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ALWAYS follow the publishers submission guidelines.

What are submission guidelines?

These will almost always be found on a publishers website. On some occasions you may need to write and ask for them. This can be the case for some print pubbers and magazines.

Simply put this is the explanation of what the publisher wants to see and how they want to see it. Publishers will set out what they accept and how you should send it to them. Follow them carefully, some are as simple as send your manuscript in .doc or .rtf format in a simple font with one inch margins all round.

Others may have a page full of do's and don'ts.

The first part usually consists of the genre accepted, whether they want and don't want. E.g We do not accept contemporary stories, we only publish historical.

That seems pretty straight forward. But you would be surprised how many people do not read that line and send in a contemporary work. Not only do they have to face a rejection which can cause a confidence loss, but they may scrap a story that would actually fit well with another publisher.

Wherever possible don't sub the same work to multiple publishers without letting them know. Some are open to multiple submisssions, but please let them know. I know some publishers get very peeved if they really like a story only to find someone else has contracted it. It doesn't make them look favorably on future submissions from you.

Also in the submission guidelines you'll usually find the format they want, the partial, or full manuscript sent and whether they take email subs. But if they say just send a cover letter and synopsis only, don't send the manuscript attached on the off chance they fall in love with it and want it all NOW. I can assure that will not happen, what will happen is they'll hit the delete button as soon as they see an attachment.

It's something akin to you getting in new carpet and putting a sign on your door, everyone please remove shoes. Then Uncle Freddy walks in with his boots on because he is family and the sign couldn't possibly mean him. The daughter's new boyfriend totally ignores it because he doesn't want you to see the hole in his sock. The new lady across the road comes to borrow a cup of sugar and walks in mud from the garden because she never even saw the sign. How is that going to make you feel when they want a moment of your busy time to look at something for them?

You see what I'm getting at. Submission guidelines are there for a reason and to ignore them by choice or through lack of thorough research is not good.

If you aren't sure about something in the guidelines, email the publisher and ask. Look it up on the net, ask a friend, write and ask me, I don't mind. But never be afraid to ask someone. If you don't ask, you'll never learn. The silliest question you can ask is no question at all.

If you aren't sure how to format a word document. Go to the help section and learn. It is very important that you know how to save a document as a .doc or .rtf file. These are usually the only ones accepted with online publishers and rtf (rich text format) being the favored because the macro viruses can't piggy back on them.

Even if your story suck lemons the publisher will notice you sent in a submission that followed guidelines. That will make an impression next time you send an improved work.

Chant it with me now: follow submission guidelines, follow submission guidelines, follow submission guidelines, follow submission guidelines.

Learn more about this author, Wendy Mackrell.
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