Do you notify a writer when their sample chapters are refused? Should we assume anything submitted prior to 4/30 is rejected? What is the process?
If you are a US-based author and you submit your sample chapter with an SASE, then we will certainly let you know if passed on your material. If you've ordered Express Review™, you'll get a written response within the agreed-upon time period. If you've just submitted the sample chapter, you'll either get a written response or a form notecard. We can't respond specifically to every submission, but we do respond to some if we feel we have something helpful to pass along in terms of feedback.
If you are a US-based author and you do not include an SASE, you will not hear from us unless we are interested in reading more or offering you representation. But please do not take this to mean you should skip the SASE and wait to hear and presume we are passing if you haven't heard. It sometimes takes a long time to read things and you could presume we have passed and we have not. Toss in the SASE and then you'll know for sure one way or another.
If you are author based outside of the US, then all you need to do is provide a valid email address for a response. We do it this way to avoid all of those pesky International Reply Coupons and because we know it's a drag for authors to have to provide those.
As for the date, it looks like our oldest sample chapter is dated 4/22. And it does appear that we have declined or already asked for more on anything older.
Hope this helps!
Z
