Submitting to major publishers

[The Din]

I'm getting to the submissions stage with my novel and just read somewhere that some of the major publishes expect you to only send it to them and no one else? Tor, for example, consider submissions exclusively with them, ie: You can't send to multiple publishers at once. At the same time, they say it might be 6 months before they get back to you...?

Is there some way around this? Is this legally binding? Is it different with other publishers? Is this an upside to getting an agent, if they are able to get around this? Is this why you all self publish? I'll stop with the questions now, though I could go on all day.

 

[Steerpike]

A lot of publishers are that way. Some will want you to have an agent as well, though some will take unagented submissions. Even with an agent, I suspect a publisher looking at the submission will want to have an exclusive look while they are considering it.

It isn't legally binding (or at least it would be a stretch; see below), but your reputation is at stake. A lot of these people know each other. What are you going to do if one accepts? Not tell the others, so they don't realize what you did? What if one of them accepts as well? You kill your reputation for professionalism, and it is going to be that much more difficult to find a publisher to take you on. If you don't agree with a given publisher's submission terms, don't submit to them. By submitting, you've agreed to their conditions, in my view.

I suppose someone could also try to characterize a submission as an "offer" to have work published by them, in which case there could be legal ramifications if two publishers accepted, but I don't think that's a particularly strong argument.

 

[Kelise]

It's quite common. Their reasoning for it is they don't want to do their side of the work if it turns out you've decided to go to someone else instead.

 

[TWErvin2]

It can take quite a long time, that's for sure. Having a reputable agent who the major houses are familiar with represent your work will speed things up and the agent will likely be able to contact/submit your work to several at a time. The trick there being to obtain an agent. Some would argue finding an agent is just as difficult as finding a publisher.

If you're going to submit to the slush pile, target the market that is most likely to publish what you've written. Submit it, and then begin writing something else while you're waiting.

 

[Rhi Paille]

I agree with Twervin, it's insanely difficult to find an agent these days. And no matter where you go you're always in the slush pile. Unless you're already an author with a nice back list, or you come highly recommended either through an NYC MFA program, or another agent or editor, you're basically regarded as slush.

On the off chance that some secretary of some awesome agent picks up your book and thinks WOW (because he/she is NOT having a crappy day earning next to nothing, and in danger of going back to being a barista at Starbucks) then you're lucky. If they want to make a big deal out of you and basically create your career, even better! They do have a lot of connections and ways to turn you into the next Brandon Sanderson.

I'd look more into how to write an awesome query letter because if a highly respected agent picks you up, they will put you on sub to 8 editors within the major publishers and if one of them bites, then there's your deal. If 2 of them bite, the book will go to auction and the editors will bid on it until one finally claims victorious.

Just be prepared to work really hard . . .

Good luck!

 

[The Din]

Would it be unprofessional to submit to a publisher while also querying agents? I can see some legal issues arising in certain situations, not to mention that if the agent took you, there's a chance the publisher could get two copies of the manuscript. Better to do one or the other?

 

[Steerpike]

Would it be unprofessional to submit to a publisher while also querying agents? I can see some legal issues arising in certain situations, not to mention that if the agent took you, there's a chance the publisher could get two copies of the manuscript. Better to do one or the other?

I don't think that would necessarily be a problem, and if an agent take you on you're going to tell her that you have a manuscript out to publisher X, so they won't get a duplicate submission. The agent may follow up and let the publisher know she is now representing you.

 

[Rhi Paille]

The Din,

Better to start at the top and work your way down. Start with agents, you can cast a wide net, but I suggest you research and pick your top 5 and 10 (15 total) agents, you "dream" agents, based on what books they've sold before, etc. etc. A dream agent is the one that will get you into the BIG 12.

If you strike out with the dream agents, query the others that represent your genre (individually of course) and hope for a bite on the mss.

If you strike out there, THEN look at publishers who take unsolicited mss's. Tor does, Flux did, and a lot of Small Press does.

If you strike out with them, self publish, or put the book aside, write something else and try again.

That's the basic break down.

Namaste,
Rhi

 

[Christopher Wright]

You can sub to both a publishing house an agent at the same time, as long as the publishing house accepts unagented submissions.

At one point in time the advice was to submit to the publisher first, then once you got a letter saying 'we want you' to immediately contact agents (because an agent will be willing to take on a writer who already has a pending book deal) and let the agent handle everything from there. This would make it easier to get a "permanent" agent in the future (because you'd already be published after that).

However, I don't think that's the advice these days.

I also think it's far more acceptable to query multiple agents at the same time than it is to query multiple publishers, but I'm not absolutely sure about that.