Follow Up With A Publisher

When in the best time of year to submit your work?

There's no best time of year to submit a piece of work to a publisher, but it's always a nightmare if something is submitted just as you're about to go on holiday because people think, 'Oh, how lovely, she can take a manuscript on holiday with her.' And you think, 'You horrible person. I'm trying to have a holiday!' There are particularly busy times of year for publishers, like the Frankfurt book fair in October and the London Book fair, and agents tend to think they want to sell everything just before the two so you get inundated then. Otherwise, publishers are just busy all year round.

What happens to my submission once the publisher receives it?

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.

Who will read my submission?

The submission can be read by a great variation of people, from a reader, an editorial assistant, an assistant editor, even a work-experience person, and the commissioning editor themselves.

Is it better to write, call, or email?

I think that emailing is a good way to follow-up a submission to a publisher, or a phone call to an assistant. Letters tend to languish nowadays, unanswered.

How long will I have to wait for a decision?

You might have to wait months for a decision from a publisher, or it might be days. It's just your lot.

Does persistence ever pay off?

Persistence can pay off with a publisher, but persistence can also damage you quite a lot, because you can drive people round the bend.