Editorial Guidelines for submitting editions to Saraband Music
Saraband Music does accept high quality editions of music and books from editors and authors. Guidelines for these are set out below, and must be followed. Unsolicited manuscripts will be returned (possibly unread), or where very heavy, may be collected or returned at the sender's expense.
1. All submissions must be preceded by a preliminary email or phone call. Please do NOT send unsolicited manuscripts, and do NOT send any attachments to your preliminary email. NO email that includes any unrequested attachment will be read or answered. There are no exceptions to this whatsoever.
2. All submissions must match Saraband Music's specialisation: ie. mediaeval, renaissance or baroque music. In some cases, early classical music will be considered. No other music will be considered at this time.
3. It is most important for the editor to ascertain whether there are any competing editions available for sale. Saraband Music is particularly interested in first editions, and in editions which substantially improve on any rotten editions which are available. If there is a good edition of your work currently in the market, then Saraband Music will not publish another edition. Check with music shops, library catalogues, internet, other scholars before approaching Saraband Music.
4. If you are basing your edition on library manuscripts or any material which may be under copyright, all permissions must be sought and granted before Saraband Music is approached, and acknowledged in the introduction. Some libraries require a number of free copies in return. Saraband Music needs to know this prior to approval of your project.
5. Submissions can be either editions of sheet music, or books which contribute substantially to scholarship in a particular field, such as theses or translations. In the case of theses, some preliminary editing may be necessary to ensure readability by a musically informed "general public". Deep specialist knowledge should not be a prerequisite to understanding your material. If it is, then please rewrite or explain before submission.
6. All sheet music should be presented with a 1 page scholarly (but very readable) introduction which sets the edition in a historical context. Where necessary, a critical commentary (in readable table format), and texts/translations should be presented as well. Any controversial material should be justified in the introduction (with sources). Remember that the purchaser of your edition is likely to be an amateur musician, teacher or student. Jargon will not be published.
8. The editor/author is responsible for all proofreading, which should be diligently carried out. In the case of sheet music, you should organise a friend to play through the music for you, or read your material.
9. Editors should have strong tertiary qualifications in music: eg. B.Mus Honours, M.Mus, PhD etc. Some exceptions to this rule may be allowed, particularly where there are strong references presented from specialists in the field. See also the Cadet Publishing Program page for related guidelines.
10. Music may be presented as NEAT hand copies for typesetting, or camera-ready copy. Where the latter is available, some alterations may be required to fit Saraband Music's high standards of presentation. Files in Encore v.4, and Sibelius (recent version) are acceptable on PC disk. No Mac files please. A hard copy should accompany your disk. If hand-written manuscripts are not easily legible, then I may refuse to publish from them, as it wastes valuable time.
11. No specific guarantee on timing of publication will be given, though a rough estimate may be available. Saraband Music prefers not to accept too many manuscripts at once, and as publishing is a secondary task to the retail operations, there can be delays.
12. Where I feel that I do not have the competence to assess a manuscript, work may be shown to experts in the field, who will also be asked if there are comparable works available which may diminish the sales of your edition.
13. Editors are strongly advised to look at Saraband Music's editions to assess style and presentation.
14. At present, Saraband Music is mainly accepting submissions from Australian musicologists and editors, however, this policy is not exclusive, and editors from other countries may make enquiries. However, preference will generally be given to Australians because Saraband Music is the only exclusive early music publisher in this country. Editors in the U.S. and Europe have more choice in choosing to whom they submit their editions.
After publication of your edition, your biographical details are put on the editors' page of the Saraband Music website.
Conditions of contract (sheet music):
Prior to printing, a contract will be issued by Saraband Music. The contract was loosely based on an Australian Society of Authors' contract. The contract has a number of conditions; here are a few:
The editor warrants that they have full copyright in the edition, and that the edition does not infringe any other copyright. The editor retains copyright in their edition.
The editor will receive 10% royalties of all copies sold at 50% or greater of the set price after the 12th copy is sold.
The editor will receive 4 free copies on publication, and may purchase further copies of their edition at a 10% discount.
A different contract is used for books, and conditions differ slightly, particularly where multiple authors/translators etc. are concerned.