Spencer Hill Press

In past years, they've opened for the month of December, but I believe this year it will only be a week (and I'm not sure which one). Hence, still closed to unagented submissions until they note otherwise, but they will note otherwise at some point this month.

Since everyone's questioning it, I emailed them directly and heard back from Kate Kaynak and she confirmed it. Yes, they are in fact open to submissions. It's just the webmaster is a bit behind.

Thanks, Undercover! I'll need to sub later today.

EDIT: I'm in!

They opened today for submissions but only until December 10 this year:
http://www.spencerhillpress.com/submission.html

Sent in the first ten pages that they requested. Website directions and all that. No auto-reply--guess they're very busy. A friend of mine who submitted her work said that if they're not back to you in ninety days, then no go.

I will say this: The first time they turned me down was one of the nicer rejections I've had, and they clearly explained why they rejected it. They praised the good stuff--storyline, characters--but also critiqued me--nicely--on what I did wrong. While I hate being rejected, this was one of the better ones, so I have to credit them for doing the right thing.

I just hope this time I end up with a better result!

I'm in. Manuscript submitted yesterday.

SHP is OPEN to Submissions

Hi folks! Yes, SHP is open to submissions (now through December 10th). And yes, it's a shorter open subs period this year--we were victims of our own success in 2012, and it took us until MARCH to read them all. *sigh*

And if you have not heard back from us in that magical three month window, please check in for a status update. It's our policy to respond to every query we receive, so if you don't hear back, something might have gone into a spam filter (yours or ours). We also have a whole TEAM taking care of queries this year, so we hope to respond (reasonably) promptly to all of the queries we receive.

We've also scaled up our systems in a bunch of other areas this past year--three new imprints, updated contracts, a new distribution deal with Ingram (through Midpoint), more ARCs on NetGalley, a TV deal for one of our series, etc. We've been wicked busy.

Thanks for your interest in Spencer Hill! - Kate (Managing Editor)

FYI--If you submit, you may never hear back. I have nudged twice, since I resubmitted in June, and heard nothing. At this point it seems safe to assume its a rejection. I originally sent in a full MS, at their request, last December. I guess that's just the business.

That was my experience too, JocelynNora. I won a contest that resulted in a full manuscript request. I nudged once after about 12 weeks and got a response acknowledging receipt, but no decision. I got another offer, 7 months after my submission to SHP, emailed to let SHP know and give a final nudge. I got a prompt congratulatory response, which was nice, but not much for closure. Obviously I took the other offer (made only a few days after submission which told me they really liked it and thus sold me on them too) and am thrilled to have it. I think this is one of those situations where if they fall in love with your manuscript, you will hear soon, otherwise no news is effectively the same as a "no".

I jumped on board and subbed! Good luck to everyone who is sending something to Spencer Hill!

I did sub twice (months ago) and was properly rejected. I can't tell you if it's a hit or miss thing as far as response.

But good luck to all those in the soup now. I hope one of you grabs the brass ring.

tri

It's actually reassuring to know I'm not the only one, AuburnAssassin! I keep reading on here about people who at least got really nice rejection letters. It's also lovely to hear about an experience from the other end of the spectrum, congrats!

I subbed on Dec. 1st, and just responded to a request for the full. So, they are presently going through the subs that made it through the limited open gate.

Good luck to all!

ironmikezero said:

I subbed on Dec. 1st, and just responded to a request for the full. So, they are presently going through the subs that made it through the limited open gate.

Good luck to all!

Click to expand...

Same here, on the 1st. My request came in late last night.

Good luck Iron and to all the rest of you guys too.

Good luck, guys. Hope you snag an offer!

tri

Haven't heard from them yet... hope that I do. Best of luck to everyone who made the cut.

Looks like they're getting through subs at a very impressive pace. This is the fastest-moving Open Door I've seen.

They are going very quickly. I just got a full request too! Good luck, everyone!

So awesome. I just received a confirmation note that they got my full ms. and that it should take between 4 to 6 weeks for a verdict. To me that's really impressive because there have been times when I was wondering if my fulls were getting there okay. I've dealt with places like that, that don't respond after you send the full. Then I would assume they got it and then nudge them after the 3 month mark and find out they never received it. So frustrating.

Tri, I know that's happened with you on a few publishers too, so it does happen sometimes.

They're really stepping it up this year in my opinion. I know not all of us will connect, but whoever does, will have struck gold. I can't say enough how much I've been impressed with this publisher. I think that some of those submissions last year somehow just fell through the cracks perhaps because they didn't have enough staff to go through the overload of a slush pile? (just guessing here)

Also I was hesitant last year because their site seemed out of date. Then after watching them grow over the months, they've amped that up too.

Anyways, good luck everyone!!!

Hey, Saanen - when did you submit? Just wondering if they've moved beyond the 1 December submissions. There's obviously no guarantee that they're going through in the order submissions were received but...

I got receipt/confirmation of my submitted full, too.
Good communication is always very professional and appreciated. I sense these are some class folks.

Good luck to everyone!

I queried on Dec. 4. My guess is they've divvied up the slush to various readers, and some are getting through faster than others.

After Open Submissions

Ashley Carmichael is doing an amazing job running the open submissions for us at Spencer Hill this year, which is why our turnaround time has gotten so much better. We have multiple readers looking at every query, and we are hoping to winnow down to a short list of manuscripts by the end of the month. If you have not heard back, it's because your book is still under consideration. Please feel free to contact us for an update in early February, although we *hope* to have sent out all (or almost all) of the pub offers from open subs well before that point.

My fingers and toes are crossed!

I received a form rejection for my submission back in September during their brief #MSWL tweet session.