I've just received a very short, badly written book. I was about to write a scathing critique saying ‘don’t take on this project’ when I did my preliminary Google check, just to see if the author was in the public eye, or if there was anything else I needed to know. The vital bit of info proved to be [...] that my client had already commissioned the work.
There's always an element of subjectivity when judging manuscripts. I hastily penned a report with plenty of constructive ‘suggestions for improvement’. Most published fiction books are between 70,000 and 100,000 words long and as this project was short, the author could expand it into a well-rounded book and not lose any of the work she had done already.
If you're writing a manuscript you'd do well to aim for about 80,000 words as it'll be instantly more commercial that way. Of course there are several other things to bear in mind for a professional submission.
My top five are:
- If you address your submission by name, check that the agency actually has an agent of that name. Some are named after a long-dead agent. It is – of course – even worse to send a letter addressed to an agent, but at another agency’s address!
- Submit your work in accordance with the guidelines an agency has set out in the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook – so don’t send children’s fiction to an agent that doesn’t handle it – or five chapters to an agency that has asked for three
- Use a standard font and word processing programme. Please don’t send in a submission in a handwriting-style font – it makes it much more difficult to read. Likewise, use a programme that most people can access, such as Word or Adobe.
- Mention your relevant writing experience, such as prizes won, publications you have had, or courses you have gone on.
- Keep your submission short and to the point. It’s great to see an author who has really thought about the marketing of their work, or potential illustrations, but that is the work a publisher will do after taking it on – so it’s not necessary at this stage.
Yours, Cressida
(Editorial consultant)
Hi, I am new to this site and a friend wants to know about how she, as a blind person, can submit a manuscript. Would she be able to submit it on tape?
Hi, Just a reminder that we can't necessarily answer individual Qs as each case is so different - and our experts are all busy people. Please don't forget that our blog is here to encourage chat among users too. After all everyone's got something of interest from their own experiences to share.
Best wishes,
Claire
In submitting my manuscript I have been aproaching agents who deal in unsolicited scripts. I have previously sent a sample to be read by a Literary Consultancy company (and they offered feedback) but am unsure if that qualifies my work as being solicited. Can anyone suggest how I go about getting my manuscirpt solicited so that I can contact more literary agents?