Tag: Submissions

Actual conversation after query and partial had been submitted and a full requested.

Author: So you’re saying you want to see the entire manuscript with the idea of publishing it in the spring?

Publisher: Yes. I think it would be great to release it in early March so it will be available for conference sales.

Author: Oh, well, I’m not sure I can have it ready by then. I’ve only written the first three chapters and I just have an outline of the rest of the story. In fact, I’m rethinking the ending so it might take me a while to finish it. I’m really busy right now. Maybe I can have it to you by fall…oh, wait, I’m going to Europe this next summer so fall won’t work for me…

Publisher: Never mind. I’m not really interested, after all.

Moral of the story: FINISH YOUR MANUSCRIPT BEFORE YOU SEND A QUERY!

[P.S. This type of post is just one of the reasons why I am anonymous. If you knew I was Edith Editor at XYZ Publishing, I would never be able to tell you about these types of events. But because I’m anonymous, the Author stays anonymous too and can therefore be an example to everyone of what not to do. And to further the anonymity of the Author, this conversation did not happen this week or even this month. I’ve been saving it so that no one would be able to figure out who the poor clueless author is.]

Is December a bad time to submit manuscripts? Or are editors too busy with end of the year stuff? Would they be more or less likely to give a manuscript their full attention during the holidays?

The number one secret to know about editors and publishers is we are people too. We have parties and gift giving and other merry-making to do, just like everyone else. So yes, we say go ahead and submit in December, but chances are it’s going to take a little longer for us to get around to reading it. And one good thing about LDS publishers, we’re rarely working with an after-office-party hangover. So submit whenever you want with full confidence that when we do (finally) get to your manuscript, it will get our full attention–just as it would during the rest of the year.

[P.S. You’ve just stumbled upon the REAL reason I’m running a contest in December. I’m hoping your stories will disguise the fact that I’m too busy ho-ho-ho-ing to write serious posts. And speaking of your stories, where are they??]

I would think this is common sense and it’s in almost every submission how-to guide I’ve ever read, but so many people don’t do this that I want to stress it here.

1. Put your name and abbreviated title in the header line of each and every page of your manuscript. For example, if your name is Jane Smith and your book is How LDSP Got Both Rich & Famous by Blogging, put Smith, J./LDSP Rich & Famous in the top left header of each page (unless your publisher requests you put it somewhere else).

2. USE automatic page numbering. Put them in the top right header of each and every page of your manuscript (unless your publisher requests otherwise). Start numbering consecutively from page one to page end-of-manuscript. Do NOT restart at page one at the beginning of each chapter.

This is why. Manuscripts stay in their boxes/envelopes at my office. I will often take a handful of pages (usually 1st three chapters) from several manuscripts home with me to read at night or over the weekend. This allows me to do a quick read and weed out the ones that aren’t what I’m looking for.

Although I am incredibly organized and coordinated, I have on occasion dropped these pages. Or they’ve spilled out of my briefcase. Or gremlins have come in the night and separated all the pages, scattering them amid my neat stacks of bills and grocery lists. Sometimes, I’ll pass these first three chapters around to various readers, who may or may not be as coordinated and organized as I am. It doesn’t happen very often, but when your pages get separated from each other or out of order, putting them back together is a potential nightmare.

It is extremely easy for you to include this header info on every page. Most software programs can do it automatically. Please file this post under “Publishers are human too” and go check right now to make sure all your manuscripts in progress have this header set up.

Here’s an article on book signings. If you’re going to do them, these are pretty good ideas.

My newest book was just released and I want to do a book signing tour to encourage shoppers to buy my book as Christmas gifts. I keep telling my publisher that I want to do this, and they keep saying it’s a good idea, but so far, no signing dates. Why do you think my publisher is refusing to set up book signings for me?

[Deep breath] Having recently had this conversation with several of my authors, let me say first that publishers do not have the final say in scheduling book signings–unless your publisher is Deseret Book or Covenant, who have their own retail outlets and host signings for their own authors.

As a publisher, even if I thought a book signing tour was the very best way to boost holiday book sales (which I don’t, but let’s pretend I do), my opinion and enthusiasm won’t do us a bit of good unless the book store owner/manager thinks so too. And most of them don’t, because the simple fact is that the majority of LDS author book signings are lucky if they generate the sale of a dozen books. Most common scenario for a single author book signing is 2 to 3 hours of the author sitting behind a table trying not to look desperate while the bookstore customers avoid them like the plague.

Whether or not your publisher can convince a bookstore to host your signing depends on several things: how big the publisher is and what their reputation is; how big a discount your publisher can give the bookstore; how well your book is selling in the store; how well known you are/how many customers you can draw; how many other titles you have to your name; how much it is going to cost the publisher to get you there (are you expecting the publisher to pay travel expenses and per diem or are you footing the bill), etc., etc.

Also, book signings are not a bundle of joy for the bookstores. They have to create a space for you to sign, reroute floor traffic, stock extra books, return those they can’t sell. A lot of bookstores just flat out don’t want to be bothered.

