The submissions process...

Why does it take so long to hear back from publishers?

I thought it would be helpful to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what the submissions process is really like. I touched on this in my previous post about acquisitions meetings, but I wanted to go into a bit more detail here.

If you’re not familiar with the term, being ‘on submission’ is when your literary agent has sent your manuscript out to a bunch of editors, for them to consider for their lists (or their imprint). Agents send us emails with your book title, your name, and then a pitch - the best agent emails give a short, compelling blurb starting with a tagline that pulls us in, making us want to read more straight away. The worst emails are those that are just too long, that aren’t clear enough, and that don’t really position the book in the best way for the author. In commercial fiction (the area of publishing in which I work) it really is all about the hook - this hook forms the basis of what I go on to talk about in the acquisitions meeting, and having a strong concept is super helpful. Of course, the writing also has to stack up - I’ve been sent books with excellent hooks that then don’t deliver on the quality of the writing, which is always disappointing, but I’ve also turned down really well-written books if they don’t have a strong enough hook that I can use to help pitch them.

Anyway, so the agent sends a submission email to a range of editors, all at the same time. Some agents have ‘first round editors’ and ‘second round editors’ that they might send to - so they might send to a list of 10 editors to start with, and then if none of those editors bite, the script might go out to a list of 5 more (perhaps at smaller publishing houses, or digital-first publishing houses, depending on what the author wants). To be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with smaller or digital-first publishers - in fact most of them are amazing - they just often are not able to pay advances in the same way as some of the bigger, traditional imprints, so sometimes agents wait and send to them afterwards. But they should all be considered and can be absolutely brilliant homes for your books.

As an editor, I will usually quickly acknowledge receipt of the email and I will ask our assistant to add it to our submissions grid. I also forward everything straight to my Kindle so I don’t forget about it (and because I read everything on my Kindle; my prized possession!) As I mentioned in a previous post, pretty much all submission reading is done out of hours, so I try to read before bed, first thing in the morning, and on public transport. If things are particularly busy I carve out time at a weekend, and sometimes Fridays can be a good time to read (I work from home on Fridays and we have far fewer meetings). But it is all basically done outside of the 9-5, which is important to know if you are thinking of working in publishing. Sadly, there just is not time to read a huge amount of manuscripts you’re not enjoying - I tend to read the first 10-20% and if I’m enjoying I will carry on. If I am really not, I will stop, and if I’m on the fence I’ll keep going until I feel sure either way. I’ll look back at the submission email and remind myself of the pitch and the author information, and if I love a book I do look the author up online to see if they have a presence. It’s fine if they don’t, but an advantage if they do (as it can help with promotion). To be honest (the whole point of this newsletter, after all!) it only really makes a difference sales wise if someone’s profile is significant (and this is more common in non-fiction), but I do think that using social media can be helpful for fiction writers too in terms of broadening your network, connecting with other writers, hearing about events, and asking readers to buy and review your book. That said, it’s not for everyone, and there are some huge bestselling authors who don’t use social media much at all, so if the book is brilliant, it most certainly isn’t a deal-breaker.

So, if I don’t think I can or don’t want to buy a book, I will email the agent and regretfully pass. I do sometimes give the specific reason, e.g. this book is too close to another book I’m already publishing, or I thought the pacing was slow, or that the ending didn’t quite work. Often, it’s simply just that I’m not in love with the book in the way I would need to be in order to acquire. I can only buy so many books per year (I don’t have a quota, but in terms of my time and money etc), and so I do want to feel as though I have a very clear vision for everything I take on. When I was in a more junior role, I did buy more, but now because I’m also managing the commercial fiction team, I need to ensure I have time to support them and time for my existing authors, plus strategy work etc. So there really are lots of factors to consider, and I think it’s important for authors to know that because so often books are turned down, but that doesn’t mean they are actually bad books. I’ve turned down some really lovely novels, and other editors have gone on to buy them - you need to have an editor who sees a vision for your book and whose vision aligns with yours. You only need one yes!

If I do love a book, I will circulate it round to the whole company, with a pitch about how much I love it, and a vision document (as mentioned in my previous post). The book then goes into the acquisitions meeting the week after. If it’s a fast-moving auction situation, we sometimes have impromptu meetings or phone calls to get an advance signed off more quickly, but there always needs to be a costing discussion and signed-off P&L before any offers can be made. In book fair season (for adult publishing there are two book fairs, the Frankfurt Book Fair in October and the London Book Fair in March) when it is particularly busy, we do have to move pretty fast - I’ve pre-empted books overnight before (a pre-empt is when we put down an offer for a certain amount of time, e.g. an offer of £100,000 expiring at 12 noon the next day). But all of this said, the vast majority of books are not pre-empted or part of huge auctions - as a writer, it’s easy to feel as though everyone else’s book is part of some crazy bidding war, but there are hundreds of books that are bought for small amounts of money with one editor keen, and there are also a lot of books that do not sell at all. I also know SO many authors who didn't sell their debuts but have gone on to sell their second, third or even fifth books - you do just have to keep going if it’s what you want!

