Resource
What we look for
The four qualities every editor at Prestige reads for.
Our editors read for four qualities. None of them are about market trends. All of them, in our experience, are what makes a book outlast its first season.
1. A voice we recognise
Within the first page, we want to feel that no one else could have written this. Voice is not style; it is the quality of attention a writer brings to their material.
2. A reason to exist
What does this book say that no one else has said quite like this? We are wary of books written to fill a perceived gap. We are drawn to books written because the writer could not leave the subject alone.
3. Craft
Form matters. We notice the writer's command of sentence, structure, scene and silence. Craft is not polish; it is the evidence of thought.
4. A reader we can imagine
We do not chase audiences; we recognise them. The strongest proposals come with a clear sense of who this book is for — even when the writer cannot quite name them yet.
If your book carries even two of these qualities, send it. We would rather read it than not.
Letters from the editors