Drek Death and Doom Publishing
Welcome to the second installment of the Spec-Fic Small Press Rundown. Miss the first one? Check it out here. This time, I want to introduce you to Drek, Death, & Doom Publishing. You might be familiar with some of the books they’ve put out, like M.A. Knight’s FEVERCHAIN, James Worth’s Mars in Retrograde, or the anthology It’s Not Art Until It Hangs. It might be a micro-press, but Dylan Bosworth’s brainchild has a big impact.
- Founded: 2025
- Founders: Dylan Bosworth
- Website: DrekDeathandDoom.com
- Substack: Drek Death and Doom Publishing
- Publishes: Literary horror, dark, high-register horror, complex, morally ambiguous horror, and (rarely) extreme horror and splatterpunk.
- Formats: Novels, novellas, short story collections
- Open to Submissions: Not currently accepting submissions. Subscribe to the newsletter or check the Submissions section of the website for updates.
- Imprints: Drek Death and Doom (horror) and Nascent Night Press (boundary-pushing literary fiction)
- Contact: Submissions here.
- Contests and Anthologies: Hosts short story open calls regularly (see the Submissions page for details).
One reason for this series is to give authors more than bare-bones information about the different presses out there. One horror press is not the same as another, and two that specialize in fantasy and sci-fi may not be remotely similar. Getting to know the press (and the people that make it tick) can help authors make better decisions and save editors and press staff time and headaches. So, let’s hear from Dylan Bosworth, the madman behind DDD.
Fast Answers
Do you pay an advance, and if not, what do you offer instead?
No. Author-first royalties starting at first sale.
What’s your split between agented submissions and the slush pile, and has that changed?
All slush.
Where do you stand on different lengths/formats, like novellas, collections, and anthologies?
I like to publish all, but if anything, I’ll be looking for novels when I open for submissions again.
Print run or print-on-demand, and how does that decision affect what you can acquire?
Both. I do print runs for direct-buy from my website, and the book is uploaded through IngramSpark for PoD and distribution. The process is the same for everybody, so it doesn’t affect anything.
What happens with audio, translation, and screen rights? Do you take them, and do you place them?
I usually want audio and translation, but I don’t take screen. Currently working on more audio, and I’ve been contacted a few times for screen rights and have passed those to the authors to respond to.
About the Press
Finish the sentence: this press exists because ______. What did you feel was missing?
This press exists because there are too many talented writers and not enough publishing houses to support them. And many small presses and publishers that are accessible to first-time or emerging authors have less-than-favorable contract terms for those authors. Whole novels sold outright for $50, giving up all rights. Or payment agreements that only guarantee the publisher sees any profit. Not to mention the abundance of vanity presses and the pay-to-play ecosystem.
Which is really the second reason I started down this path. Too many first-time authors were running $5k-$10k GoFundMe campaigns to self-publish books that would never break even or paying vanity publishers outrageous amounts after false promises were made. I’d just gotten into formatting and covers, and, with a true indie mentality, decided authors shouldn’t be paying anything, even at the micro level.
There is another reason, and it’s probably the reason most presses come into existence. I like what I like. What I like is best. I want to see more of it in the world.
How many books do you put out in a year, and how many people does it take to do it?
The first year DDD/NN was running, I released six titles. July 2025 through December. So far in ’26, I’ve only released one, with another planned this fall. I can’t say for certain how many will end this year, but it won’t be six. Four, likely. Next year I’ll shoot for six again.
I’m a one-person show, so all parts of this are done on my own. I can’t say all parts, as others have done covers or editing for a couple of the books, but that’s been circumstantial and author-initiated prior to my involvement. Formatting, editing, interior, cover, files, publishing, extras, marketing, finance—for the most part, it’s just me.
Where do you sit in the genre? Any additional imprints for works that are solid but might fall into a different area?
Drek Death and Doom is a horror press. I’m a fan of all types, but I prefer language-driven prose in all fiction. It’s harder to find in horror. Recent years seem to favor extreme marketability and/or extreme content—neither of which tends to favor the style of writing I’m looking for.
The imprint, Nascent Night, is for books that pose more of a challenge in form, style, or prose, and don’t quite fit neatly in any genre. I lean darker there too in content, but I wouldn’t call it dark fiction. It’s a feeling, this sense of something new and a little more frayed than most contemporary fiction. They all share that.
What Are You Seeking?
What specifically are you looking for?
