Within the publishing world, in general, if you get a response from an editor or literary agent, it can take months. The days of sending out your proposal to one place at a time are long gone. In this article I’m going to explain the details of how to simultaneously submit your proposal.
Because of the busy life of an editor, it is difficult it is for them to find the time to read your proposal. It’s not uncommon to wait several months to receive a response from a publishing house. One literary agent told me that he received a rejection from a well-known publisher over a year after a competitive publishing house had released the book. This agent just shook his head at the length of time it took to receive that rejection. His story points out the unpredictable nature of rejection— even for a well-known agent. Agents supposedly receive faster service from acquisitions editors because their submissions are read with greater priority than unsolicited, unagented submissions.
I say “supposedly” because I know as an editor I read some agent’s submissions quicker than others. It depends on my relationship with a particular agent and my knowledge about whether his material usually meets my editorial needs—among other factors.
My key point from this story is that you need to submit your manuscript simultaneously—that is, to more than one publishing house or one agent at a time, and make sure you note this fact in your cover letter. These words tell the editor that other editors and publishers also will be reading this proposal—possibly at the same time.
If you receive a contract on a simultaneous submission and decide to sign with this particular publisher, then you need to notify the other places you sent the proposal and ask them to remove this project from consideration.
I’ve mentioned previously the difficult consensus building process that an acquisitions editor has to use so that a writer receives a publishing contract.
Look at this situation from the editor’s viewpoint. They have worked inside their publishing house for weeks to get everyone’s agreement and be able to make an offer. Imagine their consternation if they learn that another publisher has beat them to the punch and they didn’t know about it. If the writer hasn’t been in close communication with this editor, the editor will remember his name (in a negative sense) for a long time. Once again, good communication with the publishing houses permits you to send out your proposal simultaneously without any possible penalty.
Another caveat about a simultaneous submission is to not accept two contracts from two different publishers. Books are expensive to produce. If publisher A begins to produce the book at the same time publisher B begins to produce the book, you will cause a large uproar when the double contract is discovered and be banned from this particular area of publishing. I’m not exaggerating when I use the word “banned.”
Admittedly this type of situation would be rare, but it is possible. You as the author control the contracts you ultimately sign, and you can prevent this possibility from occurring.
Because of the length of time it takes to make a decision, publishers aren’t concerned when they see the words “simultaneous submission” on a proposal. The words will clue the editor to be in careful communication with the author throughout the process. As an acquisitions editor, I would call an author and tell them when I was going to present their work to the publishing board and keep them informed as the project progressed through the process toward a contract. Good communications on the part of the editor and the writer will make for a successful book project.
W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Get a free copy of his proposal book (follow the link). Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook, his blog and LinkedIn.
No Comments