Send in a sloppy, grubby manuscript and your chances of rejection are greatly increased. Send in a smart, clean, tidy manuscript and the publishers offices will ring with the cry - "Hey, here's someone who knows how to do it properly! Break out the Champaign! Bring on the dancing girls!' But maybe not the latter if it's a Monday.
Publishers are inundated with manuscripts. In most cases they are unsolicited. They didn't ask for them, they just arrived in a flurry of dust laden wings like angels of doom. Problem: which to read first. Ah, here's one that's half decent. It's clean and tidy and looks pleasant enough to read. Let's give this a try.
The point is this: if you please the editor with a first class, well presented offering then your stock will go up faster than the price of oil and you'll have a head start against the other losers.
So let's get down to it. How can you impress the editor or publisher with the presentation of your manuscript?
1. Use double spacing and print or type on one side of the paper only.
2. Put the title of the work only (not your name or any other fascinating information) at the top of every page. This helps if the person reading your novel drops them all over the floor along with someone else's.
3. Number the pages at the bottom. This is an absolute must because if the person reading your work drops them all over the floor (what again?) he/she will know how to cobble them back together again. For a novel number the pages straight through. Don't start afresh at the start of a new chapter. If you put each chapter into a separate document and you're using Word, click on the link below and go to the 'Writers Questions' page if you want to know how to do this.
4. Use a cover sheet which should give: the Title of the work; your name and pseudonym if you use one, address and telephone number, plus an email address if you have one. Also give the number of words, usually to the nearest 1,000 for a novel or 100 if a short story. Finally add the date.
5. Staples are anathema as are any method of binding the pages. Publishers do not like going around with broken finger nails, especially the ladies. You will definitely lose brownie points if you don't adhere strictly to this rule. You have been warned.
6. Enclose a brief (that is to say - brief) covering letter.
7. Keep a backup copy of your work on a CD-ROM, a memory stick or some other device so that you don't lose it through computer breakdowns. And if you are using one of those. er, now what are they called, oh yes, typewriters make sure you get your manuscript photocopied before sending it off. Some publishers have, on very rae occasions you understand, been known to lose stuff.
Having said all this, here's a word to the wise: get hold of your prospective publisher's submission guidelines and follow them to the letter. Their requirements may differ from those I give above so treat them with respect. Remember publishers are gods and we wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of any thunderbolts for getting it wrong, would we?
How to Use Time Transitions to Make Your Story Flow
Most stories we write take place over a period of time. That time may be very short - even a few minutes; or long - over several years or generations or anywhere inbetween. But whatever it is, the reader needs to have a clear sense of how time is moving throughout the narrative.
Your Readers Love an Element of Suspense. Here's How to Give it to Them
Whatever kind of book you are writing a dollop of suspense will do to your readers precisely what you've written the book for: so that they will read it and keep on reading it to the end!
Parts of Speech for the Timid Writer
Dear writers, we are gathered here today to bring together these Nine Parts of Speech into a holy matrix of well turned out sentences which, by the grace of God, no publisher or editor shall cast asunder. A bit hesitant about parts of speech? Don't know your verbs from your conjunctions? Read on...
