simultaneous submissions epubs

I know when agents say they want exclusives, they usually mean on partials and fulls, not on queries, so I would imagine it's similar with epublishers. Expecting someone not to send out more than one query letter at a time is kind of insane--if each query took 2-3 weeks for a rejection, you could spend all year just querying a couple dozen folks, plus you'd be slowed down even further if any of them ask for materials (which one hopes they will!)

On the other hand, I know there are many e-publishers who ask upfront for a partial or full at the time of query. In that instance, I would assume "no simultaneous submissions" means just that. Don't submit to them if you already have your manuscript being looked at by someone else. I'm just starting my agent querying, though, and haven't queried any e publishers, so take my reading with a grain of salt. (I just noticed no one had answered.)

Peachnuts said:

I know some say 'no simultaneous submissions' on their submission guidelines, but does this mean only if they ask for a partial, or does it mean no simultaneous 'queries' altogether?

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There's a difference between "simultaneous subs" and "multiple subs". If they say no simultaneous subs, they mean just that. Do not send them a manuscript that you have sent to another house for consideration. IIRC, only a handful of epublishers require that.

If they say no multiple submissions, that means you may not send THEM more than one submission at a time. They want to make a decision on your first submission before evaluating a second one.

Some people are personally leery about keeping up with simultaneous subs; for me, it's standard. There was another thread about this under the Romance section of AW. ETA: Thread here.

Good luck!

Peachnuts: You have it right.

Peachnuts said:

thank you both for the answers and also Dee thanks for the link that was helpful.

At risk for sounding totally clueless, this is what I have gathered and I hope someone will kick me in the pants and point me in the right direction if I'm off...

sending out multiple queries is ok (right? even if their site says no simsubs?).
Sending out mulitple partials etc not so much.
Best always to be upfront with the publishers. Yes?

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Just like simultaneous subs, not every pub is okay with multiple queries (more than one manuscript from same author at once). Usually their site will specify. Just make sure you read the submission guidelines for each individual pub you're submitting to. If they don't specify on multiple submissions or simultaneous submissions, you can usually default to "they don't care".

I believe so. You are in fact submitting your manuscript to them for consideration. Even if it is just a query.

No, when you are submitting a query you are offering your MS as a submission. If you weren't, you'd just be offering them a chance to buy your query.

That would be like answering an ad about someone looking to buy a house, you sending them a description of a home and them being interested in buying it. Then you saying 'Oh, my house isn't for sale. Just the description of it is.'

Make sense?

You can query whomever you want at the same time without being in breach of their sim sub rule, unless they say no simultaneous queries. But I think that if you have a house you're aiming for, one that you really prefer, and they don't take simultaneous submissions, you might just try them first before querying anyone else. It'd be a bummer to sim query several places, get several requests, send manuscripts out to the ones that don't mind sim subs, then get a request from the one you really want, knowing you can't send it to them until you've heard back from the rest.

Query the ones that don't mind simsubs at the same time, so it doesn't matter if they all want to see the work. People query multiple agents at the same time, and if they're going straight for publication they query multiple publishing houses at the same time. This is no different.

Shelley

Peachnuts said:

Thank you Angela.

What about sendind a query to XYZ publishing and also a query to ABC publishing. Just query letters. But both say 'no simultaneous submissions'. Am I in breach?

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I wouldn't consider it so, no, as long as it's only a query letter. And just to be sure, the publishers who you sent only query letters to--that's what they ask for in their guidelines for submission, query letters only? No partial, no pages, no manuscript or synopsis, just the query letter?

As an example, in our submission guidelines, we ask for a letter of introduction, a good synopsis and full manuscript. That's what you use to submit. We don't want to see just query letters. So make sure you're sending what the submission guidelines ask for at each publisher (or agent) because they're all different!