How to Upload a Hard Copy Manuscript Onto the Computer
Scott Pack is an editor, publisher, and author of the book How to Perfect Your Submission. He'southward here today to shed some calorie-free on how to research prospects and perfect your manuscript submission to agents and publishers. Take information technology away, Scott!
Equally a publisher, I receive a hell of a lot of manuscript submissions. That probably doesn't surprise yous. What may surprise yous is that effectually fifty% of the authors who send their manuscripts to me brand elementary errors that drastically reduce their chances of beingness published — which is what led me to write my own book on how to submit a manuscript to publishers!
My ebook, How to Perfect Your Submission, is a brusque guide for authors who want to avoid the sort of mutual mistakes that I run into pretty much every twenty-four hour period. Information technology also offers strategies for making your manuscript as strong every bit it can be. My mission is to ensure that no i who reads the volume will have their submission rejected because of something hands fixable.
To assist me further this mission, the nice folks at Reedsy have invited me to share some of the contents of my book with you. Here's my best communication for submitting a manuscript to a publisher, condensed into five essential steps! Let'southward start at the beginning…
Looking for a manuscript or query letter review?
700+ of the best editors are on Reedsy. Sign up to become a quote today!
Learn how Reedsy can assistance you craft a beautiful book.
1. Do your research on agents and publishers
One of the top complaints from agents and publishers is that authors don't exercise their inquiry earlier submitting. Needless to say, in order to perfect your manuscript submission, you lot need to know who you're targeting. Here are a few tips to get you started!
🖋️
Are you ready for a literary agent?
Find out here! Takes one minute.
📚 Familiarize yourself with the trade press
Check out trade publications like The Bookseller and Publishers Weekly to go a sense of the biggest names and trends in traditional publishing. Follow trade journalists and authors on Twitter and accept note of up-and-coming agents, editors, and publishers — specially those who specialize in books like yours. And finally, if you lot desire a truly thorough education, I'd recommend the Writer's Market guide (for US authors) or the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook (for UK).
👩🏽💻 Await through websites and acknowledgments
Equally y'all discover new agents and publishers, peruse their websites to come across which genres and categories they're seeking, and indeed whether they're currently accepting submissions at all. For a more intimate approach, you can also try looking through the acknowledgments in published books for agents and acquiring editors to contact (though yous should still check their websites before doing and so!).
✍️ Join writing communities and nourish workshops
Nothing tin can supervene upon the power of personal networking in publishing. To that end, consider getting involved in a writing customs, where yous'll receive advice on your craft and insider tips on how to get published.
And if you take the opportunity to attend a literary festival or workshop, definitely accept it! Lots of them have talks from agents and publishing pros nearly how to succeed in traditional publishing, and you may even get the chance to speak to agents one-on-one.
Now, you lot've done your research and have a potent sense of the industry, perchance even a few agents' or publishers' names floating effectually in your head. What comes side by side?
2. Develop a programme to runway manuscript submissions
If y'all haven't already, at present's the time to brainstorm putting together your longlist: a drove of all the agents and publishers you lot retrieve would be good matches for your manuscript.
Every bit the name implies, your longlist doesn't need to be also selective. Feel free to record every agent and publisher who piques your interest; amend to start with a wide range of options and narrow it down later than to nitpick now and end up with zero realistic prospects.
Keep track of relevant details as you get. This should include links to their websites, notes on why each prospect intrigued you lot (e.g. "they stand for authors similar to me") and guidelines on how to submit a manuscript to them. I am a large fan of using a spreadsheet for this procedure to proceed my notes organized, and considering it can easily evolve to eventually runway your submissions and responses.
Putting your longlist in a spreadsheet besides makes it easier to sort in estimate order of priority, which is what you'll need to do next. For this, you may want to come up with some kind of rating system, which you tin record in an additional column and use to sort your list. Like so:
iii. Create a shortlist to submit your book to
One time yous have your ordered longlist, I would suggest that you submit your manuscript to five-6 prospects at a time. However, before you lot start reaching out, give merely a little more than thought to your first choices.
