Wow, you’re ready to submit – exciting times!
Publisher or Agent?
First you need to decide if you’re going to try to get an
Agent, or go straight for a publisher. The advantage of having an agent is that
they already know the publishers, and are more likely to get your manuscript
looked at with a sympathetic eye – or at all.
The advantage of going direct to the publisher is that you
potentially cut out the cost of an
agent, but then again, without an agent to negotiate on your behalf you may not
get such a good deal in the first place.
Our preference is to find an agent, but the choice is yours.
For brevity purposes we will only use the term agent below,
but you can replace with publisher if you wish.
Make a shortlist of literary agents
Find a list of agents (UK = The Writers and Artists
Yearbook, US = http://www.agentquery.com/),
then make a list of about twenty that are the correct genre for you and are
accepting submissions.
This is your submission list. Sort the list into order
by favourite.
Format your manuscript right
In general your manuscript should usually be in Courier New,
with double spacing, page numbers and your contact details in the header or
footer of each page. However, check the each agent’s guidelines and follow them
TO THE LETTER.
If you can’t be bothered to take the time to follow the
guidelines provided by a (very busy) literary agent, don’t expect them to
bother taking the time to read your manuscript.
Write a great covering letter
Introduce yourself, include the title of your book, genre,
word count (to the nearest thousand) and target audience. Include a paragraph
with relevant information about yourself, including any previous relevant
publications and writing competition wins.
Be polite and confident, don’t mention that your
mum/mate/partner/hamster thinks your book is much better than most of the stuff
in Waterstones, don’t say that you know it has problems but you’re hoping
they’ll give you some feedback. They won’t.
Write a great synopsis
Apparently this is one of the most hated of tasks by most
novelists, who complain that the complexities of their novel can’t be defined
in a single page, or even paragraph. Luckily for you, yours is already
practically done if you’ve followed the steps – it’s the short synopsis that
you wrote all that time ago.
Go and find it and tweak it, ensuring it hints at delicious
detail and flows compellingly. Don’t worry about giving the ending away –
you’re going to have to give it away to an agent, otherwise they won’t believe
that you’ve got a decent one.
If you haven’t followed the novel formula steps, then you’re
going to have to do it the hard way.
Make sure the book is ready
At this stage, it’s easy to get over-excited about being
able to see the finish line and rush into submitting.
But you mustn’t send your manuscript until you’re sure it’s
the best it can be. If there are spelling or grammar mistakes on the first few
pages, or obvious amateur mistakes, you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot.
Read it. Proofread it. Get your writing group to proof read
it (or at the very least the first few chapters). Read it again.
FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES
This really can’t be emphasised enough. So much so that this
whole paragraph should probably be in capitals. Over and over, agents say that
they are amazed by the number of people who submit novels to them when they
clearly haven’t read the agent’s website or their guidelines. They are there
for a reason, and submissions that don’t follow them will almost certainly be
binned outright.
Once you’ve got all the above sorted, start submitting!
Submit to about three at a time (unless the guidelines of the agent forbid it,
or unless you won’t be able to take that many rejections at one) and don’t give
up or consider a rewrite until you’ve submitted to all twenty on your
shortlist.
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