I was talking the other day about how one of the barriers to getting published for people from diverse backgrounds is the agent system, whereby you can’t get your book in front of a publisher unless you have an agent, and agents often assume that publishers won’t buy from anyone but straight, cis, white writers. Well, there are ways around that. The folks at Angry Robot are currently having an Open Door Period, which means that you can send them your manuscript direct. What’s more they say:

We want to explicitly invite writers from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to submit to this Open Door.

They mean it too. They have published Wes Chu and Ramez Naam. They published Colin Harvey’s Damage Time, which is a book about a Muslim man and an intersex woman; and Laura Lam’s Bisexual Book Award winning Pantomime. They publish Kameron Hurley, who takes no prisoners on any subject. And they published Lauren Beukes even though she lives in South Africa and had no track record in novels at the time.

Full details of how and went to send your book to them can be found here.