Submissions

Anyone wishing to submit material to publishers would be well advised to check publisher websites for submission policy. It is not often good news, but at least it saves postage and everyone's time. Unfortunately for putative writers Five Leaves has a no submissions policy. We mostly commission our books, we have a responsibility to our existing writers, and in any case we are sorted until 2014. There are reasons - too many writers chasing too few publishers chasing too few bookshops chasing too few readers. But simply saying we don't want submissions doesn't stop people. We receive about 300 submissions a year, despite a public policy of saying no submissions. This week our star supplicant offered a 607 page pdf of his latest poetry book. This follows a recent approach, by the same author, including a pdf of a 1,600 page poetry book. And he wanted a pre-publication advance and guaranteed shelf-space in bookshops worldwide. Please don't ask if the material was any good.