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Ghosted after submitting a book proposal?

In our October “how can we help you?” thread, a reader writes:

When submitting a book proposal to university presses, is “ghosting” the norm? I submitted seven weeks ago to a Tier 1 press and there’s been no response even after a query after a month. So, I don’t know if the timeline in my head was too short, if the silence is indicative of some interest and internal discussions, or if going that long without a response is a quiet rejection. I will say, others talk about getting quick rejections from this press, but others also talk about getting fairly quick initial interest emails. So, I’m not sure how to interpret university press processes as opposed to journal processes.

Any helpful insights from readers?

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One response to “Ghosted after submitting a book proposal?”

  1. Anonymous

    I do not know what you are expecting, but did you ask the editor to whom you sent your proposal to confirm receipt of the proposal? If you did that, then you can legitimately follow up if you have heard nothing. But seven weeks is not long with respect to book proposals. It can take a bit of time to find two qualified and available reviewers (the good presses reach rather high for the referees, so the pool is smaller). But you can certainly write the person at the press you sent the proposal to and ask when you might expect to hear back from them.

    I have published six books with a leading press, whatever that is worth.

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