Okay, so you\u2019ve written a book. Okay, so you want the book published. Okay, you\u2019ve decided to submit your work to a commercial publisher. So what do you do? The first thing you should do is read the publisher\u2019s submission guidelines.<\/p>\r\n
In recent blog posts, I discussed\u00a0the three main roads to getting a book published<\/a>\u00a0(commercial, indie (or self) publishing and vanity publishing) and\u00a0what authors need to know about the process of publishing<\/a>\u00a0before you decide which road you take.<\/p>\r\n If you\u2019ve decided to submit your work to a commercial publisher before trying the indie publishing or vanity publishing routes, the first thing any self\u2013respecting writer should do is check out the publisher\u2019s website. It\u2019s the first thing I did before I decided to go the indie publishing route. I did it before I even finished writing my first novel.<\/p>\r\n Why? Because I wanted to know whether the publishers I was considering published the type of work I was writing. And I wanted to know how I would go about putting a submission together. A submission that would be what the publisher wanted.<\/p>\r\n All of the major commercial publishing houses have submission \u201cguidelines\u201d\u2026 the \u201crules\u201d for submissions\u2026 the way they want authors to submit their work for consideration. Even smaller publishers (the mid\u2013list publishers, and independent publishers, like BDA Books) have submission \u201cguidelines\u201d. Some don\u2019t accept unsolicited manuscripts direct from authors (and require work to be submitted via an agent). Others accept submissions by email only once a week, on a specified day of the week, during a specified time on that particular day. More variations include accepting by post or by email, with the material posted or emailed to be in a specified format.<\/p>\r\n Many top notch literary agents also have submission guidelines for the very same reasons as publishers have submission guidelines.<\/p>\r\n Publishers and literary agents, large or small, have submission guidelines for a reason: it\u2019s a \u201cjob interview\u201d! Or, most times, it\u2019s what they\u2019re looking for in a business partner: because publishing a book is the venture or partnership between the author and the publisher of publishing the book! Just like applying for a job, or working out a business venture agreement, in the \u201creal world\u201d, authors should treat submission guidelines the same way.<\/p>\r\n Proposals submitted in accordance with submission guidelines help publishers sort through the proposals they receive, just as employers would sort through job applications. They help publishers identify those who are not serious about the business of writing, i.e. the publishing process.<\/p>\r\n The material publishers ask for, and the way they ask for it, gives publishers what publishers need to a) track your submission (your \u201cjob application\u201d), and b) make a decision.<\/p>\r\n Just as an employer can\u2019t base a decision on a \u201cI want a job\u201d statement, a publisher can\u2019t base any decision on a query about querying \u2013 the sort of \u201cI have a [x genre] novel that I\u2019d like to send your way; may I query you\u201d. Just like any other job interview, why would a publisher consider publishing your work if you can\u2019t be \u201cbothered\u201d reading the job advertisement and following the application requirements. But you expect them to invest effort reading and evaluating your work?<\/p>\r\n Submission guidelines, like job descriptions, help publishers find authors with work that is the \u201cbest fit\u201d for the type of work they publish. You can\u2019t be bothered to invest the time researching the people you might do business with, but you expect them to invest effort reading and evaluating your work?<\/p>\r\n And it works the other way too: Just as an author should be bothered to invest the time researching a company they may wish to work for outside the writing industry, writers should also be bothered to invest the time researching the people they might do business with. Does the publisher you want to submit to publish the genre in which you\u2019ve written? Et cetera. Et a. And all the rest.<\/p>\r\n Brian Evenson<\/a>, a professor of literary arts at\u00a0Brown University<\/a>\u00a0(located in Rhode Island in the United States), recently put together this definitive 11-point list,\u00a0Advice for Future applicants of Brown\u2019s Master of Fine Arts program<\/a>\u00a0on his Facebook page (which was referenced in the\u00a0LA Times<\/a>). This list of guidelines should also act as a reference when submitting to publishers!<\/p>\r\n Submission guidelines work as a two way street.<\/p>\r\n Okay, so you\u2019ve written a book. Okay, so you want the book published. Okay, you\u2019ve decided to submit your work to a commercial publisher. So what do you do? The first thing you should do is read the publisher\u2019s submission guidelines. In recent blog posts, I discussed\u00a0the three main roads to getting a book published\u00a0(commercial, … Continue reading “Anatomy of a Book\u2026 Submitting to a Commercial Publisher\u2026 READ BEFORE YOU LEAP”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":false,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[33,41,129,29],"class_list":["post-2089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publishing","tag-books","tag-information-sources","tag-publishing","tag-reading"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tAuthors, what do you think of publishers\u2019 submission guidelines?<\/h3>\r\n
Acquisitions editors, what do you think of the responses you get to submission guidelines?<\/h3>\r\n
Tell me about your experiences!<\/h3>\r\n\r\n