Each division has its own relationship with authors, and each requests author submissions in a slightly different manner. Click on the links above or scroll down for more detailed information on Macmillan’s relationship with its authors.

Why choose Macmillan?

Macmillan has all the advantages of a large, international company in marketing, distribution, finance and purchasing, yet its different divisions act as a network of independent publishers, united in their commitment to quality publishing.

Macmillan’s companies share a common identity of interests with the authors and organisations with whom they publish; the growth of these businesses depends on the companies’ ability to build long-term author and customer relations.

Macmillan strives always to support its authors as effectively and efficiently as possible and is committed to building the best possible relationships; its aim is to be authors’ publisher of choice.

Macmillan takes very seriously its commitment to providing individual editorial support and attention to all of its authors and its commitment to consulting with them on every aspect of their books.

The company offers a comprehensive service to authors which includes:

• Careful evaluation of any proposal or sample material and constructive feedback where appropriate

• Quality book production

• Consultation on design, production and marketing issues

• Promotion, marketing, sales and distribution to markets worldwide

• Post-publication follow-up, with copies of reviews and sales updates where appropriate

Macmillan authors in the U.K. are entitled to receive a 35% discount on the purchase of copies of their own books and also have the opportunity to purchase other Macmillan titles for their own personal use at the same level of discount.

Guidelines for authors

Educational Publishing  Macmillan Education works closely with teachers, teacher trainers and writers world-wide. We have field editors based in our key regions developing materials tailored to teacher's needs. If you would like to find out more about writing ELT materials, or writing for or about Africa or the Caribbean, please get in touch via our website and we will put you in touch with the editor for your area.

Academic, Scholarly and Reference At Palgrave Macmillan we recognise that our authors are our most valuable resource and are committed to giving you the best possible service. Within the dedicated authors area of our web site you will find information about our company as a whole, the outstanding service we offer to aid the authoring process and the key roles and responsibilities of our staff involved in the publishing process.

We are committed to providing individual editorial support and attention to all our authors and to consulting with them on every aspect of their books. Our aim is to be your publisher of choice. We not only seek to acquire excellent academic and college books but also to ensure that they are edited, produced, marketed and published to a high standard.

We always welcome book proposals, whether from first-time or more experienced authors. Click here for more information about how to submit a book proposal.

Science, Technical and Medical There are seven publications in the Nature family of international scientific journals: the weekly Nature (founded in 1869), and six monthly titles: Nature Genetics, Nature Structural Biology, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Neuroscience and Nature Cell Biology. The most important goal of these journals is that the material they publish is of exceptionally high quality. All six achieve these ends through rigorous standards of peer-review, editorial independence, and rapid publication.

The criteria for publication of scientific papers in Nature are that they report original scientific research, are of outstanding scientific importance and of interest to an interdisciplinary readership. Authors intending to submit papers to Nature should refer to the extended guide to authors available from Nature direct by emailing nature@nature.com.

The Specialist Journals Division of Nature Publishing Group publishes a wide range of high-quality scientific and medical journals. Information about how to submit papers to each journal can be found on the Nature Publishing Group’s website. 

Fiction and non-Fiction Due to the large number of unsolicited manuscript submissions received each year, Pan Macmillan does not encourage authors to submit their work speculatively. New authors and illustrators generally join the list through agents and the company is very unlikely to accept unsolicited material. Research shows that less than 1 per cent of manuscripts sent unsolicited to publishers achieve publication. It is almost impossible to get a book published unless you have an agent, so the best thing is to start there.

Macmillan publishes two very useful reference works about getting published:

·From Pitch to Publication: everything you need to know about getting published by Carole Blake

·The Writers’ Handbook 2003: This annual publication edited by Barry Turner has a directory of literary agents.

The following websites may also be of use:

www.thebookseller.co.uk for book-trade news and publisher directories.

www.writers.net and www.firstwriter.com have online directories of literary agents, publishers and writers, mainly based in America.

The Association of Authors’ Agents is a UK organisation that lists all its members on www.agentsassoc.co.uk.