Subbing etiquette

Lizardmaker · Apr 24, 2015

Advice, please:

I sent a novel query directly to two small publishers. Publisher A asked for the full ms almost immediately, and I complied (of course!). A few weeks later, Publisher B also requested full.

Pub A does not require exclusivity, nor did I promise it. However, it feels rude to send off a full to someone else, knowing that the founder of Pub A himself is bothering to give my 90K words a read.

Yet I don't want to put off Pub B by asking them to wait.

Am I being ridiculous? I don't want to burn any bridges, and hope eventually to work with both of these publishers.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Osulagh · Apr 24, 2015

Send off to Publisher B. If Publisher A is respectful of you, they will wait until you give them the go-ahead to do anything. If they aren't, why would you want to work with them?

You're selling your work. Other authors sub multiple publishers all the time--if they waited back from each publisher before subbing a different one, it would take decades for some to get published.

popgun62 · Apr 24, 2015

If they didn't ask for an exclusive, then send away. Otherwise, like Osulagh said, you'll be waiting forever. I used to send out 10 subs at a time, because rarely did I ever hear back from more than one out of the ten.

Old Hack · Apr 26, 2015

I really hope you sent it off to Publisher B. If you weren't asked for an exclusive, and didn't give one, then it's a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

Subbing etiquette

Lizardmaker

practical experience, FTW

Osulagh

Independent fluffy puppy.

popgun62

Keeper of the pace.

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman