A quick question, if I may. Random House has about 6 imprints to whom I want to submit my mss. Do I really need to submit separately to each one, or is there a way in which a single submission could be persuaded to wing its way around the same building?

Tiger

TG,
Slightly off question, but personally I wouldn't submit directly to a publisher unless it was a small one asking for submissions....anything big, I've heard they barely glance at the slush pile these days. I might be completely wrong about that, but I thought they relied on the 'filter' of agents...

<Added>

TG? eh? TB, sorry!

I know, Caroline! I spent the afternoon scoping websites and checking guidelines and so few of the big publishers are looking at submission. I'm trying to get an agent too, but I thought I'd go for the two-pronged approach.

Tiger

A tricky one, the two pronged approach, because if an agent takes you on they might ask what publishers you have approached. You could mention ten, but the chances are, none of them would have given your script the time it deserves, so you might as well say none - in which case, one of those editors will just happen to have your script from the slush pile on his desk the same day the script from the agent comes in.

Still, it'd make a great play!

Colin M

Colin, I should be so lucky to find an agent AND a publisher! I'm mainly thinking about submitting to publishers so I can get feedback from editors as well as agents. But it's daunting, knowing the slush pile is sitting there waiting to swallow my mss. It's interesting the shift in power since I last tried this - 12 years ago - when publishers were much more willing to accept submissions and an agent was someone you went looking for after you had a publisher's interest... Not sure I didn't prefer it that way around.

Tiger

Some editors, faced with a terrific MS that isn't quite right for their list will pass it on to a fellow editor who they think will like it, but I wouldn't rely on that happening. And unless you're very lucky (which you might be, of course) I fear you'll be darned lucky to get any feedback - they don't have the time. Some agents at least try to, if they think it's promising, and they are at least in a general way used to taking work on when it still has a couple of minor flaws.

Macmillan used to have a central admissions system, but I think they don't take unagented ms any more anyway. I don't know about Random House, but different imprints within Hachette frequently compete with one another for books, so you'd certainly need to submit individually if that's the case. One way to tackle this is to refine your approach, and really study what the different imprints do - ideally individual editors; you may then have a better idea of which are the best bet.

The other drawback to submitting direct to publishers is that if you approach an agent the first thing you need to tell them (because they'll ask) if they show the least flicker of interest is which editors have seen it, and to be honest, the shorter the list the better.

Emma

Thanks, Emma, that's sound advice. I can see that agents would want a clean sweep of editors and of course an agent is much better placed to hike my wares about the bazaars. If I do decide to go the publisher route, I will certainly research the imprint lists as you suggest.

Tiger

You're welcome. And it occurs to me that though in theory an editor wouldn't reject you purely because you'd also submitted to a colleague, I suspect they aren't impressed by the carpet-bombing approach: it suggests that either you haven't done any research into your submissions, or that you haven't thought about where your book's market (and therefore best imprint) is. You and I know that a book's market is a publisher's problem, not ours, and that no buyers know or care what imprint it comes out under, but editors spend too much of their lives thinking about imprints to readily understand how irrelevant it can be to writers.

Emma