Manuscript submissions

black dog books is excited about the possibility of finding new authors through receiving unsolicited manuscripts – but we’re struggling to keep up. We receive many submissions a week and it takes anything from half an hour to half a day to reject a manuscript and a lot longer to accept one. As this is only one way we find new authors we are limited in the time we can put into reading manuscripts.

If you do submit a manuscript please be aware that it will not be returned to you.

Do not include original text or artwork as it will not be returned.

We’re asking your help in reducing the flow of unsuitable manuscripts (so that the authors that we have a chance of publishing will stand out) by asking you to do the following:

• Be targeted about your submission. Browse our website or go to a bookshop and check out our books – if your book doesn’t seem like a good fit with us, please don’t send it.
• Don’t send us more than one book at a time unless the book is part of a series.

When you do submit, please do the following:

• Explain in your cover letter why you think we are the right publisher for you.
• Let us know if you have submitted your book to any other publisher in the past.
• Give us a standard CV and a bio about you as a writer.
• Include your email address.
• Let us know what your plans are as a writer (we aren’t interested in publishing one-off manuscripts, but we are interested in finding authors who have more than one book up their sleeve).
• Give us a synopsis that’s no more than a single page double-spaced.

Please do not submit the manuscript to other publishers at the same time. If you have not heard from us within three months, please consider that you have been unsuccessful on this occasion and feel free to submit the manuscript elsewhere.