Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Simultaneous Submissions: Part 1

Simultaneous submissions means sending something to more than one publisher at one time. Many writers feel like this is common sense. Writers may think they are in a hurry to get published. They know that publishers can tie up work for a long time. I've heard from 9 months to 2 years. This long wait to be rejected in the end.

Yes: Send Multiple Submissions
Almost every publisher for children's writing is willing to look at simultaneous submissions. Editors definitely will want to to know if you ever sent it out to others. It is just in good keeping with professional guidelines. Unfortunately, "simultaneous submission" does not mean "Act now - others might win the script!" If a story is strong, editors might act a little quicker. Perhaps, the script might earn an accelerated trip to the editorial director a little quicker, but the editors say most stories are not that strong.

No: Don't Send Multiple Submissions
Maybe writers are hoping for a bidding war over their manuscript if a publisher makes an offer. It probably won't happen. Most editors will step out of the deal if they find that someone else has put an offer on the table. Then where does that leave you?

Some publishers will switch to an exclusive-submissions policy if the submissions are inappropriate. Writers were primarily submitting fiction manuscripts to a non-fiction publisher. Make sure you research the publishers and what they want to receive. It's a waste of your time and the editors. The exclusive submissions comes when they still want to leave the door open for unsolicited manuscripts, which is the lifeblood of children's publishing. These new policies are put into place to improve the overall quality of work sent.

No comments:

Post a Comment