This is a question for those who have had experience with the trad publishing route. How long is too long to wait for an editor to get back to you with a decision on a submitted manuscript? I want to be polite and I know that editors are inundated at present (thank you, AI), but I also want to move on if my submission is not a good fit for a particular publisher. What is your advice on how to word a follow-up query that does not alienate the editor, who probably would really like to get his nights and weekends back from those pesky would-be authors and their manuscripts? In the case of the publisher that I am referring to, a polite query at 90 days after submission has already gone unanswered. I am now at 200+ days and counting.
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How long is too long to wait for a trad publisher to get back to you?
- Thread starter Genly
- Start date
Karlin
Troubadour
Most traditional publishers tell you upfront on their sites what their policy is. Some commit to responding in 30 or 60 days. Others say "if you don't hear from us after 60 days, that means we're not interested."
The people who sort through submissions are way overloaded, so in many cases they won't even bother with a rejection letter. They're looking at dozens of manuscripts a day, many of which will only get a minute or two.
200 days is a long time. Check that the first few pages of your book catch the readers attention, and don't have obvious grammar or spelling errors, and submit to other publishers. Don't wait.
The people who sort through submissions are way overloaded, so in many cases they won't even bother with a rejection letter. They're looking at dozens of manuscripts a day, many of which will only get a minute or two.
200 days is a long time. Check that the first few pages of your book catch the readers attention, and don't have obvious grammar or spelling errors, and submit to other publishers. Don't wait.
Demesnedenoir
Myth Weaver
I had an agent take 90+ days to request more pages along with an apology for taking so long... however, I had moved on by then. After a quick chat, they're interested in seeing my next book 1, but didn't want to touch my already published work. Ah well. I'm pretty content staying Indie anyhow.
Only publisher I ever directly submitted to was Tor and they were quick to say no thank you, heh heh.
Only publisher I ever directly submitted to was Tor and they were quick to say no thank you, heh heh.
pmmg
Myth Weaver
Like the others have said. Usually the websites indicate how long one should wait expecting a response. Without that, you should set your own limit..if I do not hear from them in X, I will move on. 200 days is move on territory for me. After 30 days, I figure they are slow, 60, really slow, 90 not interested or just too busy to care, 180...they forgot about me and I may as well start over. 360--what am I still doing here?
If you sent a letter that went unanswered, that probably ought to tell you something.
If you sent a letter that went unanswered, that probably ought to tell you something.
A publisher who can't bother to communicate with you should be on your permanent ignore list. I'm not expecting personalized rejection letters, but to my mind if the company in question hasn't even written a standardized rejection letter, they are either too arrogant or too amateurish to want to go into business with. Sorting out emails and replying to them with a letter one can copy and paste is common courtesy. Alike Karlin I've seen the "if you don't hear from us in X amount of days we aren't interested" and promptly thought: "Which self-respecting person would be interested in your company in the first place?"
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Mad Swede
Auror
OK. Two hundred days is about 6-7 months, and most publishers who accept direct submissions from authors take longer than that to respond simply due to the volume of submissions (there's a reason most big publishers will only consider submissions via agents) - I did hear that Tor and Baen take about 18-24 months. Check what it says about submissions on the publishers website, a decent publisher will tell you if they will reply (a lot say they reply only if they want the full manuscript) and how long you should wait before assuming they've rejected it.
And finally. You should have checked what they were looking for before you submitted, and you shouldn't submit at all if you have any doubts about whether your manuscript is a good fit for them or not. If needs be, buy one of their books to see what they publish. Be ruthless with yourself, be selective about who you submit to, it will improve your chances. Websites like Absolute Write are a great help, especially when it comes to those you should avoid:
Absolute Write
And finally. You should have checked what they were looking for before you submitted, and you shouldn't submit at all if you have any doubts about whether your manuscript is a good fit for them or not. If needs be, buy one of their books to see what they publish. Be ruthless with yourself, be selective about who you submit to, it will improve your chances. Websites like Absolute Write are a great help, especially when it comes to those you should avoid:
Absolute Write
Finchbearer
Istar
I’ve not yet gone down this route, however I’ve already, out of curiosity, looked at individual agents, and which ones might like my style of storytelling etc. with some of them stating the types of recently published books they are comparing with their personal taste and aspirations to publish, and make a successful author out of.
