A WORD today to the novelists among you.
You have finished your novel; it has been acciduously checked and neatly presented. Now begins the search for a publisher.
If you have no inside knowledge or contacts in the publishing world, the first thing you should do is go into a big bookshop and hunt out all the books in your genre. Who is publishing them?
Once you have found a publisher who catches your eye, get a copy of their submission guidelines and make sure that you take the time to read them carefully.
You may have a potential best-seller on your hands but if you do not follow the publisher's specifications, your manuscript will lie untouched at the bottom of a slush pile.
Once you have read the guidelines, you are ready to work on preparing your submission.
You might need to go back and fix your spacing and indentations to accord with the publisher's specifications.
Now you need to write a query letter that introduces you as an author, your novel and your level of experience in writing. This should include a brief biography and a list of publishing credits. In the query letter, let the publisher know why your story is different, who will be your target audience and how you plan to market your novel.
The synopsis should be a two to four page summary of the story including the ending. It should be well thought out and follow your plot line from beginning to end. Often this is the first sample of writing that a publisher looks at.
You should take as much time and care with your synopsis as you would with any scene of your novel. After all, do you think a publisher is going to have confidence in the quality of your novel if you query letter and synoposis are poorly-spelt and badly-written?
Having a plan of action, should your novel get published, is an important tool of preparation for you. Let your potential publisher know how you plan to get your name out there.
Will you do book signings, contests, chats, online signings, book club readings or placement into independent bookstores? Do you have a website? Do you have any special groups that you know would be interested in this type of novel?
This is called a promotional plan and some publishers require it. Whether it is required or not, this is a good tool to develop prior to submission.
There are also a number of things that you should NOT do when submitting a manuscript.
- Never send a manuscript without a query letter or synopsis. Publishers like to get an idea of what the story is about before plunging into a novel.
- Make sure that the guidelines are followed. If the publisher specifies that all submissions should be double spaced in Times New Roman font and saved as an RTF file, do not send something that is single spaced in a gothic font saved as a PDF.
- Do not tell the publisher how wonderful your work is, or how much you think he or she will enjoy it. Stick strictly to the facts.
- Do not contact the publisher over and over again asking if they have yet read your manuscript. Most publishers will list an average response time. Only after that time has passed should you contact the publisher for an update.
- When sending off your manuscript, make sure it is appropriately labeled with your name, pen name, title of the book, word count and email address. When manuscripts are sent by email, your document is often saved in another location. This manuscript could quite possibly be passed to various staff within the company in order to find the line that best fits your title. If there is no identifying information on the manuscript itself, a publisher cannot respond to you.
Overall, when you are submitting your work, remember be professional, be kind, be respectful and be patient. The publisher is working hard to review works and put out the best quality pieces to our public. As an author, it is your job to follow some simple guidelines when submitting a manuscript in order to allow the process to go smoothly and your work to be accepted.
Posts
