Our list is now full into 2012, and we're not currently accepting submissions from new writers pending a major relocation and refocus of our business. We're sorry, but because of the relocation and associated house renovations we'll be unable to respond to any unsolicited enquiries received for the next six months or so i.e. during the period of time for which this notice remains here. We suggest you check back no sooner than October 2010. Please note that we won't make ANY exceptions to this rule, no matter how convinced you may be that we are made for each other – we've had a few of those already – as it wouldn't be fair.

Please have a good look at the 'About Us' page on this website, and specifically the 'What we Publish' section before you continue. Most of the work submitted to us bears no relationship to what we publish or to what we say we're looking for, and we do not respond at all to those enquiries.

Please think carefully about whether your work really falls into the category of writing that we're now looking for before approaching us: the focus of our list has recently changed, and we plan to publish no more than half a dozen books a year. There are plenty of publishers around, large and small, who publish commercial fiction or conventional generic 'literary' fiction or nonfiction. We are not one of them; we now have a small and eclectic list that reflects our own personal tastes. We'd be grateful if you could make sure your work fits with our list before you submit an enquiry.

How to submit

We welcome new and original submissions [please note – 'new and original' means just that – we don't accept work that has been previously published, including self-published] direct from authors, as well as through literary agents. However, due to the huge volume of unsolicited manuscripts that we receive and that we don't have the manpower to manually process, and most of which bear no relationship to the kind of book that we publish, we have an email-only submissions policy, whether you are an agent or an author. As well as saving time this also saves trees, which is something we care deeply about. An email-only submissions ploicy means you should NOT send enquiries/ unsolicited manuscripts/ materials of any kind by post, even with return postage; we have to discard them unread. These guidelines are the only way in which we can continue to find the time to take unsolicited submissions direct from authors – most publishers do not – and so we ask you please to respect the time that we continue to put into this writer-friendly approach and to follow our guidelines carefully.

Also, please don't telephone us to discuss your project or to discuss whether you should submit a manuscript. We're not unfriendly; we just don't have the time! Email is by far the best route and we always respond rapidly.

Please do not enquire about manuscripts – whether fiction, nonfiction or poetry – that you have not yet finished. We cannot consider them, because if they're not finished they can't be properly judged for quality and relevance, and we do not commission work of any kind.

There is little we dislike more than submissions from people who try to pretend they're something they're not. If your 'acclaimed first novel' or 'first poetry collection' was self-published, say so. It doesn't always matter; it certainly matters if you try to pretend it's not. Don't say a novel is 'due out soon' on your website when it's not. Especially when it's the novel you're submitting to us. Don't pretend your novel was endorsed in any way by a major arts organisation when in fact the arts organisation in question simply funded a scheme that helps writers self-publish. With the sophistication of current internet search tools, we always find these things out! – and we never enter into a legally binding contract with anyone without doing as much appropriate research as we can. Don't oversell yourself or your work or exaggerate – it doesn't help. We want honest submissions from writers with integrity.

If we are not interested in reading your submission, or if we turn it down after reading it, we will be unable to engage in correspondence with you regarding this decision. We are a small publisher, not a writing consultancy; we don't have the time to give feedback, and besides, we feel under no obligation at all to do this for nothing! There are lots of literary consultancies who will offer you such appraisals for a fee. In addition, due to an increasing number of disgruntled, argumentative and often plain offensive emails from people for whom we've taken the time to give honest, albeit necessarily brief, reasons for turning down their work, we find that the most pleasant route is to provide no comment at all.

In the first instance, whatever you're submitting, please send us an email enquiry, to one of the email addresses at the bottom of this page.

— In the main body of this email — not as an attachment; we don't open unsolicited attachments — please include a synopsis of your piece of work. We're not hung up on length but please note we're asking for a synopsis not a sales blurb i.e. if it's fiction, it should tell us what happens in the book, including at the end.

— Please include a paragraph about your background and writing experience.

— If you're submitting a short story or poetry collection we need to know what is the theme/ idea that binds the poems/stories together.

— Please also include your full postal address in the email.

We don't respond to enquiries that don't include all this information.