[Publisher] Tor UK

[Weirdmage]

I thought this might be of interest to AWers. Posted on the Tor UK blog today: http://torbooks.co.uk/2013/01/29/submitting-a-novel-to-tor-uk/ They are accepting unagented manuscripts, and there's also guidelines posted.

 

[seun]

This is very cool. Sadly, anything I could send them comes in a couple of thousand words below the minimum.

 

[onesecondglance]

Shame my WIP isn't finished yet!

 

[EMaree]

Oh wow, this is a good oppertunity! Good luck to all submitting.

 

[Weirdmage]

Shame my WIP isn't finished yet!

They don't mention a time limit on open submissions in the blog post. I've asked them on Twitter, I'll get back when I get an answer. (Could take some time, I think the workday is finishing about now in the UK.)

ETA: I just checked the Twitter feed of a Tor UK commisioning editor. On a question about whether they would be open for submissions for the next few months, she answered this:
"We have no time limits in mind at the moment, so sure that will be just fine. Better to polish than rush."

 

[onesecondglance]

They don't mention a time limit on open submissions in the blog post. I've asked them on Twitter, I'll get back when I get an answer. (Could take some time, I think the workday is finishing about now in the UK.)

Still another hour to go as of right now...

The comments on the blog ask the same question:

Is there a closing date for submitting or will this be a continual open submission?

... at the moment there’s no closing date. However, if we get thousands of submissions we may have to close it down temporarily so we can read and clear them. As I mentioned there are only three of us so we’ll just need to keep an eye on the work load. Otherwise, we’d never get any books published…!

 

[K. Q. Watson]

Gah, I'm 20k Under the minimum requirements. Darn.
Good luck to all submitting.

 

[EMaree]

So it looks like this is a permanent submission policy change rather than an 'Open Door Month' type arrangement. Oooh, that's fun.

 

[Undercover]

They say they only take sci-fi, fantasy and horror. But some of those Amanda Hocking books look like mystery/suspense to me.

 

[Filigree]

I would love to know the reasons why they changed.

 

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

Tor Forge (US) has accepted unagented manuscripts for years. I guess I was surprised to hear that Tor UK had not done so until now.

 

[Filigree]

Yes, but the issue with Tor US has been the ridiculously long wait time (I know from personal and friends' experience that '6 months' can end up being a year to 18 months - or more.) Being able to say yes or no after 12 weeks sounds like a civilized approach.

There are other critical differences: Tor US asks for a paper submission of the first three chapters of the book, plus synopsis, etc. Tor UK is allowing email submissions of the entire mms, plus synopsis and other supporting material. The UK word count limits are higher.

I'm agented, and I'm considering it.

 

[CaoPaux]

Updating URL: https://www.panmacmillan.com/tor

The "submissions open" blog post is now here, but has been updated:

WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT DUE TO THE HUGE NUMBER OF SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED THAT TOR UK WILL BE CLOSED FOR ALL DIRECT SUBMISSONS [sic] FROM MONDAY 12TH JANUARY. WE DO HOPE TO OPEN IT AGAIN ONCE WE'VE CLEARED THOSE MANUSCRIPTS ALREADY SUBMITTED. WATCH THIS SPACE.

Presuming correct day and date, that was in 2015.

No sign of reopening, or other sub info.

ETA: PanMac does have a "how to sub" paragraph in their FAQ, but the link to guidelines has been removed.