In publishing, there are two avenues: self-publishing and traditional publishing. Both have their benefits; both have their weaknesses. Here are a few resources for Aussie authors thinking about pursuing traditional publishing.
If you decide to pursue traditional publishing, it is very common to hire a literary agent. An agent’s job is to help get your manuscript polished for publication and use their industry connections to present the manuscript to big name publishers.
The Australian Literary Agents’ Association is a great place to find literary agents within Australia that are reliable and trustworthy. Each member pays a yearly fee to be included in the association and must meet a certain set of standards to be included. Most of them are currently accepting submissions. Some prefer certain genres, and all have specific guidelines (that do differ) to follow for submissions.
Check out their website here: https://www.austlitagentsassoc.com/
A literary agent is optional. While there is no upfront cost, they operate by taking a fee of your total book sales (usually around 15%), so some authors choose to act as their own agent and submit their work straight to publishers. Not all publishers accept unsolicited submissions (i.e. not from literary agents), but some do. Publishers tend to moderate the number of submissions they receive by only opening their submissions on certain days or weeks of a month. Unlike literary agents, it is also unlikely that you will receive any kind of reply from a publisher if your work is unsuccessful.
Here are a few big-name Australian publishers that accept submissions:
Penguin: https://www.penguin.com.au/getting-published/adult
Hachette: https://www.hachette.com.au/submissions/
Pan Macmillian: https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/submissions/
Lastly, this is a page that lists all the awards and competitions open to writers within Australia. Some of them are only for unpublished authors and include a publishing deal, while some of them are genre specific. It’s definitely worth checking out for authors at any stage in the publishing process.
https://writersmarketplace.com.au/directory/c/competitions-awards/page/2/
Things to remember when pursing traditional publishing:
- Some publishers and literary agents won’t accept work that has been self-published previously
- Most publishers and literary agents will explicitly state which genres/classifications they are particularly interested in, and which ones they are not currently accepting
- In your submission, you’ll need to provide a synopsis of your novel, along with basic information including a thought-out title, genre classification, word count, and in most cases, a brief but relevant author biography
- While you are more likely to get rejected in traditional publishing, there is no harm whatsoever in giving it a go! How will you know if you don’t try?
Crossbones Editing 