When You Hear Little (or Nothing) from Submissions

We live in a “hurry up” culture. If someone doesn’t answer their email or text you back right away, you figure something went wrong. From my years in the book business, I understand traditional publishing always moves to a slower pace. No matter what time of year you submit your proposal, it can take weeks and months to receive any response.

This year has been unusual with a world-wide pandemic. Editors and agents have moved out of their offices and are working from home. Depending on whether they have school age children at home, their work environment has grown even more complicated and makes getting a decision or any communication even slower than in the past.

I almost hate to tell you this pattern within publishing but need to prepare you for the final months of the year. During November and December, the response time changes to mostly silence or hearing crickets.

What significant actions can you take when your proposal submissions receive no response?

1. Discover new places to send your proposal Leading up to and during the holidays, some editors and literary agents turn to the unsolicited submissions and process them. The market is always changing. Find these places at your local bookstore or use a market guide from your library. Send your well-crafted proposal to different publishers and literary agents. Make sure in your cover letter or toward the first page of your proposal, you inform them it is a simultaneous submission. It is acceptable to submit to multiple places at the same time but if you use this approach, it is expected you will explicitly tell the agent or editor within the submission.

2. Review then rewrite your book proposal and sample chapter. If it has been some time since you’ve reviewed your work, fresh eyes can give you new insights and improvements.

3. Read in your subject area or a how-to book and take action to increase your connection to your audience. Get my free Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. Use several ideas to increase your audience.

4. Plan to attend a spring writers’ conference. Begin to study the editors and agents attending to prepare your pitch. Read their online guidelines and look at their recent publications to assure your book fits their editorial needs.

5. Purchase a resource like Book Proposals That Sell (http://BookProposalsThatSell.com) or take an online course like Write A Book Proposal then apply the new insights to your submission. When you learn more about how editors and agents operate and their needs, your submission will be more desirable.

If you make productive use of these quiet months, you can propel your publishing dreams to new levels of success in the months ahead.

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s newest book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200.. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. He answers to your proposal questions at: www.AskAboutProposals.com. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.