Delivering a manuscript: that last stretch

Finishing a manuscript can be a daunting task – especially when you are 30,000 words short as I am and it is not fiction but non-fiction. Not to say that writing is ever easy but when you are dependent on facts rather than imagination, the word count meter can seem as though it is crawling by.

How did I come to be the “deliverer” of a manuscript? I found a call for book proposals on a writing listserv for a series by an academic publisher. The subject interested me, even though I wasn’t an expert in it. I read up on book proposals and then created one to respond to the specifics of the submission requirements. The series editor sent back comments and additions which I agreed could strengthen the manuscript overall.

And then I was ready to start writing based on my outlined proposal. The research began. Hopefully in a few weeks I will have turned it in and have the satisfaction of completing the manuscript.

So what can you do if you’re starting out?

Well, finding a link between your interests and what a publisher is looking for can make life easier. Try joining as many well-established writing communities as possible, as that’s where people are sharing information and you can find out who is looking for what subjects.

If you’ve never written anything before, a long project may not be the place to start, since even an experienced writer (as I became by the time I found this particular project) can have difficulty with content and deadlines. It’s often best to build your experience by submitting essays or short stories for themed anthologies, say, or even, in today’s electronic world, guest blogging or starting a blog of your own.

The bottom line is that you will never get published if you don’t write something and send it out. Surprisingly, many new writers do not realise that an idea separated from text is just that. An idea.

Best wishes,

Mohana (Reading & Writing Development Director)