Here are a few other scenario/issues:
1. The Utah/Idaho corridor is where the majority of LDS book sales occur. Most of the bookstores here are DB and Seagull stores who are promoting their own authors with holiday book signings. Yes, they will sometimes let other publishers bring authors to the party, but only if the book is a strong seller and/or they can’t fill the slots with their own people. You get a better shot with some of the independent stores in this area, but not all of them will work with you if you’re a small publisher, or if you’re a lesser known author.

2. Bookstores outside UT/ID are generally smaller stores near a temple. Their bookstore traffic is based on temple traffic, meaning people come to the temple and then drop by the bookstore on their way home. Many of them get very little traffic during the week and are overcrowded on Saturdays. They don’t want you getting in their way on Saturday and they don’t think you can pull enough customers to make it worth their trouble on a weeknight.

3. Local to you, non-LDS bookstores or variety stores might be willing to host your book signing if you’re very local or related to the manager, but they often want deeper discounts than your publisher can afford.

So to overcome that, you or your publisher have to be willing to create an offer they can’t refuse. You have to fit in to their schedule. You have to be sure you can pull in customers. You have to be willing to do all the work yourself. Sometimes you have a better chance if you can get a group of authors to do a signing at the same place & time. But even if you and your publisher are willing to totally foot the expense of a launch party complete with advertising and door prizes, some bookstores will still turn you down.

My guess is your publisher is doing their best and just can’t get the bookstores to agree. We can’t really force them. If you are dead set on doing a signing tour, see if your publisher will consign you some books and try to set something up in your hometown, maybe at the local library or schools or service clubs. Do an event with 4 or 5 other local authors and talk about literacy, or writing, or something that has a literary appeal, then sell your books afterward. Most libraries and some schools will let you do that as a public service, especially if you donate a portion of your proceeds.

Hi LDSPublisher,

A non-LDS publisher only accepts submissions during one month of the year. Is it acceptable to send them more than one manuscript? You’ve stated before that we should only submit one manuscript at a time to a specific publisher, but since this publisher only accepts during one month would it be acceptable to submit 2 different types of manuscripts?

Thanks,
Prolific Writer

The trouble with sending more than one submission to a company at the same time is that even if they like all of them, they are only going to publish one. They will pick one they like best, publish it, see how it sells–then want to see something new from you. If they’ve already seen the something new, it’s going to feel old because it’s been bouncing around in their subconcious for a year or more.

I strongly suggest you send only one manuscript, and send your best. If they like your writing, but the content doesn’t hit the mark for them, they will ask if you have something else and give you some guidelines for what they’re looking for. Then you can send something more tailored to what they’re looking for.

Question for you: Which company only accepts manuscripts one month out of the year? It seems I’ve heard something about that before, but I just can’t bring it to mind.

On average, how many fiction submissions do LDS publishers get per year?

I have no idea. Right now, I’m averaging about 6-8 per month, but I’m a small house. If anyone knows what the bigger houses are averaging, feel free to chime in.

Clarifications have been made to this post. Please re-read.

Can you submit the same manuscript to multiple publishers at the same time?

This is called simultaneous submissions. Some publishers accept them, others do not. Check your publisher’s submission guidelines. If the publisher you want to submit to accepts simultaneous submissions, then yes, you can send your manuscript to them, and to other publishers, who also accept simultaneous submissions, at the same time. If the publisher you want to submit to does not accept simultaneous submissions, then you must submit to them, wait for them to reject it, and then submit to the next publisher on your list.

The reason some publishers choose not to accept simultaneous submissions is because then they can read at their leisure without worry that someone is going to beat their time. This is unfair to the author, as single submissions can kill you. For example, let’s say you have 10 publishers on your A list and you have to query and submit to them sequentially. And let’s say they each take about 6 months to go through the review process. It could take you 5 years to get through them. Who has time for that?

Personally, I think there should be a law that forces all publishers to accept simultaneous submissions. But until there is, you have to play by their rules. If they say they want exclusive looks, and you want them to consider you, then you have to send it to them and no one else until they make a decision.

One more word: If you decide to do simultaneous submissions to publishers who accept them, let the publisher know in the query letter that you have submitted to others as well. You don’t need to tell him/her who else you’ve submitted to, but it is polite to let them know that others are looking at it also. And if you get accepted somewhere, write or e-mail all other publishers who are still reviewing your manuscript and let them know it’s off the market.

I have heard that it isn’t a good idea to send out a manuscript “cold”, that you should always send it to an editor. Is this actually so and how would I go about finding the name(s) of who to send the manuscript to? Just call the publisher and ask? Would be taking up valuable time and simply annoying them, thus decreasing the chances they would actually be interested in my book?

Never send your entire manuscript as your initial submission, unless the publisher/website specifically asks for it. This is a waste of money, time and our natural resources (ie: trees).

Send a query letter first. If you send a query addressed to just “XYZ Publishing” with no other indication of who it should go to, it may bounce around from desk to desk for awhile. Depending upon the size of the company, it may never reach the person who would be most likely to read it with a positive response.

First thing you do is check the publisher’s website. Read their submission instructions very carefully. Follow them exactly.

