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newsletter archives
March 2007 - Article: Publishing Tips - By Heartsong Books
Heartsong Books; Publishing Tips . . .
Read This Tip First!
1) If you're interested in submitting your manuscript to a publisher you've discovered on the Internet, don't use their 800# to call them — this is usually their ordering/information number. And even if you call them at your own expense don't expect publishers to call you back at theirs! Show compassion! Be understanding! Imagine the number of people trying to submit their manuscripts every week, every month! Your book may be of the finest quality, but you won't get through the doorway unless you make life as easy as possible for the editor/publisher you're trying to reach. (I've been on the submission end. I remember what a long process getting a book published can be . . . Many, many blessings on you!)
And remember, please — it's not a good idea to use capital letters throughout an e-mail message — to publishers or to anyone — unless for emphasis. Using caps is like SHOUTING! Ouch.
2) Keep quiet about your writing projects. Just write. Every word you use to talk up your project prematurely is a word that dissipates power and meaning. (A confession here, however, regarding titles. Every book I write I must remind myself that a title must come to me. I cannot effectively scramble after it, no matter how much more comfortable I feel when I have one to use as touchstone. When I explore the patterns in my life, I see how the universe's timing is always perfect. Tuning myself to that perfect rhythm, mine, as well, feels fine.)
3) To find the publisher of your dreams, go to your favorite bookstore — preferably one that features small, quality presses, in addition to larger ones — and plan to spend hours there discovering the companies you admire which publish books most like yours.
4) Send queries to your favorite publishers before you send along a completed manuscript. Some companies, already deluged with submissions, may appreciate this courtesy enough to ask to see what you've written. Others may rule you out immediately because they only accept manuscripts agents submit. And then there are the presses who don't think your manuscript is just right for them, or those, like Heartsong Books, who aren't presently accepting manuscripts.
What a process! Have you heard about the famous novelist who submitted his award-winning book, under a different name, to a publisher (I think, his own.) in manuscript form to see what would become of it? The book was soundly rejected. So much for publishing good sense.
5) Always address your queries to a particular person—and call before you send your letter to make sure the editor you've chosen to approach is still around. (The speed with which companies change hands, and the editors within them change jobs, is dazzling. I worked with three editors on just one of my children's books.)
6) Your query is best kept to just one page.
From the first word, make your presentation powerful and, of course, easy-to-read.
Keep your sentences easy to understand. How clearly you write your query will be a clue to the clarity to be found in your manuscript. Imagine editors becoming bleary-eyed after hours of pouring over letters and manuscripts. You've got to make them want to keep reading.
Include in your letter only that about yourself which relates to your book—don't mention your passion for kayaking unless kayaking is the subject of your book!
Quote a line or two from your text if what you've written—and how you write—might spark interest.
Explain how your book is different from similar books, and use facts you've uncovered to back you up.
If someone well respected in the world, or in your field, is willing to offer a comment for your book, or write an introduction for it, let the editor know about this.
Be ready to offer an annotated table of contents, and one completed chapter to send along (this, if the book is non-fiction).
Mention book length.
State the what kind of book you've written—the genre—and tell what other writing you've sold.
If your book is fiction, offer a chapter-by-chapter synopsis and be ready to send in a completed chapter as part of our submission.
Also, if you want to submit your book electronically, ask first.
This article along with many other links can be found here: http://heartsongbooks.com/tips.html
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