categorized as “dark horror.”  Usually it’s more generic like “sci-fi, fantasy, etc.”

Zombies Books are hot.  This is for sure, but for the most part, this seems limited to the niche publishing houses.  This is not a bad thing by any means.

Have you been there and done that?  Have you been successful in finding a good horror focused publisher or agent?  I’d love some tips of the trade!

5 Comments

  1. I have just finished my first zombie novel as well. It is in the hands of my agent but I am also sending it to other agents in case she doesn’t want to work with it. The pickings are slim. It’s not the favorite genre. However, my zombie novel is a crossover so I am sending it to lots of different agents who like noir, romance, women’s fiction. It may be the first zombie book for women. 🙂 I read your first chapter. LOVE IT.

  2. Your book sounds like an interesting premis. I can speak from experience, there are women out there interested in the genre. At least three of the people that I’ve shared 900 miles with (as people helping to edit, craft the story, ideate, etc) are women!

    Good luck!

  3. Wow. You must really have the query letter thing nailed! I’d love to see the format (or even the letter you used) if you’d be willing to share!

  4. Yes, us writers of zombie-inspired books have a long way to go, and it’s all an uphill struggle against unjustified zombie prejudices.

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