It is possible that this information will come as a surprise to you, but around half of the authors who email me their manuscripts to send to urban book publishers or book publishing companies make basic errors that significantly reduce the likelihood that their work will be published. This is the motivation behind why I decided to write a book about submitting a manuscript to a publisher.
1. Find out what you can about agents and publishers.
The majority of the time, literary agents and publishers will complain that authors do not conduct sufficient study prior to putting in their work. If you want to improve your manuscript, you must first determine who you are writing for. Here are some suggestions to help you get started in the right direction.
In the publishing industry, the only way to get things done is through personal networking. Joining a writing community, where you can pick up pointers on how to improve your writing and how to have it published, is one option for accomplishing this goal.
You should also try to attend a literary festival or workshop if you have the opportunity. There are many that offer seminars by agents and publishing industry professionals on how to achieve success in traditional publishing, and in certain cases, you may even have the opportunity to speak with agents one-on-one.
You have now completed your research and have a significant amount of industry knowledge. You might even be able to rattle off the names of a few agents or publishers off the top of your head. Therefore, what should we do next?
2. Make a plan to keep track of the manuscripts sent in.
If you haven’t already done so, now is a good time to begin compiling a longlist of all of the publishing houses and literary agents that you believe might be a suitable fit for the novel you’ve written.
You don’t have to be as selective as you may think with your longlist, as the name suggests. You shouldn’t be afraid to jot down the names of every literary agency and publishing house that piques your attention. It is preferable to begin with a large number of possibilities and then filter them down later rather than to be overly picky at this stage and end up with no viable choices.
Make sure that you are not forgetting any vital facts as you move on. This should contain links to their websites, brief remarks about why you were interested in each possibility (for example, “they represent authors like me”), and directions on how to send them a manuscript. When I am going through this process, I find that it is easiest for me to utilise a spreadsheet because it not only helps me keep track of my notes but also can be readily modified to keep track of my submissions and responses.
3. Make a short list of places to send your book.
Once you have your longlist organised, you should send your book to between five and six potential publishers at a time. This should be done as soon as possible after you have completed your longlist. However, before you start reaching out to other people, you should give some more attention to the initial few choices you have.
For example, you may have put at the top of your list the task of contacting your “dream” agents and publishers, regardless of the number of other authors they already represent. You may have done this in order to ensure that your work receives the attention it deserves. You should not, by any means, reject prospects simply due to the fact that they have a high degree of competition; nevertheless, you might want to move a few “reach” targets down on your list in order to maximise the probability that the target will respond to your initial round of submissions.
4. Write custom queries based on what the website says to do.
Just take a moment to consider the items on your short list. You need to conduct additional research despite the fact that you have already done quite a lot of it.
If you haven’t previously, you should read at least two books written by each of your top candidates. After that, investigate their Twitter profiles and any Manuscript Wish Lists they might have. Find out what recent purchases and sales they have made, as well as how busy they appear to be. If they get a lot of interesting responses to their Twitter requests for submissions, you might want to hold off on sending your work until they have more time to read it before you do so.
In the event that all of your opportunities pan out, you will have a solid understanding of the clientele, genres and categories, and current submission preferences of each potential outlet. Keeping all of this in mind, you should now be all set to personalise your query letters and submission notes for each of the agents.
5. Submit your manuscript
There are two possible outcomes. To begin, one of the submission guidelines for one of your prospective publishers requires full manuscripts. This is rare, but it does happen!
The second scenario, which is also a likely one, is that the response to your initial query was favorable, and now an agent or publisher is interested in reading your whole manuscript. But regardless of the outcome, you ought to be pleased that someone is interested in reading your book.
Conclusion
Before putting in your entry, you should make certain that it is the best it can possibly be. If you haven’t done so previously, you should get your material proofread and make sure that your document is formatted in accordance with the standards used in the professional world. You will require a header that contains all of your author information, the appropriate font, the appropriate amount of space between lines, and page numbers.
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