HarperCollins Publishers Australia

ChocolateChipCookie · Aug 22, 2013

HarperCollins Publishers Australia

http://http://www.harpercollins.com.au/footer/gettingpublished.aspx

A writer friend sent me this link today and she was very excited. She plans to submit. HarperCollins Publishers Australia is accepting unsolicited manuscripts every Wednesday through their online portal. Anyone in the world can submit, not just Australian citizens.

Does anyone know anything about this? Will they publish in book form? Pay royalties, etc?

(If I've put this in the wrong place or re-posted this, Mods, please remove. I did do a few searches.)

Weirdmage · Aug 22, 2013

A further click from your link leads to this: http://www.wednesdaypost.com.au/
Looks like it's a standard query procedure. I.e. they will ask for a full if they're interested, and things will proceed from there.

teacherwelden · Aug 23, 2013

I submitted on Wednesday. I can let you know how I go. Not expecting anything....will probably be doing backflips if they request a full MS.

I did note that they posted on fb that they were particularly interested in Women's Fiction (Chick Lit?) and YA.

I'm crossing my fingers...and toes...and everything else.

teacherwelden · Aug 23, 2013

gingerwoman said:
No Women's Fiction does not mean Chick Lit. Chick Lit is pretty much a dead term in publishing, but a book with a Chick Lit type feel could come under the banner of Women's Fiction, however a lot of what is considered Women's Fiction is not Chick Lit at all.

Thanks for the clarification on that. Clearly Women's Fiction or Chick Lit is not my thing.

Cranky1 · Sep 9, 2013

Any tales to share?

ETA: I believe 'Contemporary Women's Fiction' is being used as code for 'Chick Lit'.

Cranky1 · Sep 9, 2013

gingerwoman said:
No it most certainly is NOT. Why would anyone use "code"? Chick Lit is well known to be very "out" as a genre term in publishing right now, and people are advised not to use the term in pitches.
I have already explained this. Women's Fiction can be anything from emotional literary book club reads, to stories of female empowerment, to comedy.
It is less likely these days to be the Sex and the City and Bridget Jone's Diary type books that were so popular in the 90s which is what the term "Chick Lit" came to mean. Chick Lit is a very specific kind of story that is only a very small subset of the branch of literature that is called Women's Fiction in publishing.
The term Women's Fiction in publishing as opposed to General Ficition tends to mean books with predominately female characters telling a strongly woman/women's life journey focused story. And it does not include Romance which is considered a separate genre.
I am speaking with a knowledge of the meaning of all genres, not because Women's Fiction is "my thing". In fact it has been some time since I read something in the genre. However I know what it is.
The term Chick Lit is another yucky sexist term that was invented by the media (like Mommy Porn) to put down books aimed at a female audience, however it became so well known that it did become the generally accepted term for books that the huge success of Bridget Jones Diary made temporarily very popular type, successful city girl navigates life in a light hearted comedy tale.
However the term Women's Fiction is a much much broader term incorporating many different kinds of stories.

There is a 'code' used. Not a special invisible code only for special agents. I mean simply that authors are still writing 'chick lit', but are labeling it something other than 'chick lit'. In this case, it is actually 'commercial women's fiction' and not 'contemporary women's fiction'.

http://www.novelicious.com/2011/08/...g-live-chick-lit-by-dorothy-koomson.html#more

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/08/is_the_recession_hurting_women.html

Miselle · Sep 9, 2013

Chick-Lit isn't 'out' for many readers and is very much it's own readily identifiable thing - not a sub-genre of Women's Fiction, which, speaking for myself, is mostly literary fiction featuring women and mostly tedious.

Also, Chick-Lit is not "yucky sexist" to all of us or in any way a putdown. Like the difference between Literary Fiction and Commercial Fiction, the best stories and most enjoyable reads are in Chick-Lit (however it may be tagged).

dondomat · Sep 9, 2013

Super! An addition to the awesome Australian tradition of not being elitist...elitists. Here are three more participants:
http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/manuscript_monday.asp
http://www.hachette.com.au/manuscriptsubmissions/
http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=462

Cranky1 · Sep 9, 2013

dondomat said:
Super! An addition to the awesome Australian tradition of not being elitist...elitists. Here are three more participants:
http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/manuscript_monday.asp
http://www.hachette.com.au/manuscriptsubmissions/
http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=462

I don't know how to proceed. I'm interested in submitting, but I've read that you shouldn't submit to publishers while querying agents. Then again, it seems that they were talking about smaller publishers.

gingerwoman · Sep 10, 2013

Cranky1 said:
I mean simply that authors are still writing 'chick lit', but are labeling it something other than 'chick lit'. In this case, it is actually 'commercial women's fiction' and not 'contemporary women's fiction'.

