How many simultanous submissions do you send out at the same time?

Question

I'm just curious when I get started to do this next year. I've heard from someone from my nonfiction list last year that you select from a three level tier. Have you used it before? Does it work? How many from each level? And what does the three levels stand for? I lost that info.
P.S. Aunt Biwi, I am writing two novels at the same time when a third is on hold, due to writer's block. So I am writing something. :-)

Answer 1

It was said for many years that the proper way to submit was one publisher at a time. That was a rule of thumb in a time when publishers still read unsolicited submissions. Those days are long gone. At this point you will be very lucky indeed to even get a manuscript to an agent without previous solicitation. That's right, even the agents won't generally read unsolicited manuscripts.

I'm sorry if this seems like an unencouraging thought, but I have many friends who are published writers. Publishers today are interested in knowing up front that a book is likely to sell in huge numbers. The brutal truth is that unless the work comes from someone already well known, either as a established writer or a celebrity, they are unlikely to sit anyone down to read it.

I worked for two years at Random House in the early eighties. At that time they were known as the last house that read unsolicited manuscripts.
The truth was there was a room full of unread submissions. I asked for permission to work the backlog... I read for months. Most of the work was really not good, and I could understand the difficulty faced by publishers. Really a lot of people think their books are worthwhile when they are not. But in fact there was good work in the huge piles. I actually found a collection of previously unpublished short stories by Carlos Fuentes, a fine Mexican writer who was widely read and had won international praise for his novels. But there were the stories, sitting unnoticed. And even after I passed the along they remained unpublished.

So what I'm saying is, submit to as many publishers as you want. You need to get your books out to as many people as possible, and there is no way to follow the old polite protocol.
It is not like you owe the publishers any consideration. You owe it to yourself to pitch yourself relentlessly.

And in fact there are established writers who think nothing of multiple submissions and creating bidding wars. Heck, it's all about capitalism, right?

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That said, I wonder how you can be working on two novels simultaneously. That seems like a very distractive way to work. I don't know many writers who get much done that way. But if it works for you...

Good luck. Keep writing. Keep pitching.

Answer 2

I agree with the suggestion to take a look at what the publishers and agents ask for in their submission guidelines. Often, if places really do not want simultaneous submissions then they will specify it up front. I would personally make it known in the cover letter that it was being submitted elsewhere (but don't dwell on it, a quick sentence is fine!)

Simultaneous query letters, to the best of my knowledge, are always fine.

Answer 3

simultaneous query letters yes, but not manuscript submission.
Don't know about the "three level tier. "- never heard of it.
I think it's best to see what the agent/pubisher accepts. Some do not accept simultaneous submissions, some do.