Scott Pack is editor, publisher and author of the book How to Perfect Your Presentation. is here today to shed some light on how to source prospects and perfect sending manuscripts to agents and publishers. take it off, scott!
As an editor, I get tons of manuscript submissions. that probably won’t surprise you. What may surprise you is that about 50% of the authors who submit their manuscripts to me make simple mistakes that drastically reduce their chances of getting published, which is what led me to write my own book on how to submit a manuscript to publishers! !
You are reading: How to submit books to publishers
My eBook, How to Perfect Your Submission, is a short guide for authors who want to avoid the kind of common mistakes I see almost every day. it also offers strategies for making your manuscript as strong as possible. my mission is to ensure that no one who reads the book has their submission rejected because of something that can be easily corrected.
To help me further this mission, the kind folks at reedsy have invited me to share some of the contents of my book with you. This is my best advice for submitting a manuscript to a publisher, broken down into five essential steps. Let’s start at the beginning…
1. research agents and publishers
One of the biggest complaints from agents and publishers is that authors don’t do their research before they submit. It goes without saying that to perfect your manuscript submission, you need to know who you are targeting. here are some tips to get you started!
📚 familiarize yourself with the specialized press
Check out trade publications like Bookseller and Publishers Weekly to get an idea of the biggest names and trends in traditional publishing. Follow business journalists and authors on Twitter and take note of emerging agents, publishers and publishers, especially those who specialize in books like yours. And finally, if you want a truly well-rounded education, I’d recommend either the Writers Market Guide (for us authors) or the Writers & artists yearbook (for the uk).
👩🏽💻 search websites and accolades
As you discover new agents and publishers, check out their websites to see what genres and categories they’re looking at and, in fact, if they’re currently accepting submissions. For a more intimate approach, you can also try checking out the acknowledgments in published books for acquisitions agents and publishers to contact (although you should still check their websites before doing so!).
✍️ join writing communities and attend workshops
Nothing can replace the power of personal networking in publishing. To that end, consider joining a community of writers, where you’ll receive advice on your craft and expert advice on how to publish.
and if you have the opportunity to attend a literary festival or workshop, take advantage of it! many of them have talks from agents and publishing professionals on how to succeed in traditional publishing, and you may even have the opportunity to speak with agents one-on-one.
Now, you’ve done your research and have a strong sense of the industry, maybe even a few agent or publisher names floating around in your head. what’s next?
2. develop a plan to track manuscript submissions
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If you haven’t already, now is the time to start putting together your long list: a collection of all the agents and publishers you think would be a good match for your manuscript.
As the name implies, your long list doesn’t need to be too selective. feel free to sign up every agent and publisher that piques your interest; it’s better to start with a wide range of options and narrow them down later than to criticize now and end up with no realistic prospects.
Keep track of relevant details on the go. This should include links to their websites, notes on why each prospect intrigued you (for example, “they represent authors similar to me”), and guidelines on how to submit a manuscript to them. I’m a big fan of using a spreadsheet for this process to keep my notes organized and because it can easily evolve to eventually track your submissions and responses.
Putting your long list into a spreadsheet also makes it easier to sort in rough order of priority, which is what you’ll need to do next. For this, you may want to come up with some sort of rating system, which you can record in an additional column and use to sort your list. like this:
3. Create a shortlist to submit your book to
Once you’ve sorted out your long list, I suggest you send your manuscript to 5-6 prospects at a time. however, before you start communicating, think a little more about your first options.
For example, maybe you’ve sorted your priorities with your absolute “dream” agents and publishers at the top, regardless of how many authors they already represent. While you shouldn’t disqualify prospects simply because they’re competitive, you may want to increase a couple of “reach” goals on your list so your first round of mailings have a better chance of getting responses.
Also, if you compiled your long list over the course of several weeks or months, you’ll want to double check that all agents and publishers on your list are still receiving submissions. if someone’s status has changed, don’t contact them. you may think “eventually they’ll get it”, but in reality, they’ll just ignore you, or worse yet, remember you as pushy and inattentive to details if you try again.
Alter your priorities with these factors in mind. The top 5 or 6 agents and publishers on your list at this stage will be shortlisted for your first round of manuscript submissions!
4. Write personalized queries based on website guidelines
now just focus on your list. Regardless of how much research you’ve done, it’s time to do more!
If you haven’t read at least two books represented by each of your top prospects, do so now. Take a good look at your twitter feeds and your manuscript wish lists. find out what they’ve recently bought and sold, and how busy they seem to be. If you get dozens of interested responses to your twitter submission calls, you may want to wait to submit until they can pay more attention to your manuscript.
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Hopefully, all of your prospects will stick around and you’ll get a detailed idea of each one’s clients, genders and categories, and current preferences for introductions. With all that in mind, you’re ready to customize your query letters and shipping notes for each of them! that blog post will explain it in detail, but here are some key tips:
- address each contact by name, e.g. “dear mrs. smith” (and make sure it is spelled correctly!)
- explain why you specifically want them to take your book
- make comparisons with similar books they have performed or published
- make sure your manuscript sample is absolutely flawless
Whatever you do, don’t just send a letter template to everyone! simply tweaking the salutation isn’t enough, and if you don’t have two or three solid, detailed reasons to consult each party, that person or publisher shouldn’t be on your list.
5. submit your manuscript
There are two possibilities here. The first is that the submission guidelines for one of your prospects ask for full manuscripts (which is rare, but it does happen!).
The second, and somewhat more likely, possibility is that you’ve had a positive response to an initial inquiry and now an agent or publisher asks to see your full manuscript. but anyway, congratulations: someone wants to read your book!
Take the time to perfect your submission before you submit it. have your text proofread, if you haven’t already, and format your manuscript according to professional standards. you will need headings with all your author information, the correct font and line spacing, and page numbers. If that sounds intimidating, Reedsy has just what you need to help.
Do you want to know more?
For those of you still curious about submitting a manuscript to editors, check out this live stream hosted by me! In it, I discuss the five most common mistakes authors make when submitting to publishers, and I use it as an opportunity to point out mistakes I see people making every day. pay attention and good luck with your shipments!
scott pack is associate editor of unbound, the world’s first crowdfunding publisher. He is also a co-founder of The Abandoned Bookstore, an e-book publisher that publishes abandoned and forgotten classics.
At Reedsy, Scott offers editorial services including structural and developmental edits, editorial reviews, query letter critiques, and more. To collaborate with him on his next manuscript, head over to his cane profile! and to buy his book on amazon, click here.
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