Calls for submissions

Frequently-asked questions

Can I send you my manuscript or proposal outside of your submissions windows?

No. Please respect our submissions windows, as it’s the only way we are able to offer opportunities for writers to send us manuscripts. Unfortunately, we will have to delete any proposal emails we receive outside of our submissions windows.

Can I send you my manuscript by post?

No, please do not send by post. We have never asked for manuscripts by post and do not have capacity to deal with them.

Are you accepting children’s picture book submissions?

No. We’re not looking for children’s picture book proposals at the moment, due to the production costs and the difficulty of selling them. We love picture books and would love to do more of them, so as soon as we figure out a way to make them work we will let you know.

Do the essay collections have to be themed?

No. They can be themed, or they can be wide-ranging in subject matter. However, the full collection should hang together well and make sense as a book, so have a think about how to achieve this.

I haven’t had any writing published before. Can I still submit?

Yes. We don’t require any previous publication history – the most important thing is that you have read widely in the genre you are writing in.

Does the writing need to be completely unpublished?

It’s fine if some of your essays/poems/stories have been previously published, but please do check with those publishers or publications that you still hold the rights to your poems and can licence us to publish them again with no additional payments or paperwork.

If you have published the majority of your book on your own blog or website, or through a self-publishing site or with a publisher in another country, do think about what you actually want out of us – after all, you’ve already done all the hard work yourself and essentially the book is already published. We want to be involved in the creation of the book, so it’s not just about us providing print services and distribution. 

How many books are you planning to publish a year?

Ideally we would publish 6-8 books a year, 2-4 of which would be children’s books.

How many manuscripts will you choose from each submission window?

We hope to find 1-2 manuscripts we want to publish from each window, but this isn’t set in stone.

Can I submit my poetry anthology?

No thank you, as we stopped doing poetry anthologies in 2020.

Will you consider translations?

Yes, we are always very happy to see translations. Translators can submit multiple proposals (i.e. one per author). Please ensure that you have checked with the rights holder that World English rights are available before submitting.

I’ve written a book with a friend. Can we submit as a pair?

Yes. You’ll need to have 1 author’s name as the main contact on the Submittable form, and be aware that you’ll split the advance, complimentary copies and royalties.

Can I submit more than one manuscript?

To try and keep numbers to a manageable level for the team, we are limiting submissions to one per author for every submissions window.  If you have multiple projects and you are struggling to decide what to submit, you might find it useful to read our upcoming newsletters and blogs about submissions.

Do you accept simultaneous submissions? i.e. Can I send my manuscript for consideration by other places too? 

Yes, that’s fine – just withdraw your entry from Submittable if you accept an offer from elsewhere.

Do I have to arrange for my book to be illustrated?

Not at all. If we feel a book needs to be illustrated, depending on our finances, either Emma will illustrate it or she will commission someone else to illustrate it.

I don’t live in the UK – can I still submit?

Yes, we welcome international submissions.

When will I hear back about my submission?

Within 6 months, before our next submission window opens. We give updates on our progress in our newsletter, so that is the best place to look if you’re wondering when you might hear back from us. We do reply to everyone, and we read all of the submissions very thoroughly, so thank you for being patient with us and not chasing before 6 months.

Will I get feedback if my submission is unsuccessful?

We will email everyone to let them know the verdict on their submission, but we can’t offer individual feedback.

What happens if you do like my writing?

We will let you know by email and take it from there. We will probably have some suggestions for tweaking or developing your writing further, so we’ll explain that all in the email.

Will I get any money?

Authors get an initial advance, royalties and ten complimentary copies. We apply for grants to pay translators.

And finally . . . We only publish writing which we utterly love and believe in, which means the matter of what we publish will always come down to our personal tastes. If we can’t publish your work, it’s not a judgement on the quality of your writing so much as a reflection of our personal preferences in writing. If you would like to get a sense of our tastes, do take a look at the books we have published so far.