Our submissions office will be closed from 5.00pm Friday 27 September until 9.00am Tuesday 8th October 2024. Any submissions received during this period will NOT be logged in our system and will not be considered.
Please read the following instructions carefully. Submissions outside of these guidelines will not be considered.
WHAT ARE WE CURRENTLY ACCEPTING?
We ARE currently considering:
- full-length adult fiction (literary, commercial and genre fiction, excluding sci-fi)
- nonfiction (except for academic and spirituality titles)
- children’s fiction (picture books, junior fiction, middle-grade, young adult, graphic novels)
We ARE NOT currently accepting:
- works that have previously been self-published in any form, nor books in a series where previous titles have been self-published
- science fiction
- works by authors who do not currently reside in Australia or New Zealand, or who are not Australian or New Zealand residents
- novellas or poetry collections
We actively pursue and support diverse and marginalised voices. We encourage all authors to read our policy regarding marginalised and diverse voices before submitting to us.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Proposals and queries should only be sent by email following the submission guidelines below.
Please contact us before sending any hard copy material and do not inquire, in the first instance, by phone.
Fiction and memoir
For fiction proposals, please resist the temptation to press the ‘send’ button immediately after you finish your manuscript. Rework and revise your manuscript – seeking and responding to feedback – thoroughly before submitting the work to an agent or a publisher. Due to the extremely large volume of submissions we receive, please only send us ONE project unless otherwise requested. Make sure what you send is your best work.
To be considered by our agency, your fiction proposal must include:
- An email subject that lists: BOOK TITLE / Author name / Genre (eg, literary fiction / commercial fiction / thriller / romance / middle grade / picture book / etc)
- A cover letter/email with your contact details, including email address (see information on cover letters here), and the total word count of the manuscript
- A one- to two-page synopsis (see tips on crafting a strong synopsis here)
- Approximately 20 consecutive pages, preferably the first chapters of the book – or, for picture books, the entire manuscript
- An author biography, including any relevant information about previous writing/publishing/awards/residencies
- An indication of any publishers/agents who have considered any current or previous version of the work. Please note: while we appreciate that authors make multiple or simultaneous submissions, we require an indication of this from the outset. Also, it is extremely unlikely that we will consider projects that have already been sent to more than three commercial publishers.
Nonfiction
For nonfiction proposals, we recommend that you contact us at the point when you have developed a robust proposal for a book. This means you have a deep understanding of the subject matter, a clear idea of how your book will be structured and what it will contain, and one to three developed chapters that articulately demonstrate the style and content.
Your nonfiction proposal should contain:
- An email subject that lists: BOOK TITLE / Author name / Genre (memoir / military history / cookbook / etc)
- A cover letter/email with your contact details, including email address (see information on cover letters here)
- A one-page summary explaining what the book is about and why it needs to be written and published
- An author biography, including any relevant information about previous writing/publishing/awards/credentials
- One or two sample chapters (these don’t have to be the first chapters, but try and make sure they present a compelling example of your work)
- A detailed table of contents for the rest of the book that conveys the depth of the material in the book, not just subheadings
- Any promotional or networking opportunities that could be used to help sell your book
- An indication of any publishers/agents who have considered any current or previous version of the work. Please note: while we appreciate that authors make multiple or simultaneous submissions, we require an indication of this from the outset. Also, it is extremely unlikely that we will consider projects that have already been sent to more than three commercial publishers.
WHAT NEXT?
We endeavour to respond to all submissions within a six-week time frame. If you have not heard back from us after this period, feel free to send us a short follow-up email.
If your idea is not accepted by our agency remember that this is not necessarily a reflection on your writing. Publishing is a highly subjective industry and we only take on projects that we feel have strong commercial appeal and fit the direction of our list. Other agents or publishers may feel differently.
Send your proposal to: submissions[at]smlm.com.au
(replace [at] with the @ symbol)