Right now, I’d love to see some stylized horror. Something maximalist and conscious of rhythm, delving into the really old basic fears. Something physical, monstrous.
As for non-horror for Nascent Night, I’d love to see a novel with some length and some love for subtext and rereadings and digging out new threads and themes and meanings hidden throughout. I like the game of Pale Fire. The unreality of House of Leaves. Use the book form against itself.
Describe the book you’d sign tomorrow if it landed in the inbox this afternoon. (Asking more about what you’re not seeing enough of rather than for a comp title)
I don’t see enough true horror written with conscious attention to rhythm and cadence. Stories where the sentences attempt more than conveying information. I want something that actually terrifies me, but is written so beautifully, the book itself is a siren’s song.
What do you get so much of that you’ve stopped being able to say yes, no matter how well it’s done?
A trend I get in my inbox that I don’t see others saying much about is this woe-is-me main character who, through the trials of the story, earns this redemptive arc you’re force-invested in, only for the rug to be pulled from under you and the main character ruined in the end.
It seems like downtrodden characters are easier to make a reader care about, to root for, and by destroying them, the writer produces a bigger reaction that makes the story stay with the reader.
It feels cheap and formulaic, and it is everywhere.
What’s the fastest way for a submission to make you stop reading the query letter, and in the first five pages?
I’ll stop reading a query letter and reject a piece fastest if it states outright what it is, and it happens to be something I’m clearly not looking for. Cozy horror, YA, etc. It tells me that either the author did not do any research and/or they don’t care what I’m looking for, hoping the writing is enough to pass on its own.
I’ll stop somewhere in the first five pages if the author isn’t in control of attention, primarily. If the story hasn’t moved anywhere, big info-dumps, obvious AI use—these are close runners-up.
How Do Submissions Work?
Give us an overview of your process.
Writers submit long fiction and collections by sending a query letter and the first chapter of their manuscript to the submissions email. Short fiction open calls have specific guidelines, but as for the manuscript itself, I prefer it attached as a .doc in an email, with the subject however the open call instructs.
Walk a writer through what happens after they submit. Who reads it first, how many passes does it take to get to yes, how long before they hear anything, and what does a “no” from you look like?
After a submission gets to me, I’ll read it as time becomes available. As a tiny, one-person micro-press, I can tell pretty quickly if what I’m reading is something I want to publish. There isn’t another editor, or an EIC, or an owner I have to get approval from. I don’t have other editors persuading me to accept stories they like, either. Any discernment is mine. Before I give an absolute yes, I have a weird way of reading and deciding. Most often, I’ll read about 1/3 of the book, and if I think it’s something I might accept, I start at the beginning again and read deeper. I’ll read the whole thing and make notes about what I want to come back to. After I’m done, I’ll read the first chapter again after letting it sit for a little while. If I want to keep going again, it’s an easy yes.
I used to send as many personal rejections as I could, but when I first started doing this, it was my only focus. I’m working full time again, and in most cases, I simply don’t have the time to respond to most rejections like that. Not if I want to publish anybody and do all the work that goes into pre- and post-publication too. I had to quickly move to form rejections for the majority, and, just recently due to new growth, I’ve had to change that to, “after no response in 90 days, assume rejection.” It’s not ideal, but I have to make concessions in order to function.
Answer the four things writers are nervous about asking directly: simultaneous submissions, unagented work, reprints, and AI-generated or AI-assisted text. Where do you stand on each?
- Simultaneous submissions are allowed as long as the writer notifies me as soon as it’s accepted elsewhere.
- Agented or un-agented submissions are fine.
- Unfortunately, I am not accepting reprints. (I have, but currently am not, and I probably won’t again.)
- No AI-assisted or AI-generated text, please. I’m not going to witch hunt authors over Grammarly or PWA as long as it’s clear they aren’t using the “rewrite with AI” features.
Without naming any figure you’d rather not publish, describe what your standard contract looks like: which rights you take and for how long, whether there’s an advance, how royalties are calculated, reported and paid, and how an author gets their rights back, including if the press ever winds down.
When contracting, I try to be as unintrusive and as author-first as I can while still being able to function. I take whatever iteration of print and electronic rights I’m picking up, in exclusivity, for twelve months. So, for an unpublished manuscript, I’m getting first print and electronic rights exclusive for 12 months. Audio discussed. I never take film rights. With cover work, it depends on the artist, unless they sign over all rights, which I’ve been lucky with so far. I seek merchandising rights in both areas, too.
