Seren: Enriching, Connecting and Strengthening Lives
We are thrilled to share the news that we are re-opening to submissions. Having spent the past six months developing our new Business Plan and streamlining our operations, we have now agreed a pathway forward for the company and the future we’re aiming for. Keep an eye out for more information on this coming soon to the website and newsletter.
We want to publish vibrant, relevant and far-reaching Welsh literature. We want to honour our literary heritage and publish creative work and writers which and who appeal to a broad readership. We want to amplify our tradition for both reflecting and challenging contemporary Wales and its communities, values and experiences. And we want to have and spread fun whilst doing so!
So – we’re going to be doing things a little differently from now on. We’ll be running call-outs for specific types of books, and we’ll also be directly commissioning by scouting for writers and ideas which fit these criteria. Occasionally we’ll run open submission windows, but we’ll always make commissioning decisions based on our strategic position, including our current editorial priorities and what readers and booksellers want. We will not accept submissions outside of call-out windows or which don’t fit what we’re looking for.
All writers are welcome to submit book ideas which fit our call-outs, including emerging writers, those we’ve published before and those published elsewhere. We’re also keen to hear from those who may not consider themselves a writer but have a sensational idea and the ability to pull it off.
We want to help create a literary culture which represents an entire spectrum of lived experience. The more diverse the perspectives we publish, the stronger, more meaningful and popular our books and their influence will be. We encourage submissions from all communities, faiths, backgrounds, and from anyone who experiences racism, ableism, poverty, homo- and trans-phobia, those under 30 years old, and from everyone else.
Every submitting writer will be asked to think about their readers and the booksellers who will stock their book. We’ll ask how you’ll support book sales if it’s published. We don’t want full manuscripts in the first instance. Instead, we’ll ask for a synopsis of the book, a chapter outline and sample text. Aligned with our co-editorial approach to poetry commissioning, we will collaborate on commissioning decisions, drawing on the expertise across our staff, Directors and wider stakeholders from the publishing industry.
You’ll see four publishing call-outs between now and the end of the year spread across the three book genres we publish. We hope these will appeal to you and can’t wait to read your ideas.
Details of open call-outs can be found on our Submissions page and we’ll also be running some online Q&As so come along to one of those if you’d like to discuss this or any of the call-outs further with us. We’ll see you there!
The Seren Team
