Sending multiple submissions at the same time

There's a correct answer and a practical answer.

First, irregardless of your approach, the process is likely to take years. Patience and Persistence are required in superhuman amounts for the publishing process. This isn't really in response to your question, it's just important to know how important it is. If a publisher doesn't take simultaneous submissions, and they like your game, and you get it picked up by someone else, it's likely to sour your relation with that publisher a little bit.

However, you have to ask yourself, if you get your game published by one publisher, are you going to be concerned with how a different publisher feels? This is actually a legitimate question. You don't want to sacrifice Days of Wonder for Paul's Discount Game Makerz (or whatever), but it might be fine for you to risk your game against Fantasy Flight. I think most designers would be happy with one or the other at the expense of both. Plus if you develop a successful track record of games, I think most companies wold overlook that you had once sent a simultaneous submission.

The practical answer, however, is that most companies will reject you, most companies will reject you without even telling you. Most companies reject everyone, from the very best to the very worst. The top designers in the world get rejected all of the time. Most of the historic "great games" were rejected out of hand and only published when the designer did it themselves. In the face of the staggering probability stacked against game designers, I think the issue of getting two acceptance letters is a rare and minor problem.

It's not pessimistic, and you should never stop trying. You have an awesome game! It jut needs to hit the right company and the right moment under the right circumstances; it's just unlikely to happen twice within a short period of time.

"Submission" means "prototype", I believe.

Yes, there are publishers who want a prototype exclusively, and it is extremely difficult to wait while they test it. 4 months is actually not that long--oftentimes it can be a year. You can negotiate this just like you can with a contract. My advice, however, would be to be open and honest. The gaming hobby is a small one, and any deceptive behavior on your part might cause you problems later. Unless, of course, you only plan to publish one game in your life, or you plan to stick with one publisher.

Either way, I believe in conducting my business ethically, even if that doesn't reflect the world in which we live.

I always look at my goals with the game: if I want it published by Publisher X, who wants to test it exclusively, and has the widest distribution and best reputation for this market, then I should do it and be patient. Or I can "go fishing" with all the publishers who don't need prototypes exclusively and see if any of those "bite."

Either way, waiting is the hardest part. But it's not unprofessional to ask about the game's status every 3 months or so, and to ask about their playtesting schedule, although this can be delayed--after all, they have a lot of other business to do besides testing prototypes. Some companies, however, have specific times of year in which they test games (or certain types of games).

Good luck!

MondaysHero raises excellent points. I recall another forum thread about a book publisher desiring to enter the game market. A few of the same conventions do apply. Although less often a significant consideration in the game market, book publishers evaluate the future potential of an author. Content is important but less critical. Books can be substantially rewritten while in edit. Unless extraordinary, a single book or game typically has a finite life cycle. It may be sold for many years but usually has only one peak. Book publishers leverage the potential of the author becoming popular and introducing a stream of new works. Risk is high and profit too low to bank on a one hit wonder. Acquiring a publisher is difficult, even more so without demonstrating long-term potential.

This does tend to be less of a factor with hobby game publishers. The objective is often expanding their line instead of leveraging the potential success of individual designers. Listing all of your games will demonstrate commitment and a progression of expertise. A publisher requesting an exclusive submission doesn’t sound fair. There is no obligation on their part and doing so can be detrimental to the designer. Other games are published during the interim, very likely impacting the demand for certain themes.

Common for most industries, exclusivity is secured by contract and mutual agreement. It certainly isn’t the case that publishers exclusively review one game at a time before accepting another submission. Indicative of a highly competitive market, publishers such as these desire an edge at the expense of the designer. They could at least offer a preliminary review in a timely manner, 30-days for example, and provide a letter of intent if an exclusive detailed review is desired. Don’t discount the value of publishers that impose restrictions. Pursuing those without limitations first may prove to be a better choice.

http://www.giggleboxgames.com

I ask that game submissions be exclusive, but if not to explain why.

I'm small, so I'm going to be a lot more flexible than larger publishers, but I would say this. I wouldn't have an issue with you submitting your game to multiple publishers. Where I would get irked is if you gave me a prototype to test out and had done the same with another publisher.

Playtesting a game is a lot of work. You have to figure out if there is something here, and if so how much work it needs. I've got probably 6 submissions on my desk, and so far only one jumped out at me so much that I grabbed it quickly. The rest are in various stages of testing.

And if testing goes well with one, then I have to start doing serious up front marketing research and work. I can't just decide to publish a game because I think it's fun. I need to think of theme, placement, marketing push, potential sales vs cost of print and start looking at ways to either cut production cost or ad value.

Then there is the process of putting out feelers for quotes from manufacturing. I can't very well sign a game unless I have an idea of how much it would cost to print vs what I think I could sell the game for.

So, I would say you are fine submitting the game to several publishers, but if you are sending out multiple play test copies, you need to tell them and you should be open before they poor weeks worth of work into a game only to have it yanked.

Just my .02