Yep, it appears so. While the publishing giant Penguin UK is normally not open to unsolicited or unagented manuscripts it has decided that for a limited time (August - October) they'll be accepting email submissions.
See what they've got to say here(NOTE: It appears in the few hours I wrote the original and the time I'm writing this now, they've changed their site. I do NOT know what this means. However, I would still carry on as normal and if you were planning on querying, keep querying. The worst they can tell you is they've changed their mind. However, I do apologize for the inconvenience.)
People frequently ask us how to go about getting published. Our company policy is to not accept unsolicited manuscripts or synopses and we cannot enter into correspondence about unpublished work. However, for a limited three-month period from the beginning of August until the end of October 2010, we will be inviting submissions to be sent in electronically to the following address: submissions@uk.penguingroup.com.
We ask that email submissions comprise a brief covering note and synopsis and not a full manuscripts. Please do not send attachments, please write out your cover note and synopsis in the body of the email. We remain unable to accept hard copy submissions and will not return or be responsible for the safety of any that we do receive, so please do not send any original or hard copy manuscripts to us. We will not contact you with feedback on your submission and will only enter into email correspondence with you if an editor within Penguin is keen to progress your idea.
And people were saying that publishing was dying. Obviously not if one of the biggest publishers in the world is ACTIVELY looking for new authors.
So, if you've got that manuscript ready this may be your opportunity to really shine, but don't just toss together a synopsis and the first three chapters. Don't rush! You have until the end of October to get them that manuscript. Give them, and your fellow authors, a break by making sure that manuscript is FINISHED and polished before sending it off. And follow all guidelines.
And don't forget to sign up to win a copy of MOCKINGJAY here. Contest ends at midnight.