I don’t do advances, and royalties start as soon as the first sale happens. 60% to the author of the net pay on direct buys, and 13% list price on PoD (which ends up being slightly more than if I did 60% of what Ingram pays out). I calculate net pay on direct by only removing the book print cost to recoup, rather than the print, ship, merch, and advertising costs many other presses recoup. I’ve finally locked in these reporting sheets I created, and I go through all sales sources myself and fill out the pay sheets. I contract payments for semi-annually or bi-annually, but I try to pay monthly. Author’s rights are returned if the contract runs up, and we discuss taking the book out of print. There is no minimum sales threshold. There are other instances in which an author can get the rights back early or the contract terminated, but the main thing is that it’s a relationship where rights acquiring and returning is concerned.
How much say does an author get over things (cover, final title, etc.) and where do you draw the line?
For those I publish, I’m happy to give them near total control in the creative aspect of their book. As long as the cover can reasonably be argued to go along with the other covers under my brand, and as long as those variables that change don’t affect the actual story and are reasonable, I’m pretty laid back. I might chime in with thoughts about a font on the cover or the placement of something, but that’s about it. It’s not my book; it’s theirs.
What does your editorial process consist of, start to finish, and how long does it last on average from signed contract to finished book?
The editorial process is different for every book. Typically, I get the submission, and I am the initial and only reviewer. Prior to submitting, there is an expectation that all manuscripts are professionally edited, which allows me to spend less time going back and forth with an author on the bigger changes. Depending on where the manuscript is at, I’ll either do a couple of proofreads with a few exchanges with the author, or, in some cases, I will do the line and developmental editing, suggest revisions, and then have those back-and-forth conversations. Once all changes are agreed upon, the manuscript goes into formatting and typesetting, and then another proofread in its book-state before moving on to publication.
What’s Life Like for One of Your Authors?
How many of your authors know each other? What’s the inter-author camaraderie like?
All of the authors know each other a bit. A few have met and have been at cons together. A couple have worked together. Friendly in person, friendly online, all fun people.
Split the work of selling the book. Specifically, what does the press do for every title, and what is the author expected to do?
Advertising and selling the book is such a multi-person effort. Based on the limited experience I have within the small ecosystem where this press has grown, the majority of my sales turnover success comes from directly and strongly advertising early within that ecosystem. Newsletters, Notes, social media posts, Meta reels, etc. The book is in all the indie catalogs, and if there’s a projected benefit, extra catalog space through Ingram. The book is submitted to various indie bookstores, with the first attempts being those stores local to the author. I help facilitate store events (flyers, bookmarks, extra stock where needed, etc.) and certain author set-up events where I provide the inventory and the payment capturing, banners, and whatever else seems necessary. Merch, physical ads, extras are on me. What I expect from authors is as much as they can give. Sales of an indie book are heavily dependent on the author’s own investment in promoting themselves. Whether that’s social media posts linking their book, making reels and carousels, paying out of pocket for their own author-specific ads if they so choose, reaching out locally to booksellers, etc. I don’t demand anything, but I want to stress the importance of marketing being a joint effort.
Who is this press wrong for? Describe the writer who’d be happier somewhere else.
This press is indie. It’s sporadic at times. There are no quarterly goals and no promises made. If a writer wants a projected map of sales and guarantees, they won’t fit in here. If they want a heavily boundaried, purely professional relationship, where we only talk sales strategy and the cold realities of a volatile market, they won’t like it. I run against the grain a little bit, so I often embrace antagonistic imagery. Much of what’s published here is extreme in some sense. Blood, violence, gore, nihilism, antitheism, drugs, sex, guns—a lot of transgressive elements standing in for some difficult themes. People opposed to extreme content and ideas and themes should stay away.
Last Call
What’s the one thing you wish more writers understood about small-press publishing?
There’s a growing resentment, especially in the community where I function most, for publishing as a whole. Publishers are often looked at as gatekeepers, prioritizing following over content, and there’s a common misconception too that publishers are making a ton of money off authors. Most books in the small/micro press communities are break-even for the publisher at best, and often, a complete loss. Many of us are in it for the love of fiction.
DDD will be reopening for submissions later this year, so keep an eye on their Substack and their website.
Make sure to subscribe to the Speakeasy to get the full spec-fic small press series in your inbox, and if you know of or run a small press that focuses on horror, sci-fi, or fantasy, let us know!
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