Publisher Submission Guidelines
Your chances of success increase when you follow the rules
No writer wants to be rejected on a technicality, but every day writers submit work that doesn't follow the editor or publishers' guidelines.
Imagine the work it takes for an author to write a book. They spend months writing down their ideas, picking through them in an intense edit, formatting the chapters, reading and rereading it for clarity, and preparing query letters. They know their characters and plot forward and backward, and have totally fallen in love with their story. They neatly print their manuscript, put it in an envelope, send it off to an editor or publisher, and wait joyously on their front porch steps for a fat advance check in the mail.
Now imagine an editor opening the manuscript packet, taking one glance at it, sighing, and rejecting it. What would cause a person to do such at thing? Failure to follow the manuscript submission guidelines.
One of the biggest editor/publisher complaints is that material they get in the mail doesn’t fit their submission guidelines.
”Well,” you might think, “their guidelines are silly to begin with. Who has the time to format their book differently for every editor and publisher out there?” Writers who want to succeed make time to format their proposal in as many different ways as it takes.
The first mark against a writer is if the work they submit clearly falls outside the genres the publisher accepts. Some publishers accept only fiction work, and some accept only non-fiction work. Some accept strange combinations, such as women’s fiction, nature non-fiction, memoirs, and children’s math workbooks. No matter how odd it may sound to you, accept that these are the rules of that specific publisher. Submitting your 18th century art coffee table book to a publisher to clearly states they deal only with historical fiction isn’t going to get you anywhere. Look for publishers that specialize in your genre.
The second mark against a writer is the way their submission is presented. Some editors prefer queries so they can accept or deny based on the idea. Some prefer the first few pages or chapters so they can review the author’s writing style and editing abilities. Few will accept an entire 120,000 word manuscript, and most require varying degrees of contact information and published samples of your work. As busy as they are, few editors have the luxury or need to break outside their system. If you submit your work in a format other than required, don’t expect special treatment.
A third common error has to do with how you communicate your work, as in whether it is sent via postal mail or email. Each publisher has a preference for receiving queries, so double-check that your electronic submission is acceptable. Additionally, most do not accept phone calls. Use Writer’s Market and the publisher’s website to learn more about their process.
While it is tempting to send your submission packet to as many editors as possible, if your book doesn’t fit the submission guidelines you are doubly hurting yourself. You are wasting your own time and money, and making yourself look uneducated and lazy to the editor. By following the submission guidelines for each individual publisher, and being selective about who you query, your chances of getting work accepted are much greater.
