Simultaneous Submissions Definition: Simultaneous submissions happen when a writer submits a given work to more than one market (like a literary agency or literary journal) at one time. In other words, if you prepare a short story and send it out to 25+ markets at the same time, you’re making simultaneous submissions.
Simultaneous submissions are sometimes confused with multiple submissions. When you make multiple submissions, you’re submitting more than one piece in a single packet (three stories to one market at the same time). In the case of poetry, submissions are often made in groups of three to five poems, so a multiple submission would include two groups.
Read more: How To Interpret Submission Guidelines
The good news is that most literary agents and editors of literary journals are open to simultaneous submissions. Some include a request like, “Let us know if this is a simultaneous submission,” so the writer adds a note in his/her cover stating that. However, perhaps more important than a note in a cover or query letter is a follow-up note if there is interest in the work in question.
Editors and agents hate spending hours and hours deliberating on whether or not to accept a piece for publication or make an offer of representation only to discover that said work is no longer available. That said, some literary journals are open to accepting reprint rights instead of first rights (but the majority are not).
When Making Simultaneous Submissions To Literary Journals
Most lit mag editors understand that writers must submit a given work to more than one market at a time. If you find yourself with two offers of publication on the table, just be sure that you understand what rights you’re granting to each editor.
Read more: Literary Journal Contracts: Terms And Conditions.
When Making Simultaneous Submissions To Literary Agents
Simultaneous submissions for books can be fantastic, especially if you receive interest from multiple literary agents. Even if you don’t have an offer of representation, you can sometimes leverage one agent’s interest into interest across the board.
To learn how to handle this situation, start with these two articles: Literary Agent Manuscript Requests and When A Literary Agent Requests An Exclusive: Solutions For Sticky Situations.
Happy (simultaneous) submitting!
QUESTION: Do you make simultaneous submissions, or submit one place at a time?
The important follow-up note (if there is interest in the work) has become easier with e-mail submissions or submission managers that generate a confirmation e-mail, or keep track of one’s submission hitory in a common database.
A small risk that remains are small, proprietary, web-submission managers of some contests or mags that don’t keep one’s entries in a well-known common database, yet don’t send any confirm signal either (or, send a bunch of e-mails, none of which mentions any title.) I think this is an unintentional trap, both for the embarrased writer and the editor.
What I don’t understand is if a person submits to a literary magazine that says “no simultaneous submission”, can she submit to a contest but not a literary magazine? Is no submission to contests also assumed (some contests publish winning poems; others don’t). I can’t find the guidelines for this issue anywhere.
Hi Tracy,
Yes, the “no simultaneous submissions” includes contests. In addition, most contests don’t want previously published material, so you’d be out your entry fee if a journal accepted and published a poem or story you’d also entered in a contest.
I have simultaneous submissions out there right now. My question is, if a magazine picks up my story for publication, can others also pick it up for publication? What is my responsibility to the publications who follow the first? I don’t want to say, “No don’t publish it because someone beat you to it.”
Hi Dr. Lucius Guardian,
When a simultaneously submitted story gets picked up, the best practice is to withdraw your work from the other journals so they are no longer considering it.
I am a writer, but I’m only 16. I want to publish my poetry. Is there still options for me? If so, what are they?
Hello,
You may find this section of our Free Publishing Toolkit of interest: https://writersrelief.com/get-published/
Hi, I recently made an error of making a simultaneous submission to a literary magazine that had a rule against it. It was picked up by another publication and they seemed quite upset about it, and asked me not to submit to their journal again. I just hope this won’t affect my rep. Please advise.
Hi Writer29,
This is why it is so important to read the submission guidelines and follow them, instead of just submitting work scattershot. Editors do not like it when they spend their limited time reviewing your work and making selections (which means other acceptable work doesn’t make the cut), only to find out you didn’t follow their guidelines. Moving forward, always read the journal’s guidelines and never make simultaneous submissions to those that do not accept them.