editors and publishers accepting un-agented and unsolicited material?

IJWRITE

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Hi,

As a women's literary fiction writer, I am ready to start submitting my work. I'm not interested in trying to get an agent, (I've been down that route already) but would like to find out how to submit directly to publishers. Does any one know where I could find a list of editors and publishers accepting un-agented and unsolicited material?

Thanks
 

Jamesaritchie

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IJWRITE said:
Hi,

As a women's literary fiction writer, I am ready to start submitting my work. I'm not interested in trying to get an agent, (I've been down that route already) but would like to find out how to submit directly to publishers. Does any one know where I could find a list of editors and publishers accepting un-agented and unsolicited material?

Thanks

No agent is really making it tough on yourself. Even many publishers that say they accept manuscripts from writers without agents almost never actually buy one.

But I suppose the best way to find out which publishers say they do is by going through the guidelines in such sources as Writer's Market, reading Publishers Weekly, etc.

But I can tell you this. If you think finding a good agent to represent you is difficult, wait until you try finding a publisher who will buy your novel without having it go through an agent. Most publishers, even many of those who say they will look at manuscritps from writers without agents, still depend on agents to weed out the junk, and novels straight from writers haven't been weeded.

It's certainly possible to sell a book without having an agent, but it's far easier to find an agent than it is to find a publisher without an agent.
 

JerseyGirl1962

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Jamesaritchie said:
But I can tell you this. If you think finding a good agent to represent you is difficult, wait until you try finding a publisher who will buy your novel without having it go through an agent. Most publishers, even many of those who say they will look at manuscritps from writers without agents, still depend on agents to weed out the junk, and novels straight from writers haven't been weeded.

IJWRITE,

What James said.

For example, Tor, a SF/fantasy publisher, still accepts unsolicited mss. However, it can take a year or more before they get to yours. There's a picture out there in cyberspace that shows stacks and stacks of boxes and thick envelopes that have taken over floor space, chairs, what-have-you; a dispiriting sight, if you ask me.

Now, I haven't started querying as yet, but as I've found out, I'd rather go the agent route. Legit agents can get your ms. to an editor much quicker than the unsolicited route. You might not like it, I certainly don't like it, but that's the way it is right now.

Were you scammed by some agents who were, um, less than worthy to actually be an agent? Or was it possible that maybe the ms. you shopped around to agents wasn't yet ready for prime time? (Just speculating here.) Did you ever consider getting your story critiqued - sometimes fresh eyes can lead to different perspectives and ideas, stuff you'd never have thought of.

Just a thought.

Anyway, if you insist on sending directly to a publisher, be prepared for some monstrous wait times, as I noted above. But whatever you decide, good luck to you! :)

~Nancy
 

IJWRITE

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Thanks James and Nancy,

I really appreciate your notes here. The problem is, I had an agent recently, one of the supposedly good ones. Last week she dropped me. Our contract was just for six months. She has excellent reviews and write ups and is in all the important books and is listed as a good agent on P&E.
This person worked hard with me for three months. We fixed up my novel. Here's what happened; First, she told me to get out there, get endorsements and cause a stir, then she would pitch my book.
Well, I don't know anyone, but I did this any way, against my beliefs. It's not an enjoyable taks of emailing authors , asking for endorsements, but I got them, because she requested them.
After I had all my material that the agent requested, I gave it to her. I even wrote my own pitch for the most part. It seems like she barely did anything but submit what I gave her to her contact editors through emails. No, she never even sent one of them a hard copy of the ms.
After 30 editors rejected my ms, she suggested that I change so many things in my novel, that it would be a botched shell of what I was trying to write about. I am open to change, but this was unbelievable. Still, I was open to change, but she STILL dropped me.

It took me hundreds of queries to get an agent, so now I've gone through the agent "pool" and I don't know what to do next. I know you haven't read my ms, but a lot of editors said I was a great writer, but it just wasn't "right" for them. I suppose that's a compliment, but will never know what it really indicates.
Thanks again for any ideas.
 
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popmuze

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IJWRITE said:
a lot of editors said I was a great writer, but it just wasn't "right" for them. I suppose that's a compliment, but will never know what it really indicatesquote]

Maybe one of those editors could recommend you to a new agent. Many of them won't do this, but some might. Maybe some of the people who endorsed you could prove to be valuable contacts. If they wind up suggesting agents who've already rejected you, approach them anyway. How many of those agents only saw your query? If someone rejected you just on your query, you'll have a better shot re-approaching them.
 

