Submitting to publishers without an agent.

Most large trade imprints accept submissions only through agents. Independents, regional presses, university presses and specialist non-fiction publishers often do not, and several run open reading periods once or twice a year.

That distinction decides your route. Approaching a closed imprint directly wastes a submission slot; approaching an open one before it opens does the same.

Read the last two seasons of a publisher's catalogue. If nothing there shares a readership with your book, the fit is wrong however much you admire the house.

Note the physical shape of their books too — length, format, series, price point. A 190,000-word manuscript rarely fits a press that publishes slim paperbacks.

Open windows are usually short and announced in advance. Prepare the full package before the window opens rather than assembling it while the queue fills.

Some presses cap the number of submissions they will read. Early in a window is genuinely better than late in one.

Fiction submissions are usually a covering letter, synopsis and sample chapters. Non-fiction is a proposal: the argument, the chapter outline, the readership, the comparable titles, and why you are the person writing it.

Keep the tone of the proposal close to the tone of the book. Editors read it as a writing sample whether or not it is labelled as one.

Look at the rights granted, the term, the territory, the royalty rates on each format, the advance schedule, and the reversion clause. A contract without a clear reversion clause can leave a book stranded.

If you are offered a deal without an agent, this is the point at which independent legal advice is worth its cost. We can explain what a clause does; we do not negotiate on your behalf.

A traditional publisher pays the author. If a company asks for a contribution toward printing, marketing or 'production partnership', you are looking at a paid service, which may still be a reasonable choice — but price it as one.

Compare the total cost against hiring an editor, a designer and a distributor yourself. Often the independent route is cheaper and leaves you holding more rights.