Editing Donald A. Wollheim (section)

===Foundation of DAW Books===
{{See also|DAW Books}}

Wollheim left Ace in 1971. [[Frederik Pohl]] describes the circumstances:
<blockquote>Unfortunately, when Wyn died [in 1968] the company was sold to a consortium headed by a bank.&nbsp;... Few of them had any publishing experience before they found themselves running Ace. It showed. Before long, bills weren't being paid, authors' advances and royalties were delayed, budgets were cut back, and most of Donald's time was spent trying to soothe authors and agents who were indignant, and had every right to be, at the way they were treated.<ref name="Locus90"/></blockquote>
[[Image:DAW Books Logo.jpg|right|thumb|DAW Books logo used from 1972 to 1984]]
Upon leaving Ace, he and his wife, Elsie Balter Wollheim, founded [[DAW Books]], which he named for his initials. DAW can claim to be the first mass market specialist science fiction and [[fantasy fiction]] publishing house.<ref name="smith"/> DAW issued its first four titles in April 1972. Most of the writers whom he had developed at Ace went with him to DAW: Marion Zimmer Bradley, Andre Norton, Philip K. Dick, John Brunner, [[A. Bertram Chandler]], [[Kenneth Bulmer]], [[Gordon R. Dickson]], [[A. E. van Vogt]], and [[Jack Vance]]. In later years, when his distributor, [[New American Library]], threatened to withhold [[Thomas Burnett Swann]]'s Biblical [[historical fantasy]] ''How Are the Mighty Fallen'' (1974), owing to its homosexual content, Wollheim fought vigorously against their decision, and they relented.

His later author discoveries included [[Tanith Lee]], [[Jennifer Roberson]], [[Michael Shea (author)|Michael Shea]], [[Tad Williams]], [[Celia S. Friedman]], and [[C. J. Cherryh]], whose ''[[Downbelow Station]]'' (1982) was the first DAW book to win the Hugo Award for best novel. He was also able to give a number of British writers, including [[Edwin Charles Tubb|E. C. Tubb]], [[Brian Stableford]], [[Barrington Bayley]], and [[Michael Coney]], a new American audience. He published translations of international sf as well as anthologies of translated stories, ''Best From the Rest of the World.'' With the help of [[Arthur W. Saha]], Wollheim also edited and published the popular "Annual World's Best Science Fiction" anthology from 1971 until his death.