The Society of Authors (SoA) has today (Wednesday 12 March) published a set of guidelines to help authors and industry professionals understand what to expect from each other during the submissions process.
The guidelines have been published to coincide with London Book Fair (LBF), which takes place from today until Thursday 13 March. The SoA are co-hosting the Authors’ Lounge at LBF with the Black British Book Festival.
The guidelines are presented as three downloadable resources – on publishing submissions, agency submissions and competition submissions. Together with the SoA’s previously published magazine submissions resource, they form a set of best practice guidelines.
They are available to download for both SoA members and non-members on the SoA website’s Resources section – a searchable collection of practical guidance, event recordings, podcast episodes and more.
Each set of guidelines covers good practice for both the person submitting work and the person or organisation receiving the submission, with sections on dignity, respect and professionalism; contract terms and rights; data protection, confidentiality and legal compliance.
They also feature links to further resources, including the industry-wide statement on the book and publishing industry’s professional values – a set of principles that the SoA co-created with the Association of Authors’ Agents, the Booksellers Association, the Publishers Association and the Independent Publishers Guild.
The new guidelines reflect the industry-wide statement’s commitment to high standard of professional behaviour and a culture that is welcoming to all, respectful to all and supportive to all.
The SoA’s code of practice on magazine submissions was published in response to Mslexia’s 2023 research into how authors are affected by rejection or non-response in the submissions process.
As with all SoA guidance, the documents will be reviewed periodically and we invite feedback through their use to ensure these guidelines remain relevant. The SoA urges both authors and industry professionals to reach out to them for individual advice on the submissions process.
The new guidelines are available to download here:
- Publisher submissions best practice guidelines
- Agency submissions best practice guidelines
- Competition submissions best practice guidelines