After you press
send.
Submitting a book means weeks of silence at most houses, and the silence breeds theories. Here is what is actually happening on the other side of the desk, and exactly how it works here.
No agent required · No author fees · Initial response within 30 days
The general picture, first
At most publishing houses, a direct submission joins a pile that is read in batches, often by freelance readers, around everything else an editorial staff does. Months of waiting are normal, and many houses state that no response within a period simply means no. None of this is contempt; it is arithmetic. Thousands of submissions arrive at desks staffed by a few people, and reading is slow, careful work.
Knowing the arithmetic changes how the silence feels. It should also change how you submit: several suitable houses at once, a line in each letter saying so, and expectations set by stated response times rather than hope.
How it works here
On arrival: an acknowledgement is sent at once, so you know the submission landed
The reading: a person reads your letter, synopsis and sample. Every submission, without exception
Within 30 days: an initial response: a no, or a request for the full manuscript
The full read: if we ask for more, we tell you when you will hear from us next
The discussion: the book, the editorial work it needs, and the publishing plan, talked through openly
The offer: in writing: what we think, what we would spend, and what we are unsure about, before you sign anything
The 30-day promise is the one to hold us to. It means a decision, not a holding email, and it applies to everything sent to us, agented or not.
What we are weighing as we read
Four questions, in roughly this order. Can the author write: not ornately, but with control. Is the idea substantial, and is there evidence underneath it. Does it fit this list. And can we reach its readers.
Notice that only the first question is about talent. A no from us is usually about fit or market, not about worth, which is one reason a no from any single house, ours included, is such weak evidence about your book.
If the answer is no
You will hear it from us directly, within the 30 days. We cannot promise editorial notes on every submission; no house that reads everything can. Where there is one useful thing to say, we try to say it.
Then the book goes back out. A no removes one list from the map; it does not grade the manuscript. Send it to the next suitable houses, consider agents if the book might carry one, and change the book itself only when several readers have pointed at the same thing. One no is one reader’s no. The same no three times is worth taking seriously.
If we say yes
A yes starts a conversation, not a countdown. We talk through the book, the editorial work we believe it needs and the plan for publishing it, and the offer that follows comes in writing. Take your time with it. Have the contract reviewed, in the UK the Society of Authors does this for its members, and tell any other publisher still holding the book that an offer exists.
Until you sign, every right in the work remains yours, and you owe us nothing at any point: no fee attaches to submitting, to being edited or to being published. That is what traditional publishing means, and it is the only kind we do.
Questions
Can I chase a submission?+
Once a publisher’s stated response time has passed, one polite email is entirely proper. Here, the stated time is 30 days for the initial response. If it passes in silence, something has gone wrong with the mechanics rather than the manners, and we would want to know.
Can I submit to other publishers at the same time?+
Yes, and you should, telling each house in your covering letter. If an offer arrives from anywhere, tell everyone holding the manuscript the same day. This is normal trade practice, and nobody serious resents it.
I have found a mistake in my submission. Can I fix it?+
Email us with your book’s title in the subject line and say what needs correcting. A fixed typo or an updated file is never held against a submission. Do not re-submit the whole book from scratch, which creates two competing records of it.
More for authors
How to get published without an agent
Which publishers read direct, what to send them, the fee traps to walk past, and what to check before signing.
How to write a synopsis
What a synopsis is actually for, the rules that never change, a structure that works for fiction and non-fiction, and the failures we see weekly.
How to write a non-fiction proposal
The seven parts of a proposal publishers weigh, how to choose comparable titles, and an honest word about platform. The book need not be finished.
How we publish
What happens to a book here, from the day we say yes to years after publication. The process, stage by stage.
We reply
to everything.
That is the promise this page exists to make checkable: an acknowledgement at once, a person reading, an initial response within 30 days. When your book is ready, send it.
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