How to avoid the slushpile

[Teresa Edgerton]

They don't put them in their guidelines because they aren't hidden rules. They are industry standards and easy to discover -- for those who take the very little time that it takes to do so. As for putting your address at the top of the letter, the last time I checked that was the standard format for all business letters.

Even so, I doubt a publisher would really turn someone down because they put their address in the wrong place. It's just one of those things that doesn't make a good impression. Because, really, when you're about to start dealing with business people and asking them to invest time (an agent) or money (a publisher) in your product, is it too much to ask that you learn how to write a proper business letter?

I don't see what is so unreasonable about asking people to do a little research and learn to present their proposal in a professional manner. If someone spends years writing a book, wouldn't you think they'd spend a little time finding out how to format a manuscript, write a query letter, and submit a proposal? Especially now when it's all so easy? In my day (she says, shaking a gnarled and trembling finger at all the young whippersnappers out there) we had to comb the bookstores for books on writing that would tell us these things. Now, all you have to do is Google a few keywords, or come on a board like this one and ask.

 

[Chaoticheart]

That's one of the many reasons I love Scrivener. I can write in any font I like - sans-serif is generally nicer on-screen - then export it into whichever format the submissions guidelines specify. "Standard manuscript format" (Courier with italics converted to underlines, double-spaced) is a preset, but I have a custom export for my publishers, who prefer single-spaced Times (with normal italics) in the first instance, as it's easier to read on an ebook reader.

:O Scrivener sounds useful. Must get!

 

[STING]

From that they signed eight new clients straight away (many like me with deals on the table already), and are still considering some of the writers whose partials and fulls they requested.

Are there many? In any case, I guess this must be a rare case of a writer getting the publisher first and the agent next.

Sorry if I am going off at a tangent but I am a bit baffled by your book schedule. Your first book is due in March 2012. Does publication take that long after the deal with the publisher? And the second (winter 2012) and third (summer 2013) are coming up relatively more quickly after the first. Does this mean you are already at some pretty advanced stage of progress with second and third?

 

[Anne Lyle]

Are there many? In any case, I guess this must be a rare case of a writer getting the publisher first and the agent next.

Yes. Some of the new clients were already published (e.g. Rio Youers) but David Tallerman and I were both debut authors who submitted to AR after meeting them through personal contacts. The SFF community is very small and a fair number of editors attend the bigger conventions, so it's actually not that difficult if you're willing to put yourself out there!

Sorry if I am going off at a tangent but I am a bit baffled by your book schedule. Your first book is due in March 2012. Does publication take that long after the deal with the publisher? And the second (winter 2012) and third (summer 2013) are coming up relatively more quickly after the first. Does this mean you are already at some pretty advanced stage of progress with second and third?

It does take a while to get a first novel to publication, because a lot more has to be arranged up front: contracts to be negotiated and signed, press releases to be written, cover design and "branding" to be deciding on, etc. That's why multi-book deals are the norm - the investment of work in launching a new writer demands that you don't do it more often than is necessary.

More importantly you have to be fitted into the production schedule, which may already be filled up some months in advance by existing authors. In fact 12 months is pretty fast - if you sign with a big house that has dozens and dozens of authors, you have to take your place at the back of a much longer queue and it can take up to two years to see your book in print!

Either way, it takes a minimum of about six months from manuscript handover to publication, to allow for editing, proofreading, printing and of course getting advance copies out to reviewers well ahead of the publication date, in order to generate some timely publicity!

With subsequent books in the deal, they can be published a lot faster because much of the setup work has already been done and production slots for artwork and printing can be pencilled in well ahead of time. You become one of those regulars at the front of the queue holding the newbies up

The synopsis of Book 2 in my series has been approved and I'm writing the first draft now - the synopsis of Book 3 is due to be handed in this autumn, with the manuscript deadline just under a year later. So no, not really at an advanced stage - just a lot of writing to be done in a relatively short space of time!

 

[STING]

Thanks for the industry insights.

.... So no, not really at an advanced stage - just a lot of writing to be done in a relatively short space of time!

That looks like hard work. (I am not British but I am prone to understatement.) I wish you all the best.

After reading Hopeful Monsters... (though it's short) I am pretty sure your books will be a good read. Are the titles for the first two books (which I found on your website along with the schedule) final?

 

[Anne Lyle]

I wish you all the best.

After reading Hopeful Monsters... (though it's short) I am pretty sure your books will be a good read. Are the titles for the first two books (which I found on your website along with the schedule) final?

Thank you - although the book is of course very different in style from that story! A free chapter will be available to download nearer the time, so you can decide if you like my novel-writing as well

The first two titles, The Alchemist of Souls and The Merchant of Dreams, are pretty much final, in so far as they are written into my contract - and the first one has been announced in press releases. I guess we'll find out for certain when it becomes available for pre-order on Amazon (mostly likely this summer)!

I have a working title for book three, but that won't be confirmed until at least November, when the synopsis is due to be handed in.

 

[Susan Boulton]

The SFF community is very small and a fair number of editors attend the bigger conventions, so it's actually not that difficult if you're willing to put yourself out there!!

But you still have to have a stonkingly good and well written novel, which Anne did.

Networking will get your work looked at. It did mine, but I still needed a damn good novel to get signed.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It's easier to make those contacts in the UK where you're all crammed in on top of each other, than in the US where you may have to travel thousands of miles to meet people, or wait until they travel thousands of miles to arrive at a convention accessible to you. (This last is more likely to happen if you live near one of several large population centers.) But I do have friends who have made contact with publishers that way, and eventually ended up signing with them.

