Publisher Allen & Unwin Accepting Unsolicited Submissions

Updated 11/10/24

Allen & Unwin is an independent Australian publishing company established in 1976 as a subsidiary of the British firm George Allen & Unwin Ltd., one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century.

After the HarperCollins buyout of George Allen & Unwin Ltd. in 1990, Allen & Unwin became an independent publisher. It currently publishes up to 250 new titles a year, including literary and commercial fiction, a broad range of general non fiction, academic and professional titles and books for children and young adults.

Although Allen & Unwin primarily distributes its titles in Australia and New Zealand, it has international distribution channels in the UK, the US, Asia, and South Africa. Please only apply to the Friday Pitch if you are currently living in Australia or New Zealand or have a connection to Australia or New Zealand.

Authors report good experiences with Allen & Unwin. They are responsive to their authors, and have a hands-on, personalized approach.

Despite its name, the Friday Pitch is open all week.

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From the website:

THE FRIDAY PITCH

Allen & Unwin know how difficult it can be for writers to get their work in front of publishers, which is why we’ve been running our innovative and pioneering Friday Pitch service for the last 6 years. Through Friday Pitch we have given new and emerging writers a chance to have their work read by our publishers within a reasonable time.

ALL adult submissions – both fiction, non-fiction, and illustrated – to Allen & Unwin (including Murdoch Books) should now come via Friday Pitch. To do this, email us a short synopsis or outline of your chapters and contents, and the first chapter of your work and related illustrations if relevant. If we like what we read, and want to read more, we will get back to you within a fortnight.

Friday Pitch has discovered several bestselling authors, including Fleur McDonald, the author of Red Dust and Blue Skies; Helen Brown, whose book Cleo has sold throughout the world and is currently being made into a film; and Mary Groves, author of An Outback Life.

PLEASE NOTE: The Friday Pitch service is now open to writers for children and young adults.

Knowing it’s important to authors to have their manuscripts read as quickly as possible, ALL unsolicited adult fiction, non-fiction, illustrated, children's and YA submissions to Allen and Unwin must be sent electronically to The Friday Pitch.

So what should you send? It’s simple: copy and paste the relevant title information sheet  into the body of your email, and fill in the gaps. Then attach the FIRST chapter or section of your manuscript and a short synopsis (of no more than 300 words) or an outline of your chapters and contents as separate Word documents (please, no PDF documents unless your submission is for an illustrated book).

Our title information sheet is designed to ensure your manuscript is assessed quickly by the appropriate department in-house. You can assist us with this by using the subject line of your email to tell us whether your book is literary fiction, commercial fiction or non-fiction or illustrated, and what genre or subject it deals with in that category.

See guidelines HERE.