Having trouble getting a publisher or literary agent to read your manuscript? The sad fact is that the majority of people involved in the business of books do not have time to read unsolicited manuscripts.
Here are some hot tips from some of Australia’s top publishers and The Australian Women’s Weekly Book Club
From The Australian Women’s Weekly Book Club:
Before approaching anyone with a manuscript, try to build a profile in literary/publishing circles first. Enter writing and short story contests at all levels, local, regional, national. If you can say in your covering letter that your writing has received an award, it may help. It may also means that winning a prize will put you in contact with publishing representatives.
Another way to build a profile is to have stories and fiction published in magazines. Check which ones take short story submissions. Find out the name of Fiction Editor- small details like that help. The Australian Women’s Weekly publishes only 12 short stories a year, so competition is fierce, but there are many established authors who began their publishing career writing fiction for our magazine and other mass market publications. Before submitting a story, take a look at the kind of fiction they are publishing first and submit a story in the style and genre they obviously favour.
Don’t send an entire manuscript. It’s too daunting for someone already under enormous pressure to read masses of material. Send a covering letter with a BRIEF synopsis of your book. Enclose the first chapter, or the first 1000 words or ten pages. Many people will read something that is short, while manuscripts are often shuffled around the desk till they hit the ‘out-tray,’ because no-one can commit the time.
If you have any friends or colleagues with contacts in the publishing industry, use them. They may at least be able to recommend the name of the person to whom it might be best to send a sample of your book. While officially, no-one takes unsolicited material, there are always people reading in search of the next big best-seller and finding out the name of the appropriate person beforehand is more likely to get a result.
If you have no contacts, perhaps look up the web site of each publisher and see if any staff names are listed. Or email the web site and ask who is the best person to send your ‘sample’ too.
Don’t ever try to talk through your plot on the telephone. Leave this for your covering letter.
Don’t telephone the person after you’ve sent your book, asking have they read it YET? If you haven’t heard from someone six weeks after submitting your material, write another letter or email. As hard as it is to accept, given the rushed nature of business these days and the lack of administrative support, it can take up to six months to get a reply.
Don’t give up – remember the words of Robert Browning: Hark, the dominant’s persistence till it must be answered to!**
From Harpercollins:**
To learn about different ways of structuring and writing a story, read a lot.
Write about what you care about.
Don’t look for trends, set them.
Don’t over explain what’s happening in a story.
Revise and then revise again – don’t send out work that’s second best.
Be persistent. Believe in your work, make it the best you can and keep knocking on doors.
From Simon & Schuster:
Research that great idea – check out bookshops and see if anyone else has the same great idea.
Get help. Do a writing course and get an independent assessment through a manuscript assessment service.
Make sure your manuscript is neatly typed, double-spaced, has wide margins and no spelling mistakes or weird grammar.
Don’t do a general mail out to all publishers, find out who is publishing books similar to yours. Call first and ask about their policy for unsolicited manuscripts.
Remember that very few Australian authors make a living out of writing alone. Write because you love it, not because you can make enough money to buy your own tropical island.
From Hodder Headline:
Please don’t tell us this will be a bestseller because it’s set in six countries and better than anything else on the bestseller lists and in airports.
Don’t tie it with a pink ribbon and highlight words in yellow highlighter.
Don’t tell us it will appeal to children because your grand-daughter loves it.
Don’t conceal the fact that you’ve sent it to other publishers.
Do some research on the publisher you choose – don’t send fiction to an educational publisher.
Understand that it’s as much a matter of serendipity as talent.
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