Hi all - I am a poet and new to the Writers & Artists website. My question is around submitting my work to more than one publisher. I submitted a covering letter and selection of poems from my first poetry collection to a publisher recently. The great news was that they requested my completed collection for consideration, which I've now sent through. However I've found another publisher who is happy for me to send through my initial covering letter and selection of poems. The question is - should I wait until publisher number one comes back to me, especially seeing that they requested to see my full collection?
Any advice gratefully accepted!
Expanding on what Lorraine wrote. Publishers usually have the whip hand.
If you're lucky enough (or talented enough) to get 2 (or more) publishers to offer to bring out your book, you can choose the best offer... or play them off against each other to get an even better offer. ("Well, Centroid said that they would pay for a World tour of poem recitals, flying 1st class [naturally] and staying in 5-star hotels... What are you prepared to counter-offer?")
Thanks for your advice Lorraine - wise words which I will heed.
Kathryn, you can send your work to as many publishers as you like, until the point where you sign a contract with one; it could take them months to decide whether or not to get to that point - time which you will have lost, but which will have cost them nothing.
At present you have no guarantees, only interest expressed. Send it out. Should the first one then offer a contract, you can defer acceptance until you have talked to the other (again, if they are interested). Then you make an informed choice.