A convention is a good place to meet editors or make friends who will, in the fullness of time, introduce you to editors, and (if you aren't too pushy and allow them the opportunity to get to know you first) gives you a chance to impress them with your ideas, your professional attitude, etc. It serves the same purpose as being pre-screened by an agent, although of course, just as with an agent, you still have to have a great manuscript ready once they invite you to send them something.

 

[Anne Lyle]

Very true, both of you! Little did I know when I met them, but AR have very definite ideas about the kind of writers they like to work with. Of course the fact that I was at the convention helped prove my savoir-faire, but they admit that they would rather work with a writer who has a good attitude and a manuscript that needs a bit of work than a jerk with an awesome book.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

That's what every editor wants.

 

[Anne Lyle]

True - but usually they don't come out and say it, for fear of encouraging sloppy submissions

 

[Liz Bent]

This is great information. One question: is there a book or article or website that spells out, in exhaustive detail, all of the rules you need to follow to generate a presentable novel or short story manuscript suitable for submission? Inquiring nooblets want to know. This information may have already been posted somewhere else, and apologies if that is so.

 

[The Judge]

If it's formatting for novels, then Teresa's thread is here http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/foru...r-manuscript-read-this-before-starting-a.html

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

This is great information. One question: is there a book or article or website that spells out, in exhaustive detail, all of the rules you need to follow to generate a presentable novel or short story manuscript suitable for submission?

No, no, no (as I have said so many times before) it is not great information, most of it. There is some good information (like the part about not using staples) slipped in there with the nonsense, but the article is meant to be funny, and was written for readers who were savvy enough to know that it was meant to be humorous. It has no business being spread around the net where it can confuse, and often dismay, newcomers.

By an odd coincidence, I was just talking to someone who used to work at Speculations. She hadn't seen the article before, but she thought it was hilarious, and was surprised that so many people took it seriously.


Elizabeth, there is a standard manuscript format, and that's been described many places, including the thread for which TJ has provided a link, but it's really quite simple, and there is no need for exhaustive detail. The rules are not complicated -- although people make them complicated because they can always think of reasons why they should be some other way and want to know if they can do things that way instead (the answer is almost invariably "no").

 

[Anne Lyle]

This is great information. One question: is there a book or article or website that spells out, in exhaustive detail, all of the rules you need to follow to generate a presentable novel or short story manuscript suitable for submission? Inquiring nooblets want to know. This information may have already been posted somewhere else, and apologies if that is so.

No - publishers vary. Some want double-spaced Courier with underlining for italics, etc, like traditional typed manuscripts, mine prefer Times New Roman with italics intact as they read everything on ebook readers.

Check the magazine/agent's website for guidelines, and if there's nothing specific, use the standard format described in the thread above.

 

[Liz Bent]

Oh my. To clarify: I understood that the article wasn't meant to be taken literally, but it was useful for me (a scientist without much knowledge of the publishing industry) to realize that there are, indeed, formatting rules and that if they are not followed it's less likely that a manuscript will be considered.

In my field, editors are happy if you can write in grammatically correct sentences and follow the general format for a scientific paper. Things like margins, font, use of headers, US vs UK spelling, etc. can take many forms and while journals will correct these things into a standard format once a manuscript is accepted for publication, the initial manuscripts sent in by contributors can take a myriad of forms, not all of them pleasing. It's useful to me to realize that it's not quite like this elsewhere.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Some want double-spaced Courier with underlining for italics, etc, like traditional typed manuscripts, mine prefer Times New Roman with italics intact as they read everything on ebook readers.

But, it should be said, those are the only variations you are likely to see. You should always check an agent or publisher's website to see what they want, but if they don't say, you can feel confident going with the old standard format.

 

[DrMclony]

*Plants tongue in cheek*

strangely some of these rules though often stated DO run contrary to how we treated it when I was doing such things (granted my experience is hardly world encompassing...) The point? just because one publisher has certain guidelines or they are industry standard, does NOT mean that following them will get you read, because sometimes an agent or publisher MAY vary the rules for their submissions. ALWAYS read the agent or publishers guidelines before sending to them. Some of them DO hate courier. God knows I do and when I am handed a manuscript in it I am less likely to read it because I am a grumpy old curmudgeon! Courier is a worthless, ugly, unnecessary and unwelcome font that offends the eyes in my opinion and I will only use it when I am required on point of death to do so! When and if I wind up on the dark side and open an agency or publishing house, courier manuscripts will be the first to go in the bin!

 

[richrock]

Sweeping Back the Slushpile: a First Reader's Primer

As Told To Kent Brewster (Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.speculations.com/slush.htm.)
...
If there's a stamped, self-addressed envelope (SASE) in there and any of the conditions in the list above are true, stuff Form Number One into the SASE along with the front page of the manuscript--nobody ever sends enough postage or a big enough envelope for the whole manuscript, so don't worry about it--and seal it shut. Do not lick a strange envelope for the same reason you don't blindly stick your finger in one: you don't know where it's been.

If there's no SASE, dump the entire package into the recycling bin. Do the same if there's metered postage on the SASE; the post office won't take it after the date that's on the tape.

...

Maybe I've read this wrong - but if there's a SASE, send it back, if there isn't, bin it? How would anyone get any further?

 

[Vertigo]

It says "if there's a SASE in there and any of the conditions in the list above are true...

In otherwords If you've provided a SASE and have failed on the eralier envelope conditions then you get a reject slip. If you didn't provide a SASE it just gets binned.

But if you didn't "fail" with the wrong envelope etc. and you provide a SASE then you move on to the next stage.