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IJWRITE said:
Thanks James and Nancy,

I really appreciate your notes here. The problem is, I had an agent recently, one of the supposedly good ones. Last week she dropped me. Our contract was just for six months. She has excellent reviews and write ups and is in all the important books and is listed as a good agent on P&E.
This person worked hard with me for three months. We fixed up my novel. Here's what happened; First, she told me to get out there, get endorsements and cause a stir, then she would pitch my book.
Well, I don't know anyone, but I did this any way, against my beliefs. It's not an enjoyable taks of emailing authors , asking for endorsements, but I got them, because she requested them.
After I had all my material that the agent requested, I gave it to her. I even wrote my own pitch for the most part. It seems like she barely did anything but submit what I gave her to her contact editors through emails.

Jeez, IJWRITE - no wonder you're leery of agents. Sheesh. It sounds like you did practically everything that an agent is supposed to do.

Popmuze's idea sounds like a good one; you also said you emailed writers for endorsements. Is there anyway you can get in touch with those editors, as Popmuze suggested, and ask if they can recommend someone to you? How about those emailed writers? Is it possible for you to get in touch with them and politely ask who their agent is? Maybe they can put in a good word for you with their agent?

I'm so sorry you went through all that, and I wish you all the luck and success with your next agent - or publisher.

~Nancy
 

Anthony Ravenscroft

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Let's consider a small-seeming but critical bit of terminology.

Very few publishers accept unsolicited materials with grace, if at all.

That is why hopeful writers contact them first with a query letter.

Many listings that say "no unsolicited manuscripts" are in no way saying "do not contact us with an interesting idea."

A harried editor is marginally more likely to glance at a brief, well-written, to-the point query letter in a #10 envelope than to even see an unrequested Wad O' Manuscript.
 

IJWRITE

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Hmmm . . . Good point, Anthony. Interesting way of looking at it. I like it! That will be something I'm going to try next.

Thanks, Nancy. I appreciate your support. I will probably be sending the previous contacts an email soon. See what a good place this is to get ideas? Thanks guys.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Anthony Ravenscroft said:
Let's consider a small-seeming but critical bit of terminology.

Very few publishers accept unsolicited materials with grace, if at all.

That is why hopeful writers contact them first with a query letter.

Many listings that say "no unsolicited manuscripts" are in no way saying "do not contact us with an interesting idea."

A harried editor is marginally more likely to glance at a brief, well-written, to-the point query letter in a #10 envelope than to even see an unrequested Wad O' Manuscript.

This is true only some of the time. Most of the large fiction pubishers won't look at anything that comes directly from a writer, and even when they do, they probably won't buy it.

Very few large publishers are set up to handle anything that comes from writers, be it a query letter or a manuscript. Since agents have taken over the job of gatekeep, pubishers have fired the gatekeepers they used to keep in-house. Editors simply do not have the time to play the role of gatekeeper, and even good query letters usually result in lousy manuscripts.

There are publishers a writer can approach without an agent, but query letter or manuscript, very, very few publishers these days, especially the larger ones, and going to read either.

A query letter isn't even going to reach me. It will be sorted, and either rejected or tossed, long before I know it exists.
 

IJWRITE

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Well, gee . . that's encouraging. Thanks. People sure get important once they get their foot in the door.
 

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IJWRITE said:
Thanks James and Nancy,

I really appreciate your notes here. The problem is, I had an agent recently, one of the supposedly good ones. Last week she dropped me. Our contract was just for six months. It seems like she barely did anything but submit what I gave her to her contact editors through emails. No, she never even sent one of them a hard copy of the ms.
After 30 editors rejected my ms, she suggested that I change so many things in my novel, that it would be a botched shell of what I was trying to write about.

Hi IJWRITE,
What seems weird to me is that you were her client for 6 months, you wrote the pitch, and she submitted to more than 30 editors in fewer than 3 months, all of whom said no? I don't know much about the world of fiction, but that sounds like an awful lot of submissions in an awfully short period of time--not to mention a really, really quick turnaround on all of those editors. James, what do you think about that part of it?
 

Popeyesays

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It's ALWAYS polite and proper to query, except at TOR and Baen anyway, they don't want queries they want a synopsis and three chapters or a full manuscript respectively.

When they respond to a query that makes the partial or full you send a REQUESTED submission and short-circuits everything that James and others have noted.

Feel free to put REQUESTED MATERIALS in the e-mail header or on the envelope.

Regards,
Scott
 

popmuze

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But the majors say "No unsolicited queries."

So can you write them a letter asking if they'd like to see your query?
 

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Geez, IJ, that's rough. Sounds like that agent wasn't really good at all. Is she perhaps ready to retire?

Have you checked out www.agentquery.com to make sure you covered all agents who rep what you write?

And yeah, if you really do feel you want to pursue editors instead, when they say "No unsolicited submissions/ mss." they don't mean queries. It's only when they say "No unsolicited queries," "No queries," or "Closed to unagented material" that you nix those editors from your list.

Good luck!
 
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Popeyesays

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If they say no unsolicited queries, they mean it. Cross'em off. But it's very specific to queries.

If they say no unsolicited submissions, that is also very specific and it means they are open to queries.

Regards,
Scott