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Before submitting a book proposal, please read through these guidelines and familiarize yourself with our titles to see if your book fits with ECW's publishing program.
We receive close to 1,500 submissions per year and publish 50-60 titles a year (only 4-8 are poetry or fiction). For non-fiction, we accept proposals from anywhere, but for poetry and fiction, we publish Canadian authors.
Please include with your submission:
1. A cover letter explaining who you are, what your book is about, and why you think it’s a good fit with ECW.
2. A brief bio and publication history.
3. A sample of the manuscript. For poetry, 10-15 pages. For fiction and non-fiction, 15-25 pages.
4. For fiction and non-fiction, please include a double-spaced synopsis of the work. You may also include a table of contents for non-fiction.
5. For non-fiction, please also include a suggested marketing plan (i.e., who will buy your book?).
6. If you are submitting by post and would like your materials returned to you include a large enough SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) with sufficient postage. If you don’t want your materials returned, an email address is fine (your materials will be recycled). Outside Canada? Include an International Reply Coupon (since we can’t use foreign postage in Canada) for the return of mailed materials.
For photo and art submissions, it is best to contact us by email and direct us to your work online. Please also describe what area(s) you specialize in. If you do send us artwork by mail that you wish returned, make sure to include a SASE with sufficient postage (for those outside Canada, include an International Reply Coupon). Since our projects vary in topic, we will keep you on file in case we publish something along the lines of your subject(s).
Send your submissions to:
ECW Press
2120 Queen St. East, Suite 200
Toronto, ON M4E 1E2
Canada
For business, sports, mysteries, true crime, biography
Jack David (Publisher)
For pop culture, fiction (Fruit, Showbiz, Shelf Monkey), creative non-fiction
Jennifer Hale (Senior Editor)
For literary fiction (The Long Slide, Joyland, Brother Dumb), poetry, wrestling
Michael Holmes / a misFit book (Senior Editor)
For sci-fi/fantasy, graphic novels, history, and corporate books
David Caron (Co-Publisher)
Not sure who to send your proposal to or have questions that aren't addressed here? Ask our managing editor, Crissy Boylan.
Complete contact information available here.
Please do not submit your query to more than one person. If you have already submitted your proposal to one editor at ECW Press and were declined, please do not send it to another editor or it will be rejected immediately. If your proposal is sent to one editor but better suited to another, the manuscript will be given to the most appropriate editor in the house. If you are declined, consider yourself declined by ECW, and not just by one person.
You may send your query by email, but please make it clear in the subject line that you are submitting a book proposal query. Any email with subject lines that aren't clear, like “Hello” or “Question,” will be ignored.
Response time? Between two weeks and six months, usually. (We hope for the former and apologize for the latter.) Because of the sheer number of submissions we receive, form letters are sometimes an unfortunate necessity. Please be assured that we read and consider each suitable submission we receive.
Thank you for your consideration.