Dan Conaway

An agent with Writers House LLC (see other agents at this agency).

About

I'm a literary agent at Writers House, where I’ve worked for over 17 years. I’m proud to have represented a wonderful list of bestselling and award-winning novelists, crime writers, biographers, memoirists, journalists and historians. Prior to joining Writers House I worked at both Putnam and HarperCollins as an executive editor, and authored the blog BookAngst 101, an insider's account of the publishing industry, written under the pseudonym Mad Max Perkins. All of which to say: though I work collaboratively with clients on all aspects of the business, I’m a highly editorial agent, and am a big believer in putting in the work necessary to make the manuscript as strong as possible before we go to market.

Country & Year Established

United States

Agent since 2006

Professional Associations

Member of AALA

AI Policy

Unknown AI policy

75 members set this agent as a Favorite.

Statistics Synopsis

Faster: Dan Conaway's overall average response time is faster than most agents.

Learn more about our statistics

Collapse section Fiction Open

I'm looking for smart, voice-y upmarket suspense and book-club fiction and contemporary literary fiction, stories exploring unique settings and subcultures and featuring protagonists whose flaws and strengths are revealed to us with both nuance and urgency.

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: Adults. Excluding: Children, Young adults.

Genres:

General Open to all/most Subgenres
Mystery/Crime Open to all/most Subgenres, excluding Police Procedural
Suspense/Thriller Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Crime

Lengths:

Novel

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary, Mainstream.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Collapse section Nonfiction Open

On the non-fiction front, I’m looking for books with ambitious themes, subjects that are topical, thought-provoking, and conversation-starting, with a strong narrative engine—investigative journalism, history, music and pop culture, gorgeously-written memoir. What else can I tell you? I’m looking for a distinctive voice, a strong sense of place, a gripping, propulsive plot—and characters who climb right up into my brain and heart.

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: Adults. Excluding: Children, Young adults.

Lengths:

Book

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary, Mainstream.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics including...
History.
Memoir.
Music.
Science.
Society/Culture: General, Crime, Pop culture.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

No recent cover image of a book represented by Dan Conaway available.

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Social:
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Instagram @writershouseagency

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Dan Conaway Submission Statistics

The statistics in this section are compiled from submission reports sent to us through our submission tracker. They are not provided by the agency or by Duotrope's admins. Information in this section is updated a few times per day. Learn more about the statistics.

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Accuracy

We have received 6 reports from 6 different members within the past 12 months. The more responses reported, the more accurate the information.

Days Reported

7 min | 45.7 mean avg | 15.5 median | 185 max days (65.7 std dev)

Other Information

The agent will try to make a decision within 60 days. (16.7 % of the responses reported to us for this listing have taken longer than 60 days.)
Most recent response reported was received on 08 May 2026.
Responses have been received for submissions sent as recently as 30 Apr 2026.
Date compiled: 05 Sep 2026 20:06 UTC (3 hours, 6 minutes ago).

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Dates

Last Updated: 17 Jul 2026

We check their guidelines for changes every four weeks, and we audit the listing twice a year.