For case, perhaps you've ordered your priorities with your absolute "dream" agents and publishers at the pinnacle, regardless of how many authors they already represent. Though you shouldn't disqualify prospects simply because they're competitive, yous may want to bump a couple of "reach" targets down your list so your offset circular of submissions has a better risk of receiving responses.
Furthermore, if you've compiled your longlist over the course of several weeks or months, you'll want to double-check that all the agents and publishers on your listing are still taking submissions. If anyone'southward status has changed, hold off on contacting them. You may think "they'll become to it somewhen," but in truth, they'll just ignore you — or worse yet, recollect you as pushy and inattentive to detail if you try them once again.
Tweak your priorities with these factors in heed. The top 5-six agents and publishers on your listing at this stage volition be the shortlist for your showtime round of manuscript submissions!
4. Write personalized queries based on website guidelines
Now concentrate on your shortlist solitary. Regardless of how much research you've done, information technology's time to do some more!
If you haven't read at least 2 books represented by each of your pinnacle prospects, do it now. Pore over their Twitter feeds and Manuscript Wish Lists. Find out what they've acquired and sold recently, and how decorated they seem to exist. If they're getting dozens of interested replies on their Twitter submission calls, you may want to wait to submit until they can pay closer attention to your manuscript.
🖊️
Which famous author do you lot write like?
Find out which literary luminary is your stylistic soulmate. Takes one minute!
Hopefully, all your prospects will agree upwardly and you'll come abroad with a detailed sense of each 1'southward clients, genres and categories, and electric current preferences for submissions. With all that in mind, you're ready to customize your query letters and submission notes to each of them! That web log post will take yous through it in detail, but here are a few key tips:
- Address each contact by name, e.one thousand. "Dear Ms. Smith" (and brand sure it's spelled correctly!)
- Explain why you want them, specifically, to take on your book
- Draw comparisons to similar books they've represented or published
- Ensure that your manuscript sample is admittedly spotless
Whatever y'all do, don't only send out a template letter to everyone! Merely adjusting the greeting is non enough — and if you don't have two or iii solid, detailed reasons for querying each party, that person or publisher should not be on your shortlist.
5. Submit your manuscript
In that location are ii possibilities here. The kickoff is that the submission guidelines for one of your prospects ask for complete manuscripts (which is rare, simply it happens!).
The 2nd, and somewhat more than likely, possibility is that you've gotten a positive response from an initial query, and at present an amanuensis or publisher is requesting to meet your full manuscript. But either way, congratulations: someone wants to read your volume!
Take the time to perfect your submission before sending it in. Get your text proofed, if you haven't already, and format your manuscript according to professional person standards. Yous'll need a headers with all your authorial info, the correct typeface and line spacing, and page numbers. If that sounds intimidating, Reedsy has just the thing to help you out.
Enter your email to download Reedsy's Manuscript Format Template!
You'll become it in your email inbox right abroad.
Want to know more?
For those notwithstanding curious near how to submit a manuscript to publishers, check out this Reedsy Live hosted by me! In it, I discuss the five most common mistakes authors make when submitting to publishers, using it as a hazard to point out the errors I meet people make every day. Take heed and good luck with your submissions!
Scott Pack is Associate Editor at Unbound, the world's kickoff crowdfunding publisher. He is besides co-founder of Abased Bookshop, an ebook imprint that publishes neglected and forgotten classics.
On Reedsy, Scott offers editorial services including developmental and structural edits, editorial reviews, query letter critiques, and more. To collaborate with him on your next manuscript, head over to his Reedsy profile! And to buy his book on Amazon, click here.
Source: https://blog.reedsy.com/how-to-submit-a-manuscript/
0 Response to "How to Upload a Hard Copy Manuscript Onto the Computer"
Post a Comment