If the website does not contain the name of the editor who accepts submissions for your genre, make a quick call to the company. A receptionist will answer the phone. Be prepared. Say this: “I would like to send a query letter for a [insert genre here]. Who should I address it to?”

The receptionist may ask you a few questions to further narrow down the type of book you are querying, then she/he will say either:
a. Send it to Ms. LDS Publisher; or
b. Send it to the Submissions Dept (or something like that); or
c. Just address it to XYZ Publishing and that will be good enough; or
d. We don’t publish in that genre

You might also ask if you should send a summary and/or the first 10 pages of the manuscript with your query.

This conversation will take all of 2 minutes or less. It is not an incovenience or annoying. Answering questions like this is one of the reasons we hired the receptionist to begin with. The only time a call like this is detrimental is if you keep them on the phone for 20 minutes or longer asking questions about things that are already on their website, or are “common knowledge” (like, ‘what exactly is a query letter’), or are argumentative (‘what do you mean you don’t publish fiction? I prayed about this and the spirit told me I should submit to you, so you should not only take my submission, but I know that if you are in tune with the spirit yourself, you will publish it, and if it doesn’t sell well, it will be because you are a sinful heathen, and…’)

Some companies prefer to get the entire book “cold.” This phone call will help you determine that. I personally don’t like getting a 500 page MS when I can tell after page 1 that I’m not interested and then it’s just a waste of time, paper, money, etc. This is what I like to receive in the initial query:
–a 1 page well-written query letter
–a 1-2 page chapter by chapter summary (2-3 sentences per chapter of what happens)
–the first 10 pages of the novel, starting with chapter 1 (no title page, no acknowledgments or dedication info, no introduction or prologue)

Good luck.

I’ve previously said that it didn’t really matter when you submitted your manuscripts–and in one sense, that’s still true. You can submit whenever you want, but you may not get read in a timely manner. If you want a reasonably fast reply, July and August might not be the best time to submit to LDS publishers, especially the smaller ones.

For example, I’m still accepting submissions and people are still sending them, but those that arrived after the middle of July are still sitting unopened on my desk. And they will continue to sit there until after the convention.

Maybe this is not an issue in the bigger houses, where you have one job description per employee. But in the smaller houses (defined as fewer than 6 employees), everyone is working on last minute convention activities. This is the time we temporarily stop looking for new stuff and concentrate on selling what we have.

So, if you’ve submitted to any LDS publisher in the past 30 days and haven’t gotten a reply, wait at least until September 1st before giving them a nudge.

I have a completed manuscript under consideration at the third place I’ve sent it. Since I have been shopping the ms around, I have completed another one. My question is; what is the proper way to begin sending out the second manuscript? Do I send it to the publisher that has my first? Do I begin again at the beginning of my list of LDS publishers? Thanks for your help.
–Querying

Do not send a second manuscript to a publisher who is still considering your first.

Everyone else is fair game. You may send it to anyone who has seen and rejected the first one, or to anyone else on your list—the order is up to you.

Can I just rant here for a minute?

What is with authors and illustrators who either do not have an e-mail address, do not send it with their submission, or they never check their e-mail?

Or–and this one is very frustrating–they have a great website (that seems to be updated fairly regularly) with complete contact info–e-mails, phone numbers, fax number, P.O. Box. But none of them work! E-mails bounce back repeatedly or receive no reply, phone and fax disconnected, and no response to snail mail.

For weeks now, I’ve been trying to track someone down. I have a contract for them. I have a marketing plan. I have money I want to give them. And I can’t reach them. This is nuts!

And guess what?! I stopped trying. I threw their whole folder in the rejection pile this morning. (Of course, they won’t know they’re rejected because I can’t get a message to them.)

So, if you want to be a published author/illustrator/whatever, here are a few basic communication tips:

1. Get an e-mail address and check it daily.

2. Put multiple avenues of contact on every communication to an editor/publisher.

3. If you use a P.O. Box*, check it at least weekly.

4. If you have a website, be sure to include CURRENT contact information.*

Words of Caution:

• Don’t post your e-mail address. Spammers love this. Do it with a link.
• Don’t post your home address. Use a P.O. Box.
• Don’t post your home phone. If you have an e-mail address (and you check it) and a P.O. Box, that should be adequate.

Is there a particular way of formatting my manuscript that I should know about? If I do it wrong, will they automatically reject me?

Check your publisher’s website and see if they have any special formatting guidelines. You will find that most of them are pretty similar. 99.9% of publishers will be satisfied with the guidelines posted on this website. (Except I prefer Times, rather than Courier. Easier on MY eyes.)

If you do it wrong, it may or may not lead to rejection—depending on what it is you’ve done. I absolutely refuse to read a manuscript that is smaller than 10 pt type and single spaced. Or if the margins go all the way to the edge of the page. Or if it’s in some really obnoxious font that is hard to read, or set in all caps. Or if it’s printed on neon or patterned paper, or paper that has been wadded up and then flattened out again. Or if it’s been sprayed with perfume. Believe it or not, authors will do this thinking it will set them apart from the rest of the slush pile. It does, but not in a good way.