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.

Pitches, Pitfalls, and Plotting - Four Authors Talk About How They Got Published

Lincoln Michel recently posted an interview with four authors about how they got published.

Everyone's story is different, of course, but Michel's questions, thankfully, went beyond the "rags to riches" myth.

Rarely do interviewers get down to the nitty gritty, but in this interview Michel asks the 64 million dollar question: "How has your pitch changed?"

Your pitch is unquestionably the most important piece of writing you will do after you finish your book. (Even if your pitch is meant to be delivered orally, write it down.) But, for some reason, writers always have a terrible time answering the simple question: What's your book about?

Scott Cheshire, like most authors, struggled with his pitch until someone wisely said, "Don’t worry about plot, what’s the book about for you?"

Unless you can convey what your book means - to you - nobody will give you the time of day. After all, if you wrote it, you must have had something important to say. Now is the time to figure out what that is - before you start pitching.

For some useful tips on how to make a memorable pitch see:

What's Your Book About? How to Make a Pitch
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How To Get Published

By Lincoln Michel, Buzzfeed: June 12, 2014

Probably the most annoying thing a writer ever has to do is “the elevator pitch.” Naturally, I thought I’d start off asking you all to summarize your novels. But I’m also interested in knowing how your “pitch” changed. Is your summary the same as it was when you pitched to agents and editors? Or to when you started the project?

Scott Cheshire: First of all, I can’t think of the last time I was in an elevator and spoke with someone else. It’s usually a quiet awkward affair. Or maybe that’s just me. And yes it’s annoying, but also, as you imply, unavoidable. It’s a crass way to put what is actually a welcome and understandable request: So, what’s your book about? Tell me. Please. But also don’t take up too much of my time… For some people, I imagine, hearing what someone’s novel is about is up there with hearing about a “crazy” dream, or hearing a joke from someone who is just not good at telling jokes. So I think it’s a good thing, really, to figure out how to tell people about your book, in a way that respects their time and relative interest.

All of that said, I used to make the typical attempts, torturously condensed plot summaries, or ridiculous “comparison title” mash-ups (if Cormac McCarthy’s The Road made love to The Moviegoer, while Creedence Clearwater played on the jukebox, my book would be that baby), but then one day someone wisely said to me: don’t worry about plot, what’s the book about for you? My response was something like this: It’s 1980, in Queens, New York, and a 12-year-old boy preacher named Josiah is about to deliver his first sermon to thousands of people. During the sermon he has “a vision”: The world will end in the year 2000. Fast forward to 2007, and Josiah, now a grown man, is having a terrible year — his mother has died, his wife has left him, his business is failing, and his father is losing his mind. In other words, the world is fine, but Josiah’s world has gone to shit.

Read the rest of this enlightening interview here.