Full length MSS?

by Mark Rudd
13th January 2012

I'm hunting for an agent in W&A yearbook and I keep coming across the phrase 'full length MSS'. Does that mean submit the full manuscript?

Also, another clause that seems quite common is 'no new submissions/authours.' Erm, this rather defeats the point of having them in the yearbook, does it not?

Replies

The agents only ever want to see a small section of MS, and if they like it and you are one of the lucky writers they will request more or all of it. but even the it does not guarantee that they will take you on. Good luck.Keep sending..

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Brenda
Woodford
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Brenda Woodford
17/01/2012

Yup - it means they want to see the whole thing, so if you're part-way through a draft don't bother.

The submissions thing probably means they had a backlog to deal with when the Yearbook went to print. If any that you fancy the look of have websites, it's worth keeping them in your Favourites folder and checking back once a month. They'll often post when they're accepting submissions once again.

Good luck!

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Jonathan
Hopkins
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Jonathan Hopkins
13/01/2012