The majority of the ones I’ve looked at are explicit in stating when they are open to submissions, and I would expect to hear back from an interested party within a month. Any longer and I’d call that a ‘nope’ and move on. I wouldn’t go down the route of submitting directly to a publisher, that’s what agents are for. They are supposed to do all that submission work on your behalf.
I’ve watched quite a few YouTube videos that are interviews with literary agents, and most of them are women, and all of them are ruthless. It needs to take something special or otherwise a popular failsafe genre to turn heads. Trends are important in trad publishing, and if you’re not following a trend you need to be a unicorn.
The majority of the ones I’ve looked at are explicit in stating when they are open to submissions, and I would expect to hear back from an interested party within a month. Any longer and I’d call that a ‘nope’ and move on. I wouldn’t go down the route of submitting directly to a publisher, that’s what agents are for. They are supposed to do all that submission work on your behalf.
I’ve watched quite a few YouTube videos that are interviews with literary agents, and most of them are women, and all of them are ruthless. It needs to take something special or otherwise a popular failsafe genre to turn heads. Trends are important in trad publishing, and if you’re not following a trend you need to be a unicorn.
- Thread starter
- #8
Thanks all, very useful. Regarding publishers not even replying to a serious submission: it doesn't make any sense. It takes all of 10 seconds to punch out a form rejection e-mail. Even if the poor editor has to handle 30 manuscripts a day, that's only a few minutes of their time. Not replying at all is not only inefficient, it's kinda disrespectful... Sorry, I guess I am preaching to the choir here.
pmmg
Myth Weaver
PS: For the comments I made above, if they did say on their website how long I should expect to wait, I would use that scale and maybe add some days. And if they were the big ones, like Tor, or Baen, I would expect them to take longer.
Absolute Write can go suck eggs.
Absolute Write can go suck eggs.
Karlin
Troubadour
"If needs be, buy one of their books to see what they publish. " I found my current trad publisher in a similar way. I read a book (because I wanted to- I listen to the authors podcast), and said to myself "hey, I wonder who published this". A niche publisher- but the right one, as it turns out. Then I very carefully read everything on the publisher's site.
- Thread starter
- #11
The Dark One
Auror
I've said this before and I'm sure it's nowhere near universally the case, nevertheless...
All my acceptances came really quickly - sometimes same day/week.
Most of my rejections came slowly or not at all.
I'd be moving on after six weeks. If they do want to talk after that time, talk... unless you've already sold to someone else.
Meanwhile, keep writing.
All my acceptances came really quickly - sometimes same day/week.
Most of my rejections came slowly or not at all.
I'd be moving on after six weeks. If they do want to talk after that time, talk... unless you've already sold to someone else.
Meanwhile, keep writing.
Prince of Spires
Istar
What do you mean by moving on / waiting? As long as you don't publish the work then you can do pretty much whatever you want with it. Send it out to more publishers or agents. No need to wait at all for the publisher to get back to you.
As for indie-publishing the book, then keep in mind that it's a whole carreer in itself. Don't indie-publish because you can't get trad-published. Indie publish because you want to publish your books yourself and have that control.
Moving on as in writing the next thing? That should be pretty much immediate. Don't sit on your hand waiting for the publisher to get back to you. Start writing the next thing as soon as you've sent off the first one. You need more than 1 book to make a carreer (in almost all cases), and it's already nice to have a clear answer if the publisher / agent gets back to you with "I like it, but I currently have no room for this specific tale. What are you working on next?"
As for indie-publishing the book, then keep in mind that it's a whole carreer in itself. Don't indie-publish because you can't get trad-published. Indie publish because you want to publish your books yourself and have that control.
Moving on as in writing the next thing? That should be pretty much immediate. Don't sit on your hand waiting for the publisher to get back to you. Start writing the next thing as soon as you've sent off the first one. You need more than 1 book to make a carreer (in almost all cases), and it's already nice to have a clear answer if the publisher / agent gets back to you with "I like it, but I currently have no room for this specific tale. What are you working on next?"
StefanJ
Acolyte
I waited for mine between 60 - 90 days as far as I can remember.
