Monday 20 August 2007

Irish Publishers Submission Guidelines




These are the Irish Publishing Houses submission guidelines that I could find online. I'm concentrating on adult fiction. Check the Artists and Writers Yearbook for up to date information.

Blackstaff Press Belfast publish a wide range of books and are always on the lookout for good writing. One or two chapters.

Brandonbooks is based in Kerry. A description about 2 pages long and a sample of 40 continuous pages along with a CV. They publish about 15 titles a year.

Gill & MacMillan have a page of submission guidelines but they are no longer considering fiction, only non-fiction.

Hodder Ireland are not currently accepting non-agented submissions.

Lilliput Press do publish fiction but have no guidelines. I would suggest 3 chapters and a synopsis.

Mercier Press publish a limited number of fiction books each year with their Marina imprint. Synopsis, cover letter, 3 sample chapters (in sequence) and author CV. They prefer emailed submissions to commissioning[AT]mercierpress[Dot] ie

New Island is happy to accept unsolicited manuscripts. 3 chapters and a synopsis. They publish 'very few' fiction or poetry books a year.

Penguin Ireland accept unsolicited submissions. 20-40 pages, synopsis and cover letter. They have 3 fiction titles in their current catalogue.

Poolbeg publish a great catalogue of popular Irish fiction. Synopsis and first 6 chapters.

Apparently the average European country publishes four times as many titles per head as Ireland does. But Ireland relies a huge amount on British publishers. I wonder does Austria rely similarly on German publishers, Belgium on France and Holland etc?

10 comments:

Eoin Purcell said...

Emerging,

What a great idea!
As regards relying on England and the UK it's hardly by publishers choice we do so, rather we are forced by market conditions.

I almost always prefer e-mailed submissions if only because I can file them easier and read them anywhere, not just in the office, and I don't have to take piles of paper with me.

You can submit just with a quick cover e-mail, a synopsis and up to three sample chapters (preferably in sequence) to:
commissioning[AT]mercierpress[Dot] ie

And we take non-fiction too!

Eoin

Emerging Writer said...

Thanks Eoin. I'll update the entry for Mercier. How many fiction titles do you publish a year?

Eoin Purcell said...

Depends on the books to be honest mostly two to four fiction including one or two children's fiction.

This year we have had: The Pompeii Syndrome (Thriller) Penny The Star (Children's) and The Keeper of the Crock of Gold (Children's).

But we always consider everything that comes in because who knows, some years the fiction might just warrant many more than four!

Eoin

Michelle Dalton said...

Nice list - if i ever get round to something longer than s hort story it will be very useful :)

Sarah Liddy said...

Hi Emerging,

Just to let you know that we are no longer commissioning books for the Tivoli imprint. We have decided to focus on non-fiction.

Best of luck with your writing.

Sarah
Gill & Macmillan

Emerging Writer said...

Thanks for the update Sarah. I'll update the post.

Unknown said...

Just a quick note - we have a full list of poetry publishers and journals in the UK and Ireland on our site (poetryireland.ie) - hope this is useful!!

PI.

Emerging Writer said...

Thanks PI. The newly updated Poetry Ireland website is well worth a visit.

Unknown said...

Hi Emerging,

I was just wondering if you could help me, I am seeking volunteer work reading/ proofreading in order to gain an insight into the publishing industry, any suggestions?

Regards,
Michelle

Emerging Writer said...

Hi Michelle, There's a question. I would suggest you ask the various literary magazines as a start, or poetry presses. They may take on interns. Let me know how you get on.