Gardenia Press. They read for free or offer a ton of services. The only criteria is Unpublished Novelist. The definition for Unpublished is at their Website.

And that publisher would be?

There is only one honest to goodness publisher who cares about the unpublished author.

Well, you're certainly right that the writer's life is one of astonishing uncertainty. Teresa has pointed out that professional writers tend to be superstitious in the same way fishermen are, and for the same reasons; so much that's critical to their livelihood is entirely out of their control.

I don't blame your knee for jerking. I'm just struck by the fact that, as you yourself pointed out, HarperCollins already had a no-unsolicited-manuscripts policy -- so there was never really any guarantee that an unsolicited submission would be considered.

Your larger point, that we mustn't allow fear to cause all kinds of needful commerce and communication to grind to a halt, is of course absolutely correct.

And I've made some changes to the blog entry to reflect my reconsideration. Thanks.

Point well taken, Patrick. I was just thinking it through and seeing something like this:

* I send an editor a manuscript

* Because it's addressed to an editor and has a return address, the editor gets it delivered to her desk

* The editor tosses the manuscript because she's worried about anthrax.
* I send a query letter six months later, and the situation is repeated.
* I send another query twelve weeks later and the situation is repeated.
* Twelve weeks later, I send a withdrawal letter (which is tossed) and put the ms back in the mail, having waited fifteen months for some response -- any response -- from HC, and not having received any.

So my knee set to jerking. As you say, the life of unpublished novelist is very, very anxious. As possibly the *least* patient human being on the planet, the waiting inherent in the publishing process has been a perpetual bit of sand in my Vaseline (instant gratification is why I love blogging so much).

But you're right -- this probably *does* revolve around fear rather than caprice. Never attribute to malice that which can be ascribed to terror, I suppose.

Speaking as a book editor at a publishing company that does read unsolicited manuscripts and hasn't stopped opening the mail, I wouldn't be anywhere near so quick to conclude that anybody is looking for "excuses." Does it not seem to you that the people making these decisions might simply be, you know, afraid?

There are certainly grounds on which to criticize HarperCollins's decision here, but asserting that it's primarily motivated by a desire to find an "excuse" is kind of over-the-top. HarperCollins already doesn't look at unsolicited manuscripts; they don't need an "excuse," even if you really think they're primarily motivated by a desire to contrive excuses to screw aspiring writers.

It seems to me that the life of hopeful unpublished novelists is a hard and anxious one; and so are the lives of underpaid editorial assistants and mailroom clerks. And there's plenty of actual bad faith in the entertainment industry; we don't need to portray what is probably simple, honest-to-god fear as an exercise in mendacity.