Sherry Ink: On Writing

Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission to PublishersBy Sherry Dee MorrisFirst Published October 2011 for the Riverside Writers Parade of Prose

1.  Print it out.
2.  As you read through, be on the lookout for:     a. Typos     b. Spelling and Grammar Errors     c. If you've duplicated words within a paragraph, change one.         (She was so excited to receive the good news. The rain danced on her windowpane.          Excited , she ran down the stairs and flung the door open.)      d. Remove all unnecessary commas, they slow the pace.     e. In scenes with more than two characters, make sure you have used speech tags.     f. Overuse of ly adverbs. Remove as many as you can and replace with strong verbs. (She quietly said , "Go fish."  Can be strengthened to:  She whispered , "Go fish.")     g. Search for the word "that" and decide where it can be removed without affecting  your scene.     h. Make sure all of your character and place names are consistent.     i. Check for plot holes.     j. Check your timeline and make sure it is perfect. This is especially important if you have simultaneous scenes in two locations "Meanwhile, back at the ranch…" Time can't travel more quickly in one location than the other. Some cutting of scenes and pasting them in different spots may be necessary. 3.  Input your changes into your manuscript and save it. Read it through once more.  And  then read it again. When you realize you are only changing words, not making the manuscript better, stop. 4.  Go to an online site such as http://www.agentquery.com/     A.  Search for every agent who represents your genre. Make sure they are members of the Association of Authors Representatives http://aaronline.org/     B.  Query every agent who meets the above criteria.            I. Follow the submission guidelines exactly for each agency.           II. Don't address the query to "Dear Agent." Make sure you personalize each letter with the particular agent's name.          III. If the guidelines state "One page query only. No attachments or samples."  Ignore it. Make sure that below your letter, you paste a sample of your first page. If you have a great first line or opening paragraph, use that. If the whole page is great, paste that, being careful to end at an intriguing point.          IV. Expect never to hear from most of the agents. Expect form rejection letters from others for months to come. Expect a few rude responses. Expect a few requests to read your manuscript. Odds are against you gaining agent representation. Even if you do get an agent there is no guarantee he/she can sell your manuscript to a publisher. However,  if you do gain representation by a good agent, odds are so much better that  he/she will place you with a great publisher and your career will be launched than if you tried to find a publisher on your own.
5.  As soon as you've queried the last possible agent you can find that might like your work, begin querying publishers. Query every publisher for which their guidelines state they accept unagented authors and your manuscript fits their needs. Follow their formatting guidelines exactly. Search their website and do a Google search if necessary to find out the editor's name to address the letter personally.
6.  Disregard the "No simultaneous submissions" policy some publishers/agents have. This is your business. If you queried one agent or one editor at a time then waited months for a response before going on to query the next agent or editor, odds are you'll die before your book is published. Cast your net far and wide.
7.  Once you have cast your net, celebrate! Then begin writing your next riveting novel.