Irish publisher takes stand against sexist ‘Dear Sirs’ submissions

Independent Irish publisher Tramp Press is taking a stand against sexism in the industry by refusing to accept submissions that begin with "Dear Sirs."

They also will not consider the work of anyone who cites male influences only. The company's founders Sarah Davis-Goff and Lisa Coen issued a statement today saying that they had updated their manuscript submission guidelines. In a thread on Twitter, they said that although many men claim that there is no sexism in their industry, they have experienced it a lot, "being dreaded women." So, they said they would no longer be considering work from people who did either of the following:

1. Addressing us as 'Dear Sirs' and 2. sending us a cover letter in which they declare they do not read books by women.

— Tramp Press (@TrampPress) September 26, 2017

Davis-Goff and Coen went on to say that the decision was a "big deal" for them as they always tried to keep the "slush pile" open in case they missed out on a great submission. However, they said that this was never the case.

"It turns out that while overtly sexist authors send us a lot of work (a lot), they have never sent us anything we've wanted to publish. Not in over four years at Tramp, nor in our past publishing lives."

The thread ended by saying that people needed to stop thinking there are "no consequences to being sexist."

So as of today, sexists need not apply. Check out our website for more information: https://t.co/ktRFxkeI3C pic.twitter.com/MQDZmUDL0p

— Tramp Press (@TrampPress) September 26, 2017

Feature image via Instagram