http://www.novelicious.com/2011/08/...g-live-chick-lit-by-dorothy-koomson.html#more

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/08/is_the_recession_hurting_women.html

Oh interesting articles. I didn't mean I thought Chick Lit was dead, but only that I've read many times that submitting a query to agents saying your book was Chick Lit was the kiss of death BUT it may have gone full circle as a trend, and be coming back back by now.

ironmikezero · Sep 10, 2013

I was told that Hachette was only considering subs from Australian authors. Anyone know for sure? (e-mailed question to pub received no answer)

triceretops · Sep 10, 2013

Yes, let us know how that works out. Many of us are not Australians.

tri

Thedrellum · Sep 11, 2013

Cranky1, in general, you should submit to either publishers or agents. If you come to an agent with an offer from Random House on hand, they probably won't turn you away, of course. However, the reason you want an agent is because they know the business, and they know the best place to submit your work in order to get the best deal (which may not always mean the most money).

Undercover · Sep 11, 2013

It doesn't say anything in the guidelines that they are only taking Australian authors. Unless I'm missing it.

triceretops · Sep 11, 2013

HarperCollins is inviting unsolicited manuscripts from aspiring authors in Australia, New Zealand and around the world.

Well, that takes care of that. However...where in the dickens is the submission email address?

Synopsis
3 chapters
short bio

Today is WED btw.

ChocolateChipCookie · Sep 11, 2013

Well, there is a little email icon to the right of the GETTING PUBLISHED line on the first page, maybe that's it? It's next to the facebook/twitter/etc. buttons. It's the only one I could find, too.

Cranky1 · Sep 11, 2013

Australia is 14 to 17 hours ahead of US time. It may be Wednesday here in the States, but it is Thursday in Australia.

When it is Wednesday, an online submission form is available to enter your info.

triceretops · Sep 11, 2013

Oh, I see. Forgot about the time factor. Damn. I'll have to catch it next time, prepared.

tri

ironmikezero · Sep 12, 2013

Yeah, HC/AU will consider subs from anywhere... My question was about Hachette... Anybody know if they're restricting subs geographically?

JanetReid · Sep 15, 2013

If any of you get an offer of publication on this kind of deal, remember to watch what kind of rights you're licensing. If they want world English, it means you can NOT then seek out a US publisher. If they want AUS/NZ/UK rights and non-exclusive open market, you need to have a list of what's considered open market.

dondomat · Sep 15, 2013

What is this open market thing? Thanks.

gingerwoman · Sep 16, 2013

Thedrellum said:
Cranky1, in general, you should submit to either publishers or agents. If you come to an agent with an offer from Random House on hand, they probably won't turn you away, of course. .

I don't know that a Random House digital first deal would be automatically be of interest to agents, nor do I know if it would be worth giving an agent 15% of for a little fiddling with the contract. I know someone who tried to get agents after landing a digital first deal with Hachette and the agents she approached all said they couldn't do much for her.

But I also know another author who did get an agent's interest with the same Hachette digital first line. However I myself wondered if it was a good idea to have run out to give 15% away of the 25% net deal she got herself. It seemed to me like she would be making no money, and she also got no advance. On the other hand again she told me her agent had got Hachette to agree to a real print run on her next book.

Thedrellum · Sep 16, 2013

Remember that's she's really only giving away 3.75%, so she's still getting 21.25% on net all for herself.

And, you're right, I don't know if an agent would be interested, but I think it can't help to have even a digital line from a major publisher interested in your work. Like with your friend, the agent will be looking to push into bigger avenues, and might take you one with the idea that the next book might sell better.

Channy · Nov 9, 2013

Is there any update on this? Any word from people who have subbed recently? Is this a sort of indefinite thing? There's no mention of any closing date, and if they're doing it only every wednesday, I can't imagine that they would have a looming date anyway.

Undercover · Nov 9, 2013

I submitted a while back and nothing. Don't they say on the guidelines after a certain time if you don't hear anything, it's a no? (I might be thinking about another one maybe)

HarperCollins Publishers Australia

ChocolateChipCookie

Cookie Monster

Weirdmage

teacherwelden

teacherwelden

Cranky1

practical experience, FTW

Cranky1

practical experience, FTW

Miselle

dondomat

Cranky1

practical experience, FTW

gingerwoman

ironmikezero

practical experience, FTW

triceretops

Thedrellum

Grr. Argh.

Undercover

I got it covered

triceretops

ChocolateChipCookie

Cookie Monster

Cranky1

practical experience, FTW

triceretops

ironmikezero

practical experience, FTW

JanetReid

dondomat

gingerwoman

Thedrellum

Grr. Argh.

Channy

Me Gusta

Undercover

I got it covered