Time Limit question

Is it an exclusive submission?

I think unless you really have your heart set on that publisher, it's time to move on. Whether they have an excuse or not, I think that's looooong enough.

I agree. Even if that publisher had an exclusive, you've been more than generous in giving that poor reader a chance to read your manuscript. Write them a letter telling them you are withdrawing it from their consideration and move on.

Your letter can remind them, in a non-judgmental way, of the date of submission and the date of your follow-up, and give a specific date for your withdrawal. (Teeny-tiny possibility that they'll pull it from the pile before that date if it's soon but not quite yet.)

Even at a small publisher trying to cut every corner in order to turn a profit, somebody with the authority to change things is likely to realize that a year is unacceptable.

Maryn, singing "The Waiting is the Hardest Part" in her head, involuntarily

If it's exclusive, send an inquiry on status.

If it's not exclusive, keep waiting and move on. If you're not dead set on the publisher, and you're going to move on anyway, probably it's okay to send an inquiry anyway.

What they said... ;-)

A year is a long time to wait with no news...

In the same vein, what about a query to an agent who says query responses will take a week and the implication is that it should be an exclusive submission or it falls off their radar? Do I give them their one week (as their website says their specifies as response time), then begin other queries? Or should I wait a little longer?

I wouldn't wait a year for something that is supposed to take 6 months. Life's too short.

Query? I haven't seen any agent who ever request "exclusive" queries. You can also send out simultaneous queries. Response time could go from instant to never. I think once you query an agent, you should move on until you hear something back, or not.

Time limit is for requested materials, especially if exclusive.

jodiodi said:

In the same vein, what about a query to an agent who says query responses will take a week and the implication is that it should be an exclusive submission or it falls off their radar?

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If it's just an implication, don't worry about it. If they actually want an exclusive on a query, don't grant it. And any time an agency or publisher goes over the time period you've agreed to, treat it thereafter as non-exclusive.

rhymegirl said:

It has now been one year since I mailed my young adult novel to a publisher....Should I say I am removing my manuscript from consideration?

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No reason to withdraw it, and no reason to tell them anything. Just start sending out more queries.