Hi,

We have discussed before about the importance of having a name of somebody to send submissions to. I am just about to send off a picture book to publishers but I have had no luck with getting the names of anybody to send it to.

Specifically, I'm interested in Meadowside Books and Piccadilly Press.

When I rang up Meadowside Books. The woman who answered the phone was very helpful but in spite of gentle prodding did not give me the actual name of anybody to send it to. (I stopped just short of saying 'I've been told that I need a name so give me one, goddamn it!' ) She said that they were a small publishers and gave me the impression that names were not important because they all pitched in.

When I rang up Piccadilly Press, I got an answerphone message which didn't give a name. And this is not the first time that I have been told that it was okay to send submissions in without a name.

So my questions are two-fold. First, can anybody provide me with actual names at these publishers? If not, can I just assume that in these situations, the name is not so important?

S

I think an appropriate name (not just any old name) helps in a big agency or publisher, because it steers a submission towards a appropriate desk for your work, though I doubt if it gets it read any quicker and I'm sure it's not essential. They don't want to miss terrific work, after all. If an assistant reads everything first, I doubt if putting the editor's name on the letter would change that system. I would imagine that smallish outfits have one pile of submissions, and there's not much point in sweating blood to get a name, as they'll probably all go through the same mill anyway.

The one place a name is really useful is if you can say to Ms Famous Agent 'Your client Mr Famous Author, who knows my work from the Arvon course he tutored... suggested that you might be interested in...' That may well get you read by the agent/editor him/herself, and quicker. But those are the hardest to come by.

Emma

Names, and the names of their children and where they go to school, I've found that helps tremedously.

Seriously? I think it's always better to make contact with a person that a sir or madam, and I never underestimate the value of a phone call. Sure, you may get bunked off that much quicker, but at least you haven't wasted money on a stamp and three odd months of anxiety.

JB