What happens to my submission once the publisher receives it?

What happens to my submission once the publisher receives it?

Alexandra Pringle (Editor in Chief) gives expert video advice on: How can I check that my work arrived safely?; Is it better to write, call, or email?; Does persistence ever pay off? and more...

Once a publisher receives the submission it gets booked in. People have different ways of doing that. Then it gets a first reading. The first reading can be by various different people. It can be the editor immediately or it can be a free-lance reader employed either in a publishing company or outside. It can be an editorial assistant who will read it in the first place. A lot is in the luck of that first reading. Some very good things slip past publishers because the person who read the submission wasn't the right person for it.