Going back to the process (sorry, I keep getting side-tracked with inspirational messages, ha) - if I like a novel enough to make an offer, I’ll email the agent outlining my vision for the book, and my advance. I also include a deal memo, which outlines our royalties with the agency, and includes details of the territories and advance splits. The majority of contracts are jointly accounted, meaning the payments are split over 2 books (if it is a 2 book deal), and authors tend to receive monies on signature, delivery of the manuscripts, and publication. Once they have earned out that advance money, they start to receive royalties. So I’ll send this over, explaining why I love the book, outlining any editorial work I might do (just the top-line), and stating my offer, e.g. ‘I am thrilled to offer an advance of £30,000 for 2 books, UK and Commonwealth Rights, jointly accounted.’ Ideally, we’d offer for World All Languages, and our Rights team would then have the ability to sell the book into other territories, but lots of agencies do want to keep these rights. It all depends! All my offers are for print, ebook and audio (occasionally at some publishing houses, there are exceptions with audio, but not very often). If it’s a particularly competitive scenario or we’re offering a lot of money, I might also attach a deck outlining marketing, PR and sales plans, as well as perhaps some more creative ideas (sometimes we make mood boards, or add campaign ideas that tie into the novel). But often, it’s just the email and the deal memo.

Then I sit and wait nervously for the agent to reply! It’s quite a tense process on my side of things, too - I always want to win (!) and it’s horrible waiting to hear. Usually, the agent will acknowledge receipt and then go to talk to their author, and as an editor, you have to wait for them to do that before they come back to you. The agent might, at this stage, let the other editors who are considering the book know that they have received an offer, and they then might set a deadline (for perhaps the end of the week, or the week after) by which they want all offers. If they get multiple offers, it usually moves to an auction situation. (I can do another post about that in the future).

In my ideal world, the agent accepts my offer, and then I always ask for the author’s email so I can reach out to them and say hello and congratulations, and welcome them to my list. I LOVE doing this - it’s so exciting and amazing to speak to new writers and hear how happy they are to be getting a deal, and to be a part of making that happen. It really does make it all feel worthwhile. Then, of course, we move to contract stage (at which point our contracts team take over, for the most part) and there is more back and forth before it’s all finalised.

But that’s the process in a (rather long) nutshell. I hope you find it helpful! And remember - the process can take a while simply because editors have so much reading to do. For example, I’ve received 4 submissions today (just a random day in April) and I haven’t caught up from last week yet. Two of my existing authors have just delivered their new scripts to me too. None of this is a complaint - I think it’s just helpful to know the numbers, so that if you’re a writer reading this you don’t assume your book is terrible because editors haven’t got back to you yet! And often, the reasons really are out of your control - we really try not to cannibalise our own books, so if your novel comes in and it does sound really similar to one I already have, I probably won’t buy it because it will be hard to get the internal teams excited about another book that feels too familiar, and it might be hard to promote both at the same time. Sometimes, we do turn books down because of a ‘low’ track record sales-wise (I think this deserves another post because there’s a lot to think about with this). And of course, sometimes a novel really isn’t my cup of tea, or I can’t see a place for it in the market, or I find it hard to get into. That doesn’t mean another editor won’t feel differently! And a good agent will have a strong network of editors to try. Additionally, we will sometimes turn books down simply because the market has moved on and a genre isn’t performing well at that point in time - for example, spicy, empowering, female-led romance is currently taking a lead versus the very passive/submissive erotica that was dominating 10-15 years ago, and similarly in crime and thriller, there have been waves of Scandinavian crime, locked-room thrillers, domestic suspense, etc and sometimes we find that readers don’t have the appetite for a certain genre that they once did, and as a business, we do have to take that into account. Romance and romantasy (romance + fantasy) are enjoying huge popularity at the moment, but when I first started in publishing they really weren’t at all (aside from big brands, which should almost be treated separately). I would LOVE to have a crystal ball to be able to predict how long trends will last, but ultimately, our job is to listen to readers, to publish great books, to take risks, but to ultimately protect the bottom line of the business, too.

More from me soon, and remember, if you are enjoying this please share with your friends. And if there are any topics you’d like me to cover or questions you want to ask, pop them in the comments below. For fun, below are (some of) the books I published in 2024 (with my cat, Sienna). Proof that books do make it through the meetings! All of these started off with an email…

Phoebe x

P.S. for clarity, the books are pictured with Sienna; she was not involved in the publishing process…