A friend from a special interest forum, who has a number of non-fiction, military history books to his credit, recently submitted a proposal for his newest book to a publisher. He is feeling discouraged because he hasn't heard back yet. I told him I don't think he should realistically expect a response in less than a week or ten days, but it occurs to me that even a week may be hopelessly optimistic. Is there any standard response time? If you hear nothing, at what point do you write that publisher off and explore alternatives?
@SapereAude No offense meant here, but your friend with a number of non-fiction military books to his credit already should have an idea of response times and feedback, no? Or was all his military works published by one single firm who knew him? They’d know what to expect and response time to new projects would be fast. If he then changes to a new publisher, maybe non-military then yes, you’d expect a longer lead response time. Even if it’s the same publisher a response within ten days seems overly optimistic. Initial feedback, thirty days. Would say three months to a go no go. If you’ve nothing after thirty days a follow up call to close out that avenue. Take it with a pinch of salt, I know nothing about this just general business practices... MartinM.
I believe his usual publisher originally led him on by expressing interest in the current book and then, when he had completed the manuscript, they decided their publishing calendar is already filled for the present time. So he's shopping.
