For the ninth year running, Simon & Schuster UK Ltd are thrilled to announce that we’ll once again be opening our doors for our #DigitalOriginals open submission day - #OneDay2022.

As ever, we’ve ripped up all the usual rules, and are flinging open our metaphorical doors to prospective new commercial women’s fiction authors, enabling you to bypass the traditional route to publishing and submit directly to our @TeamBATC editorial team.

HOW DOES IT WORK

From 8am to 8pm GMT on Friday 15^th July 2022, writers of commercial women’s fiction can ‘tweet pitch’ the hook of their novel in 280 characters (or less). We’ll read your pitches as they come in – make sure you use the hashtag #OneDay2022 – and if we like the sound of your pitch, will make contact with you directly via DM*, by Wednesday 20^th July 2022, to find out more – so have your full synopsis on standby, and keep your DMs open.

This year we will be accepting agented and un-agented submissions,  and we are particularly interested to see submissions from under-represented new voices, writing stories that reflect a true diversity of experience, be that race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, nationality, religion, belief, age, social or economic circumstance.

* Please note: You will only be contacted by DM with regards to #OneDay2022 by either @BookMinxSJV or @Molly__Crawford.

FAQ

Do I have to have a completed full manuscript to tweet pitch? No. It’s not essential that you have a completed manuscript at this stage, but it would be helpful. If we ask to see your synopsis and enjoy it as much as we enjoyed your pitch, we will contact you again, and ask to see the first three chapters. After reading the chapters, if we are still interested, we will ask to see your full manuscript.

Can I pitch more than one novel? Only one pitch is permitted per person, so please only pitch the novel you believe to be your strongest concept.

I don’t live in the UK, can I still take part? We are only accepting #OneDay2022 tweet pitches from authors who are currently resident in the UK or Republic of Ireland.

I have self-published my book previously, can I still pitch it? Yes. As long as you have retained full rights.

I can’t be on Twitter on 15^th July 2022, can I still take part? All pitches must be received between the hours of 8.00am and 8.00pm on 15^th July 2022, so we suggest you schedule your tweet in advance. We cannot accept pitches outside this window and any received outside of this period will not be considered.

I pitched my novel using the #OneDay2022 hashtag, but haven’t been contacted via a DM. What should I do? If we don’t contact you - via a DM message - by Wednesday 20^th July 2022, please don’t be disheartened. This is a very subjective business, and it is likely that your pitch is either not quite what we are currently looking for, is too similar to a novel we are already publishing, or not quite commercial enough for us.

You requested to read my synopsis, when will I hear back from you? We will endeavor to get back to you within one month of receipt of your synopsis.

You requested to read my first three chapters, when will I hear back from you? We will endeavor to get back to you within one month of receipt of your first three chapters.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Your pitch will help us understand exactly what your novel is about and give us an idea of how we might talk to potential readers about it. We want to be immediately grabbed by your concept, and desperate to read more, so draw us into your plot, your characters or setting, with a hook we haven’t read before. If you’re struggling to pin down what your book is about, consider how you’d describe it to a friend. Remember that most stories start when something changes – identify what that is and how it affects your protagonist(s) and you’ll likely have your pitch. Pitches can be in the form of a question (What would happen if…) or descriptive (A woman walks into a bar….) – they really just have to be interesting!
• We’re looking for authors we can launch as part of our #DigitalOriginals programme in the same way we launched the careers of Heidi Swain, Jennifer Bibby, Holly Hepburn, Laura Bambrey, Jackie Fraser, Claire Frost, Julie Haworth and Christina Pishiris. #OneDay2022 is not a writing competition, and therefore there are no ‘winners’, but any novel we acquire through our #OneDay2022 open submission tweet pitch day will be published in #DigitalOriginals eBook format, which will be available across all e-tailers in the English language across the World.  You will be working with our experienced in-house team, and will be provided with a contract, full editorial input including copy editing and proof reading, an eBook jacket and a suite of marketing and publicity promotion.
• If we make an offer to publish your novel, and you don’t accept the terms of the acquisition or advance, you are entitled to reject them, but the terms of our contract are non-negotiable.
• We are not a vanity or custom publisher and we do not charge a fee for submitting to #OneDay2022. #DigitalOriginals is part of the Simon & Schuster UK publishing company. A #DigitalOriginals author will benefit from the Simon & Schuster UK editorial, marketing, publicity and sales expertise and your contract with us under the #DigitalOriginals project offers you the same benefits as all Simon & Schuster UK authors receive.
• Simon & Schuster UK is one of the leading general book publishing companies in the UK. The group is based in London with sister companies in the United States, Canada, Australia and India. Within the UK division, there are four imprints: Simon & Schuster, Gallery, Scribner and Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, which publish a wide and eclectic mix of authors ranging across commercial fiction, literary fiction, general non-fiction and children’s publications. Home to bestselling authors and award winners, Simon & Schuster UK is a publishing house of quality writing and a proud home to its authors and their exceptional work.
• Simon & Schuster UK is dedicated to publishing a broad and diverse range of books for everyone, representative of the world around us. We are committed to working with and supporting writers, illustrators and other creative partners from all walks of life, regardless of age, gender identity, disability status, race, nationality, religion or belief, sexual orientation, social or economic circumstance.