How to Submit

TLC accepts submissions of: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Short Stories, Poetry, Scripts, Screenplays at all levels, written in English. For a list of Readers, see here.

Step by Step: Manuscript Assessment

1. Please ensure your submission package to TLC is complete and includes:
   The text in the correct format (12-point font, double spaced, page numbered. Please do not include track changes on any e-copies that are submitted. Poetry can be presented in its original form. Script formatting guidelines can be found here)
   A short covering letter detailing word count, genre, and any other relevant details/questions for your reader
   A synopsis (fiction) or a proposal letter/chapter outline (non-fiction). No synopsis is needed for short stories, poetry or scripts.
   
   
2. Now you can send your work (text, covering letter, synopsis/summary/proposal) and pay direct via our online submission portal here
   
3. If you would prefer to send your submission via email, simply email "> with all the documents above attached. We will send you a fee quotation and our bank details. We accept postal submissions to our office, The Literary Consultancy, Free Word, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA. Please enclose a cheque made out to ‘The Literary Consultancy Ltd’ bearing the correct fee. See our Fee Structure.
   
4. If you have selected to post work and would like your manuscript returned to you, please include a SAE with sufficient postage attached. TLC cannot accept liability for loss or damage and we strongly recommend you obtain a Tracking receipt from the Post Office to ensure you can track your submissions. All MSs sent by post without a SAE will be securely recycled after 2-3 weeks.

If you are unable to use our online submission portal, or have any questions, you can email us at . If posting your work hard copy, please ensure you print and send a completed Application Form to us*

*NB You will not be redirected and do not have to print the Application Form or send it again if you have filled it out online.

Step by Step: Submission Package

1. Please download and read this guide on the new Submission Package report service before sending material in to TLC. Whilst our Manuscript Assessment service is open to all writers at any level, the Submission Package service is open only to writers who have a completed manuscript and feel ready to submit to agents or publisher.
   
2. Now you can send your work (first 8,000 words, ‘Dear Agent’ letter, and one-page synopsis) via this submission portal. If you would like to include a note with some further information about yourself, for instance outlining any submissions or feedback so far, please simply upload as an additional document through the portal.
   
3. Payment will be processed through the submission portal via the online commerce platform Stripe. If you would prefer to send a cheque made out to ‘The Literary Consultancy Ltd’, please send your submission via email or post. Please refer to our Fee Structure for full details.
   
4. If you have selected to post work and would like your manuscript returned to you, please include a SAE with sufficient postage attached. Please indicate clearly if you would prefer the copy to be returned to you ‘clean’ in case of any light annotations. All MSs sent by post without a SAE will be securely recycled after 2-3 weeks.

What to expect

Once a manuscript arrives with us at The Literary Consultancy, we will treat it with the utmost care. We will acknowledge received work via post or email. Your work will be matched to its most suitable reader from our team, and posted to them First Class at no charge. As the most firmly established literary consultancy in the UK, we have over the years built up an extensive team of 90 professional readers. Writers who use our services can feel confident that their work will be allocated to the reader who will best meet their needs.

Readers will read your manuscript thoroughly and write a detailed and constructive critique of your work, which will be sent to you within 4-6 weeks. We will confirm a likely deadline with you. We also offer a ‘quick turnaround’ service, where you will receive feedback within 7-10 working days. Please see Quick Turnaround for more details. In cases where a SAE with sufficient postage is included, your manuscript will be returned to you by your reader, after completion of the report, via their local Post Office.

We believe that each writer should be treated as an individual in relation to their own background and needs. Our manuscript assessment reports are therefore not written to fit a fixed generic formula; they are written in the most constructive manner for the writer. We offer training and guidance to all of our readers to ensure their editorial practice remains up to date. A TLC critique will generally range in length between 1,500 and 4,000 words (guideline only) depending on the material you are submitting.

We expect writers to be able to manage and accept editorial intervention in the belief that this is an important capacity for writers at any level. If you have a genuine query concerning your report please write to TLC directly at . We will forward relevant queries to your reader, and our in-house team is on hand to answer more general questions.

No initial letter or phone call is required. However, if you do wish to contact us with any queries we are available to discuss any questions or concerns you may have at any stage.

Submission Tips

Covering Letter

Your covering letter to TLC should include some brief information about what sort of manuscript it is you’re submitting (thriller, literary, fantasy, romance etc), a bit about yourself, if you have attended any writing courses and any history of previous submissions to publishers or agents. Include any specific anxiety you may have about the text itself, and if there is anything you would particularly like your reader to address or advise you on. TLC reports will include a market appraisal; please therefore indicate if you already have a particular market in mind i.e., whether you wish to submit to an agent, self-publish, if this is a personal project etc., to ensure your feedback is tailored appropriately.

Synopsis

A synopsis should provide a succinct one-page summary of the plot of the book. For detailed guidelines on how to write a synopsis, click here for an article by TLC founder Rebecca Swift, and here for an updated How to Write a Synopsis article, with top tips and a template.

Non-fiction

If you are submitting non-fiction to TLC, please include a chapter outline with your submission, and either sample chapters (for an extract assessment) or the full manuscript as per our formatting guidelines. For information on non-fiction submissions as they would be accepted by publishers, click here.