How to Prepare a Top Class Manuscript to Send to Your Publisher
Send in a sloppy, grubby manuscript and your chances of rejection are greatly increased. Send in a smart, clean, tidy manuscript and the publishers offices will ring with the cry - "Hey, here's someone who knows how to do it properly! Break out the Champaign! Bring on the dancing girls!' But maybe not the latter if it's a Monday.
The point is this: if you please the editor with a first class, well presented offering then your stock will go up faster than the price of oil and you'll have a head start against the other losers.
So let's get down to it. How should you present your submission?
1. Use double spacing and print or type on one side of the paper only.
2. Put the title of the work only (not your name or any other fascinating information) at the top of every page. This helps if the person reading your novel drops them all over the floor along with someone else's.
3. Number the pages at the bottom. This is an absolute must because if the person reading your work drops them all over the floor (what again?) he or she will be able to put them back in order again. If you are submitting a novel, number straight through. Don't start afresh at the start of a new chapter. If you put each chapter into a separate document and you're using Word, click on the link below and go to the 'Writers Questions' page if you want to know how to do this.
4. Use a cover sheet which should give: the Title of the work; your name and pseudonym if you use one, address and telephone number, plus an email address if you have one. Also give the number of words, usually to the nearest 1,000 for a novel or 100 if a short story. Finally add the date.
5. Do not use staples or any other method to bind your work. Publishers do not like going around with broken finger nails, especially the ladies. You will definitely loose brownie point if you don't adhere strictly to this rule. You have been warned.
6. Enclose a brief (that is to say - brief) covering letter.
7. Keep a backup copy of your work on a CD-ROM, a memory stick or some other device so that you don't loose it through computer breakdowns. And if you are using one of those. er, now what are they called, oh yes, typewriters make sure you get your manuscript photocopied before sending it off. Publishers have, just occasionally you understand, been know to loose stuff.
Having said all this, here's a word to the wise: get hold of your prospective publisher's submission guidelines and follow them to the letter. They may differ from the above in some way or other, so it's worth doing this. Remember publishers are gods and we wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of any thunderbolts for getting it wrong, would we?
About the Author: Mervyn Love offers advice, resources, competition listing, markets and much more on his website. Go here: http://www.writersreign.co.uk Subscribe to his free Article Writing Course here:http://www.writersreign.co.uk/WRac.html
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