Oh, no. It's queries and/or sample chapters. I currently have the novel in question submitted in one form or another to five publishers, one of which was sent out today. The earliest one that I haven't received a word from was sent out to AV Publishing on 2/2/09. Their site states that if no word is received in 3 months then submit a new query (meaning for a new work; they were adamant about not getting multiple queries from one author). It has been over three months now. Then there's Ace Science Fiction - 3/17/09, responds in two to three months, Aspen Mountain Press - 3/17/09, supposedly responds to queries in one month, Antheneum - 5/7/09, responds 1 to 2 months and Avon - 5/18/09 (today), they don't specify when they respond to queries. Can you tell I'm working through the "A's" in the Market book? LOL.
I'm usually a patient person. I've been doing this too long not to be. But I've become addicted to having at least three to seven queries/chapters/whatever out at a time for each novel. Half of the agents or publishers I query don't bother with a response (even if I include a SASE) so I usually wait six months before writing them off as a rejection. This is the first time in awhile that I've come across a publisher that specifically states, "No simultaneous queries" that I really want to submit to.
Not sure I can write off any of them as a rejection yet since response times usually lag further then what most of them state. What would you do?