Jonathan Cape Open Submission Call

Status
Not open for further replies.

aruna

On a wing and a prayer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 14, 2005
Messages
12,862
Reaction score
2,846
Location
A Small Town in Germany
Website
www.sharonmaas.co.uk
Victoria Strauss posted this on FB so I thought I'd repost here.
http://www.vintage-books.co.uk/capesubmissions/
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
From 1–30 June, 2014, Jonathan Cape will be open for fiction submissions from new writers of high calibre and imagination.
Submissions should be an initial 50 pages of prose fiction. These can be part of a novel or novella, or short stories. The pages can be finished work or a work in progress.
For graphic-novel submissions, please contact the editors through www.capegraphicnovels.co.uk
Submissions should be emailed as attachments to [email protected]. Please include contact details, and a covering paragraph of any information you think might prove helpful in considering your submission.
Regrettably, due to the number of submissions we receive, we cannot respond in every instance, but all entries will be read. Submissions received after 30 June will not be considered.
 

waylander

Who's going for a beer?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
8,276
Reaction score
1,566
Age
65
Location
London, UK
They are a major UK trade publisher so the pay rates will be commensurate with that status.
 

gothicangel

Toughen up.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Messages
7,907
Reaction score
691
Location
North of the Wall
I'm planning on submitting my novel to this (going to wait a few days, I can imagine how many submissions have been emailed today.) I was wondering what it meant by covering paragraph? Should I write a query letter? Or are they literally just wanting that opening paragraph?
 

waylander

Who's going for a beer?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
8,276
Reaction score
1,566
Age
65
Location
London, UK
I would think something covering genre, length and whether the novel is complete or part of a series would be the sort of information they would want.
 

Channy

Me Gusta
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 12, 2012
Messages
909
Reaction score
69
Location
Canada
It's interesting that they say they'll take complete and incomplete... I'm on my (hopefully) last round of revisions, almost halfway done and hope to have it complete by the end of the summer but would love to submit to this.... But it seems rather flaky to say that you're subbing a somewhat incomplete piece?
 

zclesa

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 11, 2014
Messages
164
Reaction score
6
Location
London
Website
www.bethburgess.co.uk
Thanks so much for the heads up. It doesn't say to send a synopsis at all, which surprises me. Is that the norm for publishing houses? I haven't submitted to any, so I don't know.

Jonathan Cape - to me that's literary fiction, usually quite clever, often with a dark twist. What sort of stuff does anyone else imagine submitting?
 

waylander

Who's going for a beer?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
8,276
Reaction score
1,566
Age
65
Location
London, UK
Just subbed my contemporary fantasy novel
 

waylander

Who's going for a beer?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
8,276
Reaction score
1,566
Age
65
Location
London, UK
I did receive an auto-reply.
Probably the last communication I will ever get from them!
 

Lady MacBeth

Out, damn'd spot! out, I say.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
2,476
Reaction score
289
Location
Canada
I did receive an auto-reply.
Probably the last communication I will ever get from them!

I have submitted mine three times and not received the auto reply. I don't want to bombard them, but I am worried they haven't received it.
 

Hanson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
651
Reaction score
37
Location
is fraught with frosting
Submissions should be an initial 50 pages of prose fiction. These can be part of a novel or novella, or short stories. The pages can be finished work or a work in progress.

I'm reading it, but it still don't make sense.

To me, is seems they're not looking for a close to publishable product, but for writing ability/ talent.

Question is why?

Hanson is confused.

Happy (in general) but confused.
 

Lady MacBeth

Out, damn'd spot! out, I say.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
2,476
Reaction score
289
Location
Canada
I'm reading it, but it still don't make sense.

To me, is seems they're not looking for a close to publishable product, but for writing ability/ talent.

Question is why?

Hanson is confused.

Happy (in general) but confused.

Hanson, I read somewhere that the reason some publishers are having open submission periods is because they are not getting much variety from literary agents. I don't know if it's true in this case, but I did find it interesting.



FYI, I sent my submission from another email address and received the auto reply.
 

Lyra

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 5, 2007
Messages
94
Reaction score
26
Location
London, UK
Website
www.kimfarnell.co.uk
Editorial director Alex Bowler said: “It’s a gentle experiment to see what it throws up. It is not with enormous expectation, it’s a question of patience. If we sense it’s heading in the right direction we may do it again. It may be three or four years before two or three interesting thing are surfaced. It is a gentle way of surfacing new writers."
He added: “The stuff we get in from agents is wonderful, our list is wonderful, this is a way of expanding our universe.”
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/cape-holds-month-open-submissions.html
 

Hanson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
651
Reaction score
37
Location
is fraught with frosting
Hanson, I read somewhere that the reason some publishers are having open submission periods is because they are not getting much variety from literary agents. I don't know if it's true in this case, but I did find it interesting.

Could be, but personally I can't imagine that's the reason.

If the Voyager open call showed us anything, it was just how important literary agents are. I don't know of other open calls connected to the big 5/6 which worked well (ie efficiently) whereas mid-list/smaller presses do seem more capable. (ie response times, updates, etc)

I suppose I'm just wondering what this trend really indicates, if anything.
 

Hanson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
651
Reaction score
37
Location
is fraught with frosting
Thanks Lyra, didn't see that.

Hmmm. Ok. Bit of gentleness. I suppose that can't be a bad thing.

Although, tbh, I think that statement throws up more questions than it offers clarity.



Seen this on that site Lyra cited. It's closed now, but the quote from the publishing director is interesting.



link is http://www.thebookseller.com/news/borough-press-opens-unagented-submissions.html


HarperCollins imprint The Borough Press is opening submissions for unagented manuscripts for two weeks in April.
From 7th to 21st April, the imprint will be open to accept three chapters, a synopsis and an author biography from previously unpublished writers.



Katie Espiner, publishing director said: "The Borough Press has got off to a dream start with The Shock of the Fall winning the Costa Book of the Year Award. Even more pleasing, the novel was Nathan Filer's debut. Borough has a rich mix of established writers and upcoming talent and we are very keen to continue finding and nurturing new writers.
"That's the thinking behind the open submission – we know that publishers can often seem like a dauntingly closed fortress to new writers and we hope that by opening our submission doors, people will be encouraged to submit directly to us, in the knowledge that their work will be read by the editors here. We’re all excited to start reading and are confident we will find some gems."
 
Last edited:

JulianneQJohnson

Ferret Herder
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
1,486
Reaction score
294
Location
Indiana
Website
julianneqjohnson.com
This is going to seem like a dumb question, but who did you address the email too? I am used to querying agents rather than publishers, and it's a lot easier to find a name to go with the query. My only guess at the moment is to address it to Dan franklin, the head honcho of Vintage, but that seems overly presumptuous.
 

CallyW

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Messages
86
Reaction score
1
I subbed my fantasy to this yesterday. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

I know it's probably the wrong genre but they didn't specify genres on the submission page so I went for it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.