Mills & Boon submission - response time?

[bizzylizzy]

Does anyone know how long it takes Mills & Boon to respond to a submission please? I sent three chapters and a synopsis to them more than 4 months ago and am reluctant to contact M&B as they make it clear on their website they don't want you to do that. I know my manuscript arrived because I received a confirmation letter. Thanks very much.

[Florie]

I so feel for you, Bizzylizzy and I wish somebody would answer this question for me as well. The first time I submitted to M&B it took three months for them to get back and ask for the rest of the ms. Then it took another five months for them to turn it down -- very nicely, mind you, but still. They sent me a "with compliments" form for my next submission (which they encouraged) which means that the ms goes directly to the editor in question rather than the slush pile. And the bad news is...seven months later I saw the editor at a conference and she was terribly apologetic that she hadn't got back to me, said some very nice things about my submission, and asked me to email her the rest of the ms with the promise that she'd get back to me within a month. Naturally I sent the email immediately...and here it is, five months later, and I still haven't heard from her. I did finally ring a couple of weeks ago and she told me she was sorry but she was way behind in her reading, and that she'd get back to me in "a few weeks"...hmm...Maybe somebody else out there has a happier story to share? Or maybe you've heard from them since you posted this question a month ago?

[bizzylizzy]

Ahh gee poor you. The world of publishing seems to move at a snail's pace. My husband actually has an agent (he writes children's books) and the story there is the same. Nobody replies to letters, e-mails or voice mail messages .. bet they return JK Rowling's :-)

Like you, I've also e-mailed and left voice mail messages. On two days I phoned up M&B at least a dozen times and the phone rang and rang and rang as though everyone had left the building. But I suppose the answer is, we persevere, what choice do we have. Mind you, I suspect I may well be dead and buried by the time they get around to reading my manuscript .. and even worse it's only the submission.

I wish you well with your own efforts - who knows, perhaps the whole submission fiasco is some kind of endurance test.

I saw their recent TV programme where it was made to look so much easier than it actually is. Perhaps the thing to do is to send the idea off to other publishers, after all, we have nothing to lose .. except even more time!!!

All the best Florie - very good luck.