Our Submission Policy at a Glance
IP is open to submissions from March through November. Manuscripts arriving at other times will be held over until our normal reading time unless we agree to other arrangements in advance.
We do not read complete manuscripts in the first instance.
Unsolicited submissions must contain a covering letter, aa synopsis and sample of your work and a either self-addressed stamped envelope or a working email address for replies. Submissions that do not adhere to these conditions will be discarded, and IP does not take responsibility for unsolicited submissions. Never send your only copy of your manuscript. See our complete submission package expectations as detailed below.
Authors who come to us via an agent, and authors with a minimum of two book credits with national distribution, should still query us with a covering letter and a synopsis.
Note that there is a Reading Fee for all complete manuscripts submitted to us. This fee may be waived in certain circumstances, especially if you have published before with a national publisher or have included a comprehensive Reader's Report from an established assessor. We also will consider a request for waiver or discounting of the Fee on the basis of demonstrated financial hardship.
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The more you’ve published, the better your chances of getting published again. Publishers look for a proven track record, and IP is no exception.
That’s not to say that your work might not be brilliant — or even publishable — if you haven’t tried to publish individual pieces in the obvious places. But your chances of success with a credible publisher are, bluntly, one-in-a-million. Most authors need to go through an apprenticeship, which includes the painstaking work of sending off work to magazines and newspapers and waiting for acceptances. Gradually, when your work is good enough, you’ll build up a track record. You’ll have found an audience, which means your writing has commercial potential. That’s the language publishers understand.
Rather than set yourself up to be disappointed, it’s better to earn a list of publications in the better magazines, etc, before you try us — or any publisher worth their salt.
What Sorts of Authors Does IP Publish?
We publish established authors (at least two books published by a reputable publisher) in our Literature Series.
We also want to encourage developing authors. So we have an Emerging Authors Series for those who have published one book at the most (chapbooks and self-published works do not disqualify you). Several of our Emerging Author titles have won or been commended in major book competitions.
We consider novels, novellas, short fiction collections, creative non-fiction and all forms of poetry. We prefer writing that has a literary flair and content and style that will appeal to a wide audience. That includes fantasy and sci-fi.
Have a look at some recent IP publications. This will show you what you can expect from us and the quality we expect from you. If you decide to buy some of our titles, mention that you are thinking of publishing with us and we'll send you the order postage free. This also has the advantage of demonstrating your support for independent publishers like IP, which can’t help but persuade us that you're serious about your commitment to getting published.
What Kinds of Contracts Does IP Offer?
While IP is a royalty publisher, offering royalties to our authors that are standard for the industry, we sometimes work on a partnership model that requires authors to contribute to the costs—and the effort of promoting—their title. How much you might be expected to invest under one of our partnership contracts depends on the genre of your work, its length, our assessment of its market potential and external sources of funding. We offer traditional royalty contracts to the winners of our annual national writing competition, IP Picks, and to other authors whose work we admire and see as having commercial potential.
What Should You Submit?
Send us a package that contains:
• a biography with specifics about your publishing credentials
• a concise synopsis of your project (1-2 pages)
• who the book is written for (your audience/s)
• what form of publication you are interested in (print or digital or both)
• a representative sample, ~ 5% of the project
• your complete contact details, including phone, fax, email
• a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE)
Send your package to us in “hard copy” or on disk or CD, as a Word, rich text format (.rtf) or Acrobat (.pdf) file. Alternatively, you can query us by email, providing the package as attachments in any of these formats.
Note that we cannot respond to or return material unless you enclose an SASE or include an email address.
Is there a Reading Fee?
Possibly, but only if we invite you to send in the complete manuscript after viewing your sample. Exceptions are authors who come via agents or include a letter of recommendation or a comprehensive report from a credible assessment agency. Otherwise we charge a reading fee of AU$249 (GST-inclusive). If you are a full-time student or on a pension (proof required), we reduce the fee to $210. If we then offer to publish you, your investment will have been repaid. If not, we’ll still send you a short Reader’s Report on the work’s strengths and weaknesses. So even then you’ll get something for your investment.
If you cannot afford the fee, consider entering our annual IP Picks competition for unpublished Fiction, Creative Non-fiction, Poetry and Best First Book. There is a modest entry fee, but you get a free IP title of your choice, and you are given the option of requesting a Short Report at a discounted rate. The competition closes 1 December each year, the winners are guaranteed full royalty publication and many of the commended entries are offered publication, too.
When Can You Expect to Hear From Us?
No news is not necessarily good news, but it may be. We try to get back to authors within six weeks – so long as your submission arrives during our active reading period, March - November. Our reply will be to the point. If we think your work has merit we will discuss the possible scenarios that would see you published by IP. Few manuscripts that we receive are accepted without substantial changes. Others may be promising but not good enough that we can make an offer of publication at that stage. If we suggest that you get work your formally assessed, be encouraged. Remember that at least 95% of the submissions we receive are rejected without comment.
Dr David P Reiter
Director, IP