Re
submissions: I used to observe the one publisher at a time "rule" but
most publishers these days take months and months to respond to unsolicited manuscripts,
even from writers in their "stables". For this reason, it has become
necessary nowadays for writers to devise different submission strategies.
Depending on the manuscript, and the publisher, this is my approach:
1.
If the manuscript is likely to be awkward to place, (because there are only a
few publishers for that genre), I submit to one publisher at a time, expressing
an exclusivity period - that is, "You have exclusive rights to assess this
manuscript for the next eight weeks, until 3 December, 2013, after which time I
will submit it elsewhere if you have not expressed interest"
Re
multiple submissions, if there are more than one publisher who want to
contract, this is cause for celebration, and thus one can "auction"
the work to the publisher offering the best contractual deal.
3.
With regards to non-fiction, I never write the book then seek the publisher.
What I do instead is to create a publishing proposal which supplies the reasons
why the book (or series) will make lots of money. Publishers exist to make
money, and books are their product, so if you can shine the light on their
potential profits, they are sure to be interested. Generally I submit proposals
to 2-3 publishers at a time (basically because I don't want too many to know
about my new book concept.)
Manuscript
submission
The
manuscript “musts”
As a manuscript assessor, I have been surprised by the
high number of writers who send manuscripts to me without observing many of the
submission “musts”. First, all manuscript pages should be numbered. The
manuscript itself should be typed in double-space with paragraphs indented (not
left-aligned). All manuscripts should be prefaced with a title page. This page
requires the following information: story title, number of words, author’s name
(including © sign), the authors contact details, including postal address,
phone number and email. If you have a website, include this as well.
The cover
letter
Your manuscript should be accompanied by a cover
letter. This should be a simple introduction to the editor explaining what you
are enclosing. If you have previously published, give brief details of what,
where and when. (I include a separate sheet listing my 80+ book titles and
publishing information.) If your work requires specialist information which you
have, then disclose this (for example, you were a jockey and have written a
book on horse racing.)
It is generally understood that the writer should
enclose a stamped, self-address envelope for reply. As postage is expensive,
however, I ask the publisher not to return the manuscript; instead, I enclose a
ssae (with required, minimum postage) so the publisher can respond. I also
suggest that the publisher might like to email or phone his or her acceptance
or rejection of my work. Generally, I’ve found that publishers accepting my
work prefer to phone me, while the ssae usually includes a “no thank you”
response.
You should never expect a publisher to tell you why
your work is being rejected: that is not his job. If a publisher does go to the
trouble of expressing some interest, or in commenting on your work, then you
can be reasonably certain that there is some interest in it. You can either ignore
the comments or submit elsewhere, or you can respond to the comments by
re-writing and re-submitting. When you re-submit, address your envelope and
letter to the editor whose comments you received and remind her that you have
taken her comments on board and are re-submitting.
By the way, if you want comments on your work, pay for
a professional manuscript assessment.
The
précis
Sometimes publishers ask for a précis of the submitted novel. A précis is
really an abbreviated version of what your book is about. For some reason, many
writers found it really difficult to write. The main thing is to keep your
precise short and simple. Never write more than a page or two. Write it as
though you are telling a friend what your book is generally about. You don’t need
to go into details: tell who your main character is, what motivates him, why he
can’t get what he wants or needs, how he acts in order to overcome the
obstacle, and whether or not he succeeds.
Manuscript
rejection
It will help you if you know that every writer –
even the most famous – has had his or her work rejected at some time. For
reasons which you have no control over, you can have written a simply brilliant
novel and still have it rejected. You may have sent it to the wrong publishing
house, it may have been returned unread, the reader might be incompetent, the
publisher may be over-extended and unable to accept more manuscripts, and so
on.
- Did
you target the wrong market?
- Did
you submit a story that is the wrong length?
- Does
your story need further polishing?
- Does
the plot need work?
- Do
the characters need work?
- Do
you need to contact (or start) a writing group to help you work out what
you might be doing wrong?
- Do
you need feedback from a critique service?
At one time in my writing career, I had 47 consecutive rejections of submitted manuscripts. That same year, however, I had seven acceptances! And remember, I have now had over 110 books published, so I must be doing something right (yes, Di – it’s called persevering.)
Di's latest book is The Girl in the Basement (Morris Publishing Australia) available at Amazon
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