Acquisitions

Track every route to a new publishing project in Pubblish.

What is an Acquisition?

An Acquisition is any potential new project that could become a published title. It is the start of your publishing pipeline. Log every project here before you decide whether to pursue it, from unsolicited submissions to internal ideas.

Availability

Acquisitions is included with the Publisher plan only. It is not sold as an add-on.

If Acquisitions does not appear in your sidebar, your plan does not include it. To move to the Publisher plan:

  1. Click your workspace name in the header.
  2. Choose Plan & payments.
  3. Click Upgrade on the Publisher plan.

Only the owner and administrators see the Plan & payments menu item. Only the owner sees the Upgrade button. An administrator asks the owner to change the plan.

Source Types

Acquisitions can come from many sources.

External Sources

Unsolicited Submission - Authors sending manuscripts directly to you - Usually arrives via email or your submission portal

Proposal - Pitched ideas (not complete manuscripts) - Query letters - Book proposals with sample chapters

Internal Sources

Internal Idea - Your own publishing ideas - Market gaps you have identified

Solicited Work - Authors you have approached - Commissioned projects

Talent Scouting - Promising authors you have discovered - Writers you want to approach

Follow-up Work - Existing authors offering new projects - Sequel or series opportunities

Rights-Based Sources

Rights Acquisition - Purchasing rights to existing works - Foreign rights, reprint rights

Collaboration - Joint ventures - Co-publishing arrangements

Acquisition Status

Status shows where each acquisition is in your pipeline.

Status Meaning
Idea/Initial Just logged, not yet reviewed
Under Evaluation Being read and considered
Negotiating In contract discussions
Accepted Decision made to proceed
Declined Decided not to pursue
Withdrawn Submitter withdrew
On Hold Paused for later consideration

Priority Levels

Priority marks how urgent an acquisition is.

  • Low - Review when time permits
  • Normal - Standard review timeline
  • High - Prioritize this acquisition
  • Urgent - Needs immediate attention

Creating an Acquisition

For External Submissions

  1. Navigate to Acquisitions in the sidebar.
  2. Click New acquisition.
  3. Set source type to “Unsolicited Submission” or “Proposal”.
  4. Enter submitter details:
  5. First name, last name, email
  6. Add submission details:
  7. Working title
  8. Synopsis
  9. Word count
  10. Set initial status (usually “Idea/Initial”).
  11. Click Create acquisition.

For Internal Ideas

  1. Navigate to Acquisitions.
  2. Click New acquisition.
  3. Set source type to “Internal Idea”.
  4. Enter the concept:
  5. Working title
  6. Synopsis
  7. Notes (market research, comparable titles)
  8. Click Create acquisition.

Calls for Submissions

If you receive many submissions, Calls for submissions let you organize submission periods with specific requirements.

What is a Call for Submissions?

A Call for Submissions is a defined submission window with its own guidelines.

Examples: - “Open Submissions 2025” - Your general submission window - “Sci-Fi Anthology Call” - Submissions for a specific project - “Debut Author Program” - Targeting new writers

Creating a Call for Submissions

  1. Navigate to Acquisitions in the sidebar, then click the Calls for submissions button.
  2. Click New call for submissions.
  3. Under Basic information:
  4. Name - What submitters will see
  5. Status - Set Open when you are ready to accept submissions
  6. Description - Brief overview
  7. Guidelines - Detailed requirements
  8. Under Submission window:
  9. Opens - When submissions start
  10. Closes - Submission deadline
  11. Under Requirements:
  12. Min Words and Max Words - The word count range accepted
  13. Response Days - Your target for replies
  14. Requires Synopsis - Must include a synopsis
  15. Requires Bio - Must include an author bio
  16. Click Create call for submissions.

Call for Submissions Status

Status Meaning
Draft Not visible, still setting up
Open Accepting submissions
Paused Temporarily not accepting
Closed Submission window ended
Archived Completed, for records only

Public Submission Portal

Authors submit through your public submission portal. Its address is your workspace address followed by /acquisitions/submit/. Anyone can open it without signing in.

The portal lists a call for submissions only when both of these are true:

  • its status is Open
  • today falls between its open and close dates

A blank date sets no limit.

Reviewing an Acquisition

Reviews let you score an acquisition before you decide on it.

  1. Open the acquisition and click Edit.
  2. Find the Reviews section near the bottom of the form.

Each review row holds:

  • three 1-5 scores: Writing, Originality and Market Fit
  • a Recommendation
  • a Comments box

Pick a recommendation to save a new row. After that, every change saves automatically.

Add review adds your own row. Every person gets one row. The button disappears once you have reviewed. Click the bin icon to remove a row.

The scores and recommendations appear read-only on the acquisition’s detail page.

Next Steps for Accepted Acquisitions

When you accept an acquisition:

  1. Update status to Accepted.
  2. On the acquisition’s page, in the Conversion section, click Convert to manuscript to start a manuscript.
  3. Or click Convert to title to create a title if the work is ready to publish.

The buttons show only on accepted acquisitions, and only to people who can edit acquisitions. An acquisition converts once. A submission or proposal needs a submitter name or a linked Person Record before it can convert.

The acquisition record stays for your records.

Best Practices

Acquisition Management

Do: - Log all acquisitions promptly - Set realistic response deadlines - Keep submitter info accurate

Don’t: - Let acquisitions languish without status updates - Lose track of response deadlines - Delete acquisitions (decline them instead)