Ideally your proposal should contain a detailed synopsis and chapter outline with two sample chapters in case of novels and other narrative non-fiction. For short stories and poems you should send in five sample stories and/or poems.

Penguin India receives over 500 proposals and manuscripts every year. We value all submissions and each proposal is given the same diligent attention by our qualified and experienced editorial team. There is thus no need to come in personally to deliver your proposal. In case you should decide nonetheless to come in personally, you are requested to hand over your written proposal at the reception.

At the initial stage, sending a complete manuscript is not required. The publishing potential of a book is evaluated based on a proposal outlining in detail the structure/literary style, contents, potential readership and market.

The detailed process of evaluation takes six months and during this time we unfortunately will be unable to respond to any queries either by phone, fax, email or in person. The decision is communicated at the end of this period. Penguin Books India is not obligated to assign any reason if your proposal/manuscript does not suit our publishing programme.

Terms and conditions pertaining to royalties, territories, number of copies, distribution network—these are all decisions which are taken only on final acceptance of a book for publication. Should your manuscript be accepted, these will be automatically discussed at that time. Queries pertaining to these at the time of submitting your proposal or during the evaluation process are premature.

You are free to submit your proposal simultaneously to us and to others. We would however request you to inform us of the same. We would also request you to inform us as soon as your manuscript has been accepted for publication by someone else so that we may stop evaluation of your proposal.

Should we ask for your manuscript after preliminary evaluation is completed, please do not submit it to us if you have already submitted it to another publishing house in the meantime until you have heard from them or informed them that you are withdrawing your submission. Similarly, we would request you not to submit your manuscript for evaluation elsewhere during the process of detailed evaluation by Penguin India. You are free to ask us to stop evaluation of your manuscript at any stage before we have communicated our decision.