Just wondering, how often (maximum) can you check in with a publisher and is it ever acceptable to politely ask how long a decision will take? In my previous experience, I'm used to publishers just never replying full stop unless it's a rejection, but more and more it seems just no response has become standard. I even had an experience with a publisher who was very interested in a novel and wrote me back a couple of times saying they'd been looking for a project like this, then just stopped communicating and didn't reply to two follow-up emails I sent months apart.
I've got a few outstanding submissions that I've pretty much just decided to let go, as in the past any time I've followed up, I've never heard back. But just wondering, how do other people handle these situations especially if you don't have an agent? These are publishers - a couple medium/big, a few small presses - that accept unagented manuscripts. None of them indicate how long a response typically takes (well, one of them did, but I've gone beyond that time frame). So how often would you check in before you gave up with no response? And would you ever directly ask how long a decision would take and how would you phrase that if so? Thanks in advance.
I've got a few outstanding submissions that I've pretty much just decided to let go, as in the past any time I've followed up, I've never heard back. But just wondering, how do other people handle these situations especially if you don't have an agent? These are publishers - a couple medium/big, a few small presses - that accept unagented manuscripts. None of them indicate how long a response typically takes (well, one of them did, but I've gone beyond that time frame). So how often would you check in before you gave up with no response? And would you ever directly ask how long a decision would take and how would you phrase that if so? Thanks in advance.
Last edited: