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Submission Guidelines
Submission Guidelines

Submissions

Our Submissions window is from the 1st to the 7th monthly.

Please note that Hannah is open in May but will then remain closed until September 1st. Louise is not opening in May but will reopen in June.

When we are open, please use the form which will appear below to submit your work (if you don’t see it and we’re in the submission window try clearing your cache).

In the meantime, please read through our guidelines and wish lists so that you can prepare your submission.

We ask for a cover letter, the first three chapters of your manuscript and a synopsis. For non-fiction you’ll need a cover letter, a proposal and sample chapters as well as an overview of your book. You might find this information on preparing for submission in our resources section useful.

 

Submission Guidelines for HS-LA

There is nothing more exciting than finding a new author to join the agency. Please use the form below to send us your submission.

You can find information about Hannah and Louise and what we’re looking for on our about pages so that you can decide where to direct your submission.

We understand there is a small amount of crossover and it may be tricky to decide which of us to send to. In those cases, please send to one of us initially, but should your first submission result in a pass you’re welcome to resubmit to the other.

We endeavour to respond to all submissions in a timely fashion but never mind a gentle nudge after 8 weeks if you haven’t heard from us. You might find it useful to read this explanation about response times from Hannah.

HS-LA does not represent: Short Story Collections, Novellas, Poetry, Screenplays

Please do not send submissions by post. These will not be read.

Please do not submit work that has been written using AI.

 

HS-LA Author Extras

When you join our client list you get access to our HS-LA author group on Discord where you’ll find advice about what to expect as you move towards publishing your novel and beyond, moral support, a fantastic community of authors to help you find your feet and a forum to ask anything you’re not sure about. We will make ourselves available in the forum regularly.

Read more about our promises to authors here.

Are you using a screen reader?

We’re aware the form below doesn’t interact well with some screen readers so there’s a version of the form here which we hope will work better for you.

Submissions Form

"*" indicates required fields

Please only submit one book at a time rather than sending several submissions. We will only look at the first submission to arrive.

When copying and pasting your letter, sample and synopsis - this is the text inside your document rather than trying to copy and paste the file itself.

We will endeavour to respond to your submission within 8 weeks but please let us know if you're having a meeting with another agency and you haven’t yet heard back.

If you are unable to use the form to send your submission, please use the contact form to send your cover letter and an explanation of why the submission form isn’t suitable. If your book sounds like a good fit for us we’ll be in touch with alternative submission details.

We'd prefer the name you'd like us to use in communication, rather than any intended pseudonym - we are starting a professional relationship with you and will need your name for legal documents
Please double check this!
It's helpful for us to know what country you live in

Please select below

Please copy and paste the text of your cover letter here. It's really helpful if this includes: Information about the book - title, genre/age range and word count as well as a pitch line and blurb. An idea of who your target audience is and where this sits in the market - what books are your ideal readers currently reading? Information about you and why you think we'd be a good fit with each other.
Please copy and paste the text of your first three chapters here. If you're writing non-fiction then add your full proposal and sample chapters here.
Please copy and paste the text of your synopsis here. This should be one page of A4 and give an overview of the emotional journey of your protagonist - please include spoilers here, this is a sense check for us to understand the full plot. For Non-Fiction just give us an overview of your book.

Original Work*
I confirm that I am the author of the work I am submitting. It is original to me and does not contain material generated by AI (this includes your cover letter and synopsis). Please click 'Cannot Confirm' if you've used AI in any aspect of your submission so that we can discuss this with you further.

You will receive a confirmation email with all the information you sent - please check your junk folder if you don't see this. Please forward this email to the agent you've queried on the address included in the confirmation if you need to update us about meetings with another